SCHOOL OF HEALTHCARE SCIENCESSCHOOL OF HEALTHCARE SCIENCESSCHOOL OF HEALTHCARE SCIENCES
In This Issue
Letter from the Dean and Head of School
Cut-out-and-keep programme info sheet
BBC Wales covers Clinical Kinaesiology
Welsh Language Lecturers
Social Care Research Award
Acute Care Provision funding
Al-Amri Philadelphia Poster Prize
Aled Jones on ITV Wales News
Improving our Open Days for visitors
New Library Resource
Tech Talk
Out there in the Twittersphere
Advanced Practice Master’s Funding
New role for Dr Lesley Lowes
Celebrating Excellence Awards
iSolve—Virtual Knee Rehabilitation
And more…
Cardiff University School of Healthcare Sciences Newsletter Autumn 2013
School wins top spot in Times School wins top spot in Times
higher education rankingshigher education rankings
Cardiff University has been ranked first in the UK for physiotherapy by the
Times Good University Guide 2014. Students on the School of Healthcare
Sciences BSc Physiotherapy programme enjoy access to unrivalled clinical
facilities and a dedicated teaching staff made up of both academic and
clinically active lecturers.
Also ranked highly were the School’s programmes in Radiography (BSc),
which was ranked 3rd, and Nursing (BN), which was ranked 9th in the UK.
Professor Sheila Hunt, Dean and Head of School, said, "It’s great to see the
fantastic work of our staff being recognised on a national level. Our courses
offer students the very best in healthcare training and these rankings truly
reflect the quality of the programmes."
Although previously presented as two guides, The Times and Sunday Times
Guides have been combined this year. The analysis incorporates data from
120 higher education institutions across 64 subject fields, analysing ‘student
ratings for teaching, assessment and feedback as well as facilities and overall
satisfaction, allied with the most recent research assessments, graduate
prospects and course entry standards.’
Students develop their skills during clinical physiotherapy sessions
Welcome to our first newsletter for
the School of Healthcare Sciences.
The new School came into being on
1st September 2013 after a long and
often challenging gestation period. I
know this was a very difficult time
for some staff and the transition is
not complete for many and in
particular the admin and support
staff. The admin review is still on
going and as many of you heard at
our fantastic Away Day, we aim to
be close to completion by January
2014.
The Senior Team is taking shape
and most of the Line Managers’
Forum / Senior Team are now in
place. Gail Williams and Martin
West, the Associate Deans are
putting the final touches to the
Programme Manager roles and
finalising the cross school roles
which are so important for the next
year.
It strikes me that our tag line could
be: Integration, Collaboration and
Growth. As you read this new
newsletter you may now begin to
see more clearly the direction of
travel.
First it seems we need to integrate
the previous two Schools, and then
we need to integrate into the
College of Biological and Life
Sciences and then confirm our
place firmly in Cardiff University.
We will do this by building our
collaborative links, internally –
recognising, valuing and respecting
the different disciplines and
professions within the School;
finding new collaborations and
connections in engagement, in
learning and teaching and in
research.
As we perfect our internal
collaborations we can go boldly to
build our external collaborations
with the College, the University and
our many and varied collaborators
and stake holders.
Then we will grow – as a new
School, as well established,
respected professional disciplines
who are recognised as reputable
members of the College. We will
grow as valued members of the
University and become the School /
University of choice with our
external stake holders. It is
inevitable that this will lead to an
environment where high quality
innovative teaching and learning will
flourish; we will create an
environment where research will
grow in stature, quality and quantity
and where most importantly where
all our staff will have the opportunity
to grow as individuals.
We will do all of this in an
environment of mutual respect, of
courtesy and one which promotes
equality of opportunity and values
diversity.
Wow! Is this possible, of course it is.
Thank you all for your support and
thank you for your patience as we
walk this new path together.
With kind regards
Professor Sheila Hunt, Dean and Head of School
A New School for a A New School for a
Changing LandscapeChanging Landscape
Welsh Language Welsh Language
LecturersLecturers The School has recently
made a valuable investment
in two new Welsh language
lecturers. Gaynor Williams
has been appointed to
Nursing and Midwifery,
whilst Dr Zoe Morris-
Williams has been appointed
to Allied Health Professions.
It is very important that we
increase our Welsh
language provision and
these new roles support that
aim.
Gaynor Williams
02920 687798
Zoe Morris-Williams
Marketing Email Marketing Email
and Calendarand Calendar
The marketing team at
Eastgate House have a new
email address. If you have
website or course finder
changes for nursing and
midwifery, enquiries about
events or any general
requests that can be dealt
with by either Hannah or
Angie, please send through to
this address. We have also
set up a marketing events
calendar, displaying the
events we plan to attend in
the coming months. If you
would like access to this
calendar, please send your
request to our new email
address (below).
Poster Prize
Dr Mohammad Al-Amri won
the Best Post-Doctoral Fellow
Poster prize at the 10th
International Conference on
Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR)
in August. Held in
Philadelphia, USA, the ICVR
Conference is sponsored by
the International Society for
Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR).
The prize was awarded by
the National Science
Foundation (NSF); the
National Institute on
Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders
(NIDCD), and the ISVR.
Researchers from several
different countries presented
their work at the ICVR 2013
in the field of virtual reality
and augmented reality
applied to rehabilitation.
Mohammad’s paper, ‘Virtual
Reality based Double Leg
Squat Exercise: Preliminary
Study’, co-written with
research group leader Prof
Robert van Deursen, Dr
Paulien Roos and Dr Kate
Button, showed that virtual
reality based on kinetic
feedback enabled users to
squat using a
biomechanically constrained
strategy inaccessible to them
in conventional approaches.
Kinaesiology Lab on BBC WalesKinaesiology Lab on BBC Wales
BBC Wales has this month reported on the ground-breaking research
being undertaken in the School’s Research Centre for Clinical
Kinaesiology, located in the basement of Ty Dewi Sant.
The Centre is equipped to measure motion capture, muscle strength
and muscle activation. The news report and accompanying article
explain how these facilities have been used in research funded by
Arthritis UK to help tackle the widespread issue of arthritis.
To read the full article and watch the news report, follow this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24467185
The news report shows Senior Lecturer Liz Evans using the lab’s high-tech facilities
Directory of ExpertiseDirectory of Expertise
The Directory of Expertise is a fantastic resource that allows the
media to contact experts from across the wide range of professional
expertise we have within Cardiff University. It houses details of
academic staff grouped by name, school and area of expertise.
The Directory is managed by the PR team, who state, ‘The Directory
provides the media with access to expert comment, informed opinion
and analysis on a range of research and topical issues. It aims to
support the media to connect with Cardiff experts for comment,
interviews, stories and panel participation.’
News coverage and contributions to news stories increase the
School’s profile and contribute to our public engagement. We
currently have very few staff in the Directory and the PR team has
requested we aim to increase our presence here.
If you would like to be more involved with public relations, you can
sign up for the Directory by contacting Lisa Birkbeck:
Don’t forget to liaise with the Marketing Team if you are contacted to
contribute to news stories!
On 7th September 2013, Cardiff University held its
first Saturday Open Day. What’s more, the School
of Healthcare Sciences opened its doors to the
public for the first ever self-guided tour of the
clinical skills facilities at Ty Dewi Sant.
Prospective students began their day
at the Cathays Campus, attending
general talks and stands in the Main
Building. Targeted programme talks
were provided by our teaching staff
in the Sir Martin Evans Building,
where our School stand was also
located. Here, visitors were able to talk to
admissions tutors, recruiters and current students
before catching one of the coaches departing every
fifteen minutes for Talybont Halls of Residence and
the Heath Park Campus.
Once at the Heath Park Campus, visitors were
welcomed by staff and escorted to the basement
entrance to Ty Dewi Sant, where the tour began.
Visitors were given trifold tour guide leaflets and
bottled water, then sent to seek their fortunes. The
first stop was the Research Centre for Clinical
Kinaesiology, which features a state
of the art virtual reality system – see
story on the facing page . A large,
curved screen creates a virtual
environment, while a floor-mounted
treadmill allows users to travel
through the virtual space.
On the ground floor, visitors passed
the School Information Desk enroute to the
Radiography Imaging Suite. The Suite is used to
teach Diagnostic Radiography and Imaging
students the practical skills they will need to
practise in a clinical role. They then visited the
Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Suite on the first
floor, which includes a children’s clinic with
specialist equipment for assessment and
intervention plus a bathroom and bedroom area
with aids to assist patients in a ‘home’ environment.
Next door to the ADL Suite is the Operating
Theatre Clinical Suite, which looks and behaves
very much like a real operating theatre, but for the
addition of a SIM Man – a mannequin whose vital
signs can be controlled remotely to facilitate
realistic learning in clinical scenarios. Last
on the first floor was the Mould Room,
where students learn the fundamental
principles associated with immobilisation,
beam directional shell preparation and
radiotherapy localisation.
On the second floor, visitors watched a
‘home movie’ featuring Nursing and Midwifery
lecturers, who explained how each of the bays in
the Caerleon Clinical Skills Suite, our mock hospital
ward, is used in teaching. They then entered the
Suite to talk to teaching staff and current students
about the various mannequins and scenarios used
on each of the four undergraduate nursing and
midwifery programmes.
On the fourth floor, visitors stopped at the Cardiff
University Radiography Virtual Environment Suite
(CURVES), comprising our Virtual Environment
Radiotherapy software package and
Oncentra Master Plan – a radiotherapy
treatment planning system. The suite is
laid out like a cinema and visitors donned
3D glasses to try out the software!
We had 445 visitors through the door on
the day of the event and feedback so far
has been excellent from staff and visitors
alike! One staff member said, “I have worked in this
building for years and I never realised the facilities
we had available!”
We did it all again on 25th October and had an
incredible 674 people take the tour. By ensuring the
School has a solid presence on Open Days, we will
increase quality applications to our programmes
and raise our profile within the University and
further afield. Many thanks again to all who help to
make these days a success.
Hannah Nicole Simpson, Marketing and Student Recruitment Manager
Open Day Open Day -- a whole new approach a whole new approach to toursto tours
Tech talk Tech talk
Bex Ferriday, Learning Technologist
Augmented Reality (AR)
We’re using Augmented Reality in a few of our posters and some
advertising materials– look out for them dotted around EGH and TDS.
But what exactly is AR?
The term is to be taken quite literally – reality (for example, a typical and
run of the mill poster) is augmented by the inclusion of video, audio or
internet-based content. By simply installing an app from iTunes or
Google Play to your smart phone or tablet (we’re using Layar, but other
brands are available), and then scanning any document with embedded
AR with your device, the poster will come alive on-screen and show you
any embedded, digital content that it contains. Why not download the
Layar app to your mobile device and have a look at this poster?
Academic Essentials
With different members of staff giving conflicting advice about font style,
line spacing, the use of bullet points in academic writing and how to use
referencing systems, a team of School lecturers formed a working party
to look at setting out a default set of academic rules for all staff and
students to work to. Suggestions as to what these guidelines should
include were offered by all of the teaching team, and these were
eventually grouped together to form a definitive guide. Furthermore, this
information was also developed into an online, interactive presentation
and activity called Academic Essentials. This digital content has been
added to a portlet that all School staff and students will find on their
home page in Learning Central. Here’s another link to it.
Inter Professional Education online
Community
As part of an Inter Professional Collaboration (IPE) project and
partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University, an online community
has been set up for any healthcare professional wanting to share skills
and knowledge with others. The community is currently hosted using
Moodle, and contains a repository for shared documentation, online
fora, and a live chat room. It is hoped that users will shape the growth
and development of the community, and so far almost 300 potential
users have been identified, attended a briefing at the University to look
at IPE and the online community, and to ask them what they would like
to see added to the space and how they would like to use it. Though
still very much in the early stages of development, the community hub
can be found here.
Significant sum for Significant sum for
Advanced Practice Advanced Practice
Masters Masters
ProgrammesProgrammes
Great news! In case you haven’t
heard, the School has received
a significant sum for the
provision of Master’s level
Advanced Practice education
programmes for 2013/2014 for
both Nursing/Midwifery and AHP
programmes.
This funding will secure a total of
94 training places across a
number of modules.
These numbers are reflective of
the local service needs for NHS
Wales, and further details can
be obtained by contacting Dr
Shaaron Pratt and Judith
Carrier.
Call for Research Call for Research
PostersPosters
Our new walls are looking a bit
bare... What better way to add a
bit of zest and pizzazz to the
corridors than showcasing some
of the brilliant research that’s
currently going on in the School?
Or what about posters
showcasing some of the
innovative teaching, CPD, away
day successes and so forth we
can boast? If you’ve got
anything to showcase please get
in touch via email:
Senior Senior Lecturer Lecturer awarded awarded £170,000 £170,000 for for Social Social
Care ResearchCare Research
Gail Boniface, Senior
Lecturer and Accelerated
Route Coordinator for
Occupational Therapy, has
received £176,300 from the
National Institute of Social
Care and Health Research
(NISCHR) to further her
research into social care.
Gail is investigating the
perceptions of families either
undergoing or attempting to
undergo the housing
adaptations process within
Wales, as well as the views
social services (mostly
Occupational Therapists) and
housing staff.
The research involves the
charities SHELTER and
Contact a Family and will
have a steering group of
other charities along with the
College of Occupational
Therapists' Policy Officer.
The research will employ
mixed methods, including a
staff questionnaire and
interviews with families in
purposively selected Welsh
local authority areas
depending on housing tenure,
length of time taken to
complete adaptations and
Welsh index of Multiple
Deprivation.
Celebrating Excellence Celebrating Excellence
Awards 2013Awards 2013
Congratulations to a number of staff within the School of Healthcare
Sciences who have been shortlisted as nominees for the
Celebrating Excellence Awards 2013.
The Celebrating Excellence Awards represent the University's
appreciation of staff who have demonstrated an outstanding
commitment and contribution - those who have been recognised by
their colleagues for going over and above the call of duty.
This year’s shortlisted nominees from Healthcare Sciences include:
Matthew Williamson - School Manager of Healthcare
Sciences, nominated for Sustained Excellence. This award
recognises the performance of an individual member or
group over a number of years that has led to a sustained
contribution that has been of significant
benefit to the University.
Dr Sally Anstey and Richard Day, as part of the
Cardiff Futures ‘Healthy Places Healthy People’
project group, nominated for Outstanding
Contribution to Innovation and Engagement. This
award recognises outstanding contributions by
individuals or groups in any area of activity covered by the
University's Innovation and Engagement Strategy.
Denise Russell, Holly Vizard and Jo
Burnett of the School’s Undergraduate
Admissions Team are nominated for
the Outstanding Support to the
University award, for their impressive
work developing a paperless admissions system. This award
recognises an individual or team that has 'gone the extra mile' in
delivering excellent support services.
Dr Gemma Whatling - School of Engineering/School of
Healthcare Sciences has been nominated in the Rising
Star category, which recognises an individual member of
staff who has substantially grown in their role within a
relatively short period of time, having initiated, coordinated
and/or accomplished complex activity within or on behalf of the
University.
A well deserved ‘Congratulations’ to all those who have been
nominated, and to our short-listed candidates above. Best of luck!
Details of the Celebrating Excellence Awards can be found on the
University’s website here: www.cardiff.ac.uk/humrs/pwe/
celebratingexcellenceawards/index.html
Trevor Baker, Operations Manager
Out there in the Out there in the
TwittersphereTwittersphere
Despite what may be written in some parts of the
mainstream media, if used sensibly, Twitter can be a
very powerful way of disseminating and
gathering information in an extremely timely
way.
It also allows you to follow the movers and
shakers in your areas of interest and learn what they
have to share first hand.
The School of Healthcare Sciences has launched a
new combined Twitter account consolidating the
former Schools’ of Nursing & Midwifery and
Healthcare Studies and is actively migrating our old
accounts’ followers.
Our new Twitter account is @CUHealthSci
The figures to date:
- We have ‘tweeted’ (sent public messages) over
1200 times
- We are ‘following’ (keeping track of news from) 269
people/organisations
- We have 500 ‘followers’ (people who are reading
our messages) with more and more following every
day
Although we only have 500 followers (which is pretty
great but Lady Gaga has 36,540,172), if one of those
followers retweets (RT) one of our messages, it will
go to all of their followers and so on. This is how a
single tweet can easily go ‘viral’.
When used properly it’s a fantastic communications
tool. Have you received a grant recently? Are you
involved in some interesting research? Are you
promoting an event? Or doing some innovative
teaching? If so, drop Matt Townsend an email
([email protected]) so we can tell the world
how great we are!!!
New library resource: New library resource:
UpToDateUpToDate
The University Library Service has subscribed to this
new resource for a trial period of one year from August
2013 to July 2014.
UpToDate provides full text information on over
‘10,000 clinical topics in 21 specialities to help find
clinical answers quickly and easily to make the right
point of care decisions.’ Features include graphics and
videos which can also be used in teaching; links from
references to CU full text e-journals; nearly 1,500
patient information topics; a what’s new section and
much more. Drug information is also available in
UpToDate but is designed for use in the USA.
It is accessible via the Cardiff University portal: http://
portal.cf.ac.uk where it will be found under the library
tab and the A-Z list of databases.
When accessing UpToDate through a mobile device,
UpToDate will automatically redirect you to the
UpToDate mobile website.
Although simple to use, as part of our subscription,
UpToDate is providing us with a trainer to run a short
training session showing how to make the most of the
resource for clinical and educational purposes. Once
arranged the date will be advertised for all interested
staff to attend.
Meg Gorman, Nursing and Healthcare Studies Librarian
Our Twitter feed shows our stories and news we feel is relevant
Matt Townsend, Lecturer and Tweeter
Meg Gorman, Nursing and Healthcare Studies Librarian
2013/2014 iSolve Project2013/2014 iSolve Project——Virtual Knee Virtual Knee
Rehabilitation (KneeReVirt)Rehabilitation (KneeReVirt)
Based on a programme developed first at MIT in
Boston and then extended to Cambridge University,
the exciting iSolve concept has now been
successfully developed at Cardiff University.
iSolve allows entrepreneurial postgraduates and
researchers to work with real inventions in order to
determine the best route for their commercialisation.
Findings from these teams are then presented to a
panel of judges alongside a report.
At the School of Healthcare Sciences, a new GRAIL
system (Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab)
has been installed which provides for advanced
movement analysis which can be used as a basis
for real-time feedback to patients with movement
disorders. The system includes an instrumented
treadmill, motion cameras, and projection onto a
180 degrees screen to create an immersive
environment. The D-Flow software provides
flexibility to develop a virtual rehabilitation
environment of our own design.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers guided by
Professor Robert van Deursen is working on the
development of assessment and treatment for
patients with knee conditions in this virtual
environment. This is done in collaboration with the
R&D department of Motek Medical, the company
that installed the system.
The objective is to make use of this novel
technology and integrate clinical knowledge to
create a set of appropriate exercises to help
patients recover better. Knowledge obtained will be
used to translate into simple solutions that can be
used for exercise at home.
This year, the iSolve team will be tasked to develop
a more elaborate plan which needs to consider the
best route to develop virtual rehabilitation and the
business model that would be the most appropriate.
Details of Cardiff University’s enterprise
programmes, including iSolve, can be found here:
http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cuenterprise/
Trevor Baker, Operations Manager
In partnership with the Florence Nightingale Foundation, Cardiff School of Healthcare Sciences and
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board have made a new Professorial appointment. Dr Lesley Lowes
(pictured), formerly a Reader in Paediatric Diabetes Nursing at the University,
has been appointed to the role Chair of Clinical Nursing Practice Research.
The role is the first Florence Nightingale Professor of Clinical Nursing Research
in Wales. It presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate academic leadership
in translating research directly into clinical care, supporting innovation and
enhancing the patient experience.
Dr Lowes has been with the School since 1999. She has always had a passion
for clinical practice, working in a dual research/clinical post from her
commencement at the School until this appointment in October 2013.
Exciting new post in collaboration with Exciting new post in collaboration with
Florence Nightingale and Cardiff & ValeFlorence Nightingale and Cardiff & Vale
Aled Jones explained the drawbacks of reports such as Ann Clwyd’s on ITV Wales News
Aled Jones on ITV Wales NewsAled Jones on ITV Wales News
On Monday, 28th October, Labour MP Ann Clwyd released a report
which made recommendations for change within the NHS. The
report, titled ’A review of the NHS hospitals complaints system:
putting patients back in the picture’ has been closely followed by the
media, being the latest in a series of papers making
recommendations for change in the wake of the Francis Report.
Aled Jones, Senior Lecturer in nursing at the School, appeared on
ITV Wales News to discuss what he felt were the drawbacks of such
reports. He explained, “The danger with reports such as Francis,
Berwick, Keogh, is that they tend to give you an insight into things
when they go really badly wrong… They tend to polarise things
around serious concerns in the NHS and it tends to stigmatise the
rest of the service as well.”
Watch the full report online here: http://www.itv.com/news/wales/
story/2013-10-28/nhs-complaint-report
Prof. Hunter and Dr Prof. Hunter and Dr
Warren publish Warren publish
Resilience ReportResilience Report
Two academics at the School of
Healthcare Sciences have
published a report following
research into the resilience of
midwives. The research, which sits
within the Maternal, Child and
Family Health and Wellbeing
research theme, was undertaken
by RCM professor of midwifery
Professor Billie Hunter and Dr
Lucie Warren, Research Associate.
The study explored clinical
midwives’ understanding and
experience of resilience, modelling
the concept in collaboration with a
panel of experts. The specific
objectives of the study were to
identify the factors considered to
contribute to or act as barriers to
resilience, and to explore how the
resilience of student and newly
qualified midwives might be
enhanced. By understanding more
about resilience, it may be possible
to better nurture novice midwives
and those experiencing workplace
stress. In other words, it may
provide new knowledge to enable
the profession to 'care for the
carers'. Resilience is not about
becoming tough or hardened,
rather it is characterised by
adaptability, self-knowledge and
emotional awareness. This study
indicates that resilience is a
complex phenomenon, which
warrants serious consideration
from clinical midwives, managers,
educators and researchers.
To download the report, please
click here.
The first School NewsletterThe first School Newsletter We hope you have found this first issue full of useful and
interesting stories. It is now over two months since we
became the School of Healthcare Sciences and we have had
a lot of news! It’s not always possible to include everything,
but we value your feedback on how we can make things
better, so tell us what you think.
The winter issue will be released in January 2014. If you
would like to suggest an article, please email us using the
address below.
Similarly, if you have news, forthcoming events or anything
else that we might not know about, do keep us up to date! We
want to raise the profile of the School as much as possible, so
do keep us in the loop...