Dr. Cuisle Forde

Summary

There has been strong and undisputed evidence supporting the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation for many years. The benefits of high quality cardiac rehabilitation are well known and include reductions in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality [1, 2], reduced readmissions and length of stay [3], and improved symptoms and wellbeing [4]. The basic format for cardiac rehabilitation consists of four phases, starting in hospital and finishing in the community or home. Phase three cardiac rehabilitation takes place after discharge from the acute hospital setting. During phase three cardiac rehabilitation patients return to the hospital as outpatients and take part in structured exercise classes and educational sessions, usually as part of a group. In recent years we have seen many advancements in cardiovascular medicine. Public health initiatives, developments in the optimization of medial therapy, enhanced emergency care, new procedures and new technologies have all helped to decreases cardiac mortality rates [5], and have led to changes in the demographics attending phase three cardiac rehabilitation, with new patient groups presenting and traditional patient groups being more capable of engaging in high intensity exercise. Alongside these demographic changes there is now evidence to support the provision of "non-traditional" phase three cardiac rehabilitation, examples would include exercise classes delivered using telehealth [6], the use of high intensity interval training or Tai Chi based exercise for certain groups. There have been calls to action in the literature [7, 8] and among other stakeholder groups [9] to revisit the manner in which phase three cardiac rehabilitation is provided to ensure that patient care is optimised. There is also an opportunity to modernize phase three cardiac rehabilitation. Of upmost importance is that any review or changes to a service keep the patient at the centre of the decision-making process. The aim of this study is to conduct a user centred evaluation of the phase three cardiac rehabilitation service at Conolly Hospital and to explore potential future directions the service may take. This will be done in close collaboration with patient and clinician stakeholders through focus groups/interviews as well as through the analysis of empirical data. Interviews and focus group data will be transcribed and analysed thematically using NVIVO software and Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method. Data already collected on the service, such as attendance rates and fitness pre and post intervention will be analysed using inferential statistics to determine the efficacy of the service. Although our work will be specific to Connolly Hospital, the results will be relevant and applicable to many other clinical sites both nationally and internationally.

Funding Agency

Health Research Board

Programme

Summer Studentship award

Project Type

Health research

Person Months

2

Summary

Teaching and learning practical skills is an area which many would not traditionally consider to be suited to online or distance learning methods. Restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic required those who teach and those who learn to adapt and to demonstrate innovation in methods of practical skill acquisition. This initiative aims to consolidate some positive disturbances that occurred in relation to practical teaching during 2020 in partnership with students. Specific aims are to; " Examine opportunities and barriers to digitally enhanced practical teaching. " Analyse student, academic, clinical professional and patient perspectives on digitally enhanced practical teaching. " Examine the feasibility and efficacy of digitally enhanced practical teaching (in skill acquisition and assessment) in partnership with students. " Develop an open educational resource informed by results of this research to include resources outlining: " Opportunities, barriers and considerations related to the acquisition of practical skills using technology. " An analysis of the attributes of practical skills and their suitability to being taught and assessed using technology. " Recommendations on digitally enhanced practical teaching and assessment for both those who teach and those who learn. " Case studies on the acquisition of practical skills using technology.

Funding Agency

National Teaching and Learning Forum

Programme

SATEL

Project Type

Research

Summary

Approximately 30,000-50,000 people in Ireland have hepatitis C. Although the virus mainly affects the liver, in up to 30% of infected people the virus also affects the brain causing poor concentration, difficulties in concentrating, poor memory. This is often described as a "brain fog". These symptoms may lead to forgetting to attend hospital appointments and forgetting to take tablets, which may cause poor quality of life. In the past, doctors thought that poor brain function in people with hepatitis C- was because the liver had developed cirrhosis but new information suggests that the "brain fog" happens even when there is no cirrhosis. Researchers now think the "brain fog" is due to the virus infecting the brain or the virus causing inflammation in the brain. The researchers doing this study think that if drug treatment to clear virus from the liver may also clear virus from the brain - this would improve or reverse the brain fog symptoms, either because the virus is also cleared from the brain (as well as the liver) or because the inflammation due to the virus is controlled. The research team will invite people with hepatitis C to do some brain function tests before and after the HCV drug treatment. Some patients receiving the drugs will also be invited to have MRI Xrays of their brains before and after the drug treatment. The research team also know that exercise can improve brain function in healthy people as well as patients with chronic diseases due to inflammation who have brain fog symptoms. To study the effect of exercise in helping to control or improve brain fog in hepatitis C, the research team will ask hepatitis C patients to do a 12 week exercise plan and study brain function before and after the course of exercise

Funding Agency

Health Research Board

Summary

We are currently at the dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) era and are facing a sustainability challenge. There is a large degree of uncertainly and trepidation in society about what changes may come next but one thing we do know is that transport is changing. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles on our roads, advances in driver assist technology, and recently there was a court case related to autonomous car driving which made national headlines. The pros and cons of transport changes have been examined by various stakeholder groups and health implications, both positive and negative, have been suggested, however there is a lack of real diversity in the voices being heard. For example, driver assist technology and increasingly autonomous vehicles could certainly help the average person who currently owns a car, however their greatest use is arguably to serve those who currently struggle to drive. We know that there is a great need to increase active and public transport use, but this needs to be done with a universal design approach so that populations such as older adults and disabled people can easily benefit from these changes. This project will examine health considerations related to the modernisation of transport for both disabled people and older adults. Specifically, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of driver assist technology from the perspective of older adults and disabled adults. The legal implications associated with using increasingly autonomous vehicles will be examined as well as how changes in our built environment related to the modernisation of transport can lead to health benefits in our communities. This work will be carried out with partners from government, patient representatives and other relevant stakeholders. As well as writing academic papers, our group will work with our non-academic partners to produce reports and other outputs which are relevant to them.

Funding Agency

Trinity College Dublin

Programme

Trinity Research Doctorate Award Group Based Projects

Project Type

Interdisciplinary PhD group based projects

Person Months

48

Summary

This 6 week online course will help academics, student ambassadors, practitioners, policy makers, leaders and administrators understand what it means to become a health-promoting campus and how understanding the Okanagan Charter is an important step to creating a campus plan for wellbeing. This course will foster an effective learning experience and create momentum in Ireland and abroad towards achieving healthy campuses. This will be achieved through supporting personal, population and planetary health. The aim of our course is to help staff and key stakeholders in Higher Educational Institutions develop and implement the healthy campus framework effectively and efficiently. Peer Learning will be a central feature, allowing for cross institution and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Funding Agency

Higher Education Authority

Project Type

Educational Development

Person Months

12