Blog: What it takes to #MakeSpace4Research - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Hello, my name is Marika Nemeckova and I am an intensive care nurse at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

I have always been curious when it comes to subjects I do not fully understand – I do not take things at face value and settle for an easy explanation if I believe there was more information to be gained.

Following a desire to learn more about the devastating impact of sepsis, which I have witnessed as part of my nursing role, I began my research journey through the Adult Critical Course at Northumbria University. This helped me realise that sepsis is a major cause of avoidable deaths.

Enlightened and transformed by the learning experience, I felt committed to supporting fellow nurses in their sepsis recognition role.

I received funding from the Trust, which allowed me to attend a number of national conferences, where I was able to search for innovative ideas for improvements.

Having capacity to develop successful research

I was driven to become involved in developing initiatives to improve the care of patients with sepsis. Through mentorship and collaborative working with the Sepsis Clinical Lead, Dr Ben Messer, I developed the capacity to conceive a Sepsis education project.

In this project, I conducted a pre-and post-educational survey to assess the level of nursing knowledge about sepsis and evaluate the effectiveness of an educational strategy that I designed. This helped me to identify the gaps and issues regarding the lack of awareness and knowledge about this condition among nursing staff.

The results of this survey have shown an improvement following the sepsis presentation. I presented an abstract outlining this work at the national conference of the Intensive Care Society. In 2018, the findings of the project were published in the Journal of the Intensive Care Society.

This learning experience reshaped my worldview about knowledge and its application in practice. Therefore, in addition to my commitments as a full-time nurse at the Newcastle Hospitals, I completed an MSc in Critical Care at the University of Glasgow, where I was awarded the Academic Achievement Award.

Support to pursue academic goals

Pursuing the MSc degree involved studying full time alongside full-time employment, which was a great challenge. However, our ITU clinical educator, Gill Hart helped me to pursue my academic goals alongside my clinical role.

Transformed by my learning experience, I was committed to developing my research career on a full-time basis. Yet attracting external funding and national fellowships was not an easy process.

I was coming up against tough competition and a lack of funding. Again, the support of the Newcastle Hospitals NMAHP Research Team enabled me to pursue the academic goal through the Master Workshop series it organised for nurses, midwifes and allied health professionals (NMAHPs).

It was through this course that I was able to increase my skills and confidence in developing a strong application improving my chances of securing external funding and a national studentship.

In 2019, I was delighted to be awarded a fully funded PhD studentship by Northumbria University. This studentship involves full fees and a stipend for a period of 3 years, allowing me to develop my research career on a full-time basis.

Overcoming barriers and challenges

This meant studying full time alongside part time employment, which would have been extremely challenging, had it not been for Linda Tinker, the Trust Lead for NMAHP Research. She was able to help overcome barriers and implement the necessary flexibility in place, so that I could pursue the PhD while remaining within my clinical role.

Northumbria University has provided me with the opportunity of working alongside Professor Alison Steven and Dr Tony Conner, who helped me to pursue my academic goals. Furthermore, the University has provided a range of opportunities to develop the skills needed to successfully complete the PhD, such as the Professional Development and Researcher Training Program.

In my PhD research, I got an opportunity to address early recognition of sepsis, which is recognised as one of the most critical and unresolved critical points of sepsis and may enable improvements in the timely management of sepsis.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, I realised that my PhD research could play an important role in the care of patients affected by Coronavirus Disease. Developing improvements in the recognition of sepsis would mean identifying critical solutions to protect and strengthen healthcare organisations to be better prepared for future health threats from emerging infectious diseases.

Planning for ethical approval for a research design in a rapidly evolving and unprecedented public health crisis has been a challenging task. I understood that without social distancing measures in place, my current research design could not secure ethical approval. A plan B was required!

The PhD Support Group led by Linda Tinker served me as an inspiration for this task. Within this group, sharing each other’s expertise and experiences led to the development of innovative opportunities that maximised opportunities for success.

New opportunities through collaborative learning

As a result of this collaborative learning process, my eyes were opened to new opportunities that I had not considered before. I was able to redesign this study with some level of flexibility and rewrite the applications for the ethical approvals while keeping social distancing measures in mind.

I have learnt how to create realistic and achievable alternative routes to achieve the key outcomes of my research and re-establish the timelines disrupted by the pandemic. Taking it all together, despite the challenges, the last few years of my PhD have been the most productive of my life.

With the support of the Trust and Northumbria University, I have had the resources and guidance to develop and design my study.

As I am now slowly approaching the end of my PhD, my passion for research remains as strong as ever. My PhD project has opened new lines of inquiry about sepsis and found the issues that have not been addressed yet.

In fact I will soon be presenting the findings of my PhD research at a forthcoming conference of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine in Paris.

I will keep my eyes open for prospects to secure external funding and a national postdoctoral fellowship.