Four senior medical students have achieved what many researchers can take years to accomplish – had a research paper published in a tier one journal.
Fifth-year Joint Medical Program students Daisy Kelly, James Pennington, Lucie Bankowski and Suraj Chaudhari have turned a routine assignment into a potentially influential paper on the importance of coordinated, holistic pressure injury care. It was published in the International Wound Journal last month.
Their scoping review of 41 international studies has highlighted the importance of an interprofessional approach to the management of pressure injuries. This included shared care plans, clear communication and strong leadership among health care teams caring for people with serious pressure injuries in hospitals and the community.
Pressure sores can have a devastating impact on the health, independence and quality of life of individuals and their families. Healing often takes months and requires support from a team of health professionals. These teams typically include doctors, nurses, dietitians, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, but often lack specific support for the mental health and wellbeing issues.
“We found that teamwork is particularly important in pressure injury care, and our supervisors thought the findings could inform future research and clinical practice,” said Daisy. “We were very excited to have the work published, especially in a journal like this.”
The research concluded that there were often gaps in the continuity of care and psychosocial support individuals receive when transitioning from hospital to home and that they could benefit from accessing psychologists and social workers as part of a more coordinated, person-centred approach.
“We hope our research will contribute to better patient care and possibly inspire further research in this space,” said Daisy, highlighting that the geographically dispersed research team collaborated successfully online to complete the research.
You can find the paper here.
