Sheffield's Stroke Research Team Win Prestigious Nursing Times Award
Sheffield's Stroke Research Team Win Prestigious Nursing Times Award for Innovative Trial Tracker
Stroke research nurses scoop prestigious Nursing Times Award for innovative stroke trial tracking software, which was designed to streamline the screening and management of patients suitable for research studies. Judges said they were “impressed” with the tool which they described as an “inclusive and easily scalable innovation”.
Photo from left to right: Rebecca Pyecroft-Oxley, Christine Kamara, Jonathan Gardner, Emma Richards, Jo Howe, Daisy Priest.
Stroke research nurses from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have won the prestigious Nursing Times Award for Clinical Research Nursing.
The Award, which was presented to the team at the Nursing Times Awards 2023 ceremony last week, was given in recognition of an innovative trial tracker that allows for rapid screening of patients into research trials.
The team beat off competition from a record high number of entries in the Clinical Research Nursing category. Over 600 nursing teams from across the NHS entered the Nursing Times Awards 2023, which are one of the most sought-after awards in the industry.
The Stroke Trial Tracker is a pioneering time-saving automated system which spots which patients are suitable for multiple research studies simultaneously using bespoke algorithms that combine information from trial criteria to the patient’s condition.
As well as enabling rapid assessment and fast-tracking, screening and management of patients into important stroke research trials, the cutting-edge tool has freed up vital NHS resource, reducing repetitive, labour-intensive tasks such as manual reviews of eligibility and completion of paper-based audits from an average of six hours a week to one hour.
This has played a pivotal role in enabling stroke research nurses to use their specialist skills and expertise to increase patient participation in research trials. It has also meant patients are no longer approached several times by different team members to take part in research.
The judges were “impressed” by the trial tracker which they described as “a friendly, practical solution to an ongoing challenge in research delivery. Created by nurses for nurses, the team demonstrated the benefits of the tracker to patients, staff and the organisation with an inclusive and easily scalable innovation.”
The tool was developed thanks to funding and support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre. Elements of the tracker are already being used in other areas in the Trust. The team also hope to roll it out to other clinical areas to support recruitment into dementia and motor neurone disease research. They will also seek support from industry partners to determine national scalability of the tool.
Emma Richards, Senior Stroke Research Sister for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are thrilled to have won this highly coveted National Institute for Health and Care Research-supported award for our innovative stroke trial tracker against very tough competition. Research is an important part of improving prevention, treatment and care of stroke patients at all stages – including immediately following diagnosis, rehabilitation and as patients go on to rebuild their lives. This tracker has played a key role in streamlining the screening and management of patients into vital stroke research. We hope to now build on this success by making the tool more widely available to the NHS.”
Dr Martin Bayley, Healthcare Computer Scientist for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who is part of the part of the Scientific Computing and Informatics team based in Medical Imaging and Medical Physics at Royal Hallamshire who helped develop the software, said: “Emma had a great idea to help streamline the stroke trial tracking process, which we were excited to help realise. We were able to use existing mature technologies which our group developed and extended to automate the trial assessment for stroke. We are delighted that the calibre of this work has been recognised through this prestigious award. Ongoing funding has been secured to investigate applying the same technology to dementia research.”
Professor Chris Morley, Chief Nurse for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a great endorsement of the fabulous collaborative work of our research nursing teams and our clinical research scientific teams. Stroke research nurses play a pivotal, but often unseen role, in supporting our understanding of strokes through research and innovation. This is an innovative approach to improving access to transformative research and care which is positively benefiting patients in Sheffield and beyond whilst also freeing up vital specialist research nursing resource.”
Around 3,000 patients are admitted to Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and the stroke care pathway for urgent, emergency care and treatment for strokes or suspected strokes every year. The stroke research team aim to screen 100% of those patients to suitable research trials.
Strokes are a medical emergency and urgent treatment is essential to limit brain damage. The three early stroke warning signs of stroke highlighted in Department of Health’s ‘FAST’ test include the face drooping on one side, an inability to smile, drooping eyes or mouth, an inability to lift one arm or both arms and keep them there, slurred speech. Anyone noticing these signs should call 999 immediately.