CAPC Festival of Teaching

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by Dr Simon Thornton, GP and GP Engagement Lead, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol and Professor Trevor Thompson, GP and Head of Primary Care Teaching, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

The Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) at the University of Bristol is a leading centre for primary care teaching and research based in Bristol Medical School. In April 2022, we held an inaugural Festival of Teaching at Bristol Zoo, to celebrate the skill and commitment of GP teachers, who are helping develop the primary care workforce of the future.

The day started with an introduction to teaching for the coming (2022/23) academic year from the teaching team. If you’re interested in teaching medical students and haven’t seen it already, do take a look at our Teaching Brochure that gives you all the information you need about teaching … Read more

Lessons from lockdown: NHS general practice changes and public perceptions

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by Dr Lorna Duncan, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

 

How did England’s National Health Service (NHS) change at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Dr Lorna Duncan and Kelly Cheng wrote two companion pieces for F1000Research, exploring how the NHS modified general practice (GP) consultations to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and what the public thought about those changes. F1000Research spoke to Dr. Duncan about what they discovered and the potential implications for primary care. You can read the full blog on their website.… Read more

‘Our First Year Heard’ – curating the experiences of first-year medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic

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By Louis Davenport, Medical Student, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol

My name is Louis Davenport, and I am a second-year medical student at the University of Bristol. I am the organiser of ‘Our First Year Heard’, a student art collection showcasing the effects of COVID-19 on first-year medical students.

The seed of the idea came from an extremely intense, one might say uncomfortable, experience that I had in the dissection room in my first year at medical school. While I am not particularly artistic myself, I made use of poetry to help process the experience and wrote several drafts of what would become What’s in front of you. From there I thought, why not collect the experiences of first-year medical students who might similarly wish to share them with other medical students and the wider public? Capturing the unique experiences of people who … Read more

Opening opportunities for GP trainees and allied health professionals to get into research: the PACT ‘Why test?’ study

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by Dr Jessica Watson, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

Have you ever found yourself looking at blood test results and wondered why the test was done in the first place?

Why Test? – It seems like a simple question. Yet despite increasing access to research databases such as Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), which contain millions of test results, there is no easy way to find out why these tests are being performed in the first place. How many are for monitoring, screening or diagnosis? Which symptoms trigger testing? To explore this, we are launching the Why Test study using the Primary Care Academic CollaboraTive (PACT).

Currently, only a tiny proportion of primary care clinicians have a formal academic contract with a University. PACT aims to open up opportunities for non-academic primary care clinicians to get … Read more

Developing academic writing skills for researchers with English as a second language

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by Beatriz Kalichman, Researcher, University of São Paulo, Brazil and Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, UK

Beatriz Kalichman, an early career researcher (ECR) on the Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse (HERA) international research project at the University of São Paulo and, honorarily, at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, reflects on the National Institute for Health Research (NIIHR)-funded writing workshop, ‘Writing for Global Health: developing academics of the future’, in Summer 2021. The workshop was co-developed by ECRs and delivered by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Language and Development.

Academic English writing is very important for career progression and was identified as an issue that ECRs on the HERA project who don’t have English as a first language wanted to work on. HERA, funded by the Medical Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund and NIHR Global Health … Read more

Twists, turns and persistence: my path from nursing to research

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by Dr Cindy Mann, Research Fellow, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

Cindy Mann, a former nurse and now Research Fellow at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, shares the twists and turns in her career, and encourages nurse colleagues to consider research as a future path and not be put off by setbacks.

A long and varied career

I have had a long career, starting in 1975, when I did my nurse training at Leeds General Infirmary. In 1977 I got married and after completing training followed my husband to Oxford where I took a job as a staff nurse at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I then decided to do a Philosophy degree in Oxford, and really enjoyed the peace and quiet of working in a library, in contrast to ongoing shifts for the nurse bank. In the following years, up … Read more

Curiosity and imagination: building blocks on my path to research

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by Alastair Hay, Professor of Primary Care, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

I became a GP in 1997 and was appointed professor of primary care at the University of Bristol in 2013.

As a child, I was an avid Lego® player and reader of ‘how things work’ books. I was state-educated and did not enjoy school until my ‘A’ levels. I enjoyed the conceptual challenge of mathematics and, in 1985, was offered a place at Birmingham University to study maths and psychology. My results were better than I expected, so I withdrew and applied for medicine, securing a place at Sheffield.

I was initially disappointed by the course because of the lack of conceptual challenges. I was expected just to absorb lots of knowledge. Later, as I took responsibility for patient care, the application of knowledge became the interest. I did not intercalate … Read more

Point-of-care tests to inform antibiotic prescribing

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by Alastair Hay, Professor of Primary Care, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

This article was first published in the BMJ.

The tests have potential but more evidence is needed. 

Given the global concerns(1) about antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial stewardship is essential to preserve the future effectiveness(2) of antibiotics. Healthcare practitioners must balance public and patient health, ensuring that only patients who need antibiotics receive them, and that they receive an antibiotic to which their infection is susceptible, at the optimum time, dose, and duration. Whether to prescribe an antibiotic is a key issue for clinicians treating respiratory infections in the community.

Point-of-care tests provide results in time to inform treatment. For respiratory infections, the tests can identify the presence of a microbe(3-5) or measure markers of a host’s response to a microbe, such as C reactive protein or procalcitonin, in finger prick quantities … Read more