Chair’s briefing to C.R.N.A members.

In the first instance I’d just like to open my briefing by saying many thanks to my colleagues for re-electing me as Chair of the C.R.N.A for another term at the A.G.M. held in Pisa last October. I’d like also to say thank you to all our members for their loyalty in maintaining membership and support of the C.R.N.A and to thank my fellow committee members for all their hard work and contributions over the past and previous years. Despite so many other demands on the work front they have remained focused to the cause, which for the benefit of perhaps some of our newer members is to support Nurses and other Allied health care professionals in research.

I’d like to welcome new members to the committee, Trish Daniels, Calvin Morley and Linda Cowie and regrettably have to say goodbye to one of our long-standing committee members, Anu Kulkarni, who has been a valuable and dedicated asset to the C.R.N.A for a number of years. I do hope however that we’ll continue to see Anu at our various events. Congratulations to our members Sharon Jones and Joanne Plumb who have themselves been very productive over the last year having increased their household numbers by one each!

In terms of C.R.N.A activities, we held a very successful study day in Kent last year entitled ‘The EU Directive: ‘One year on’ which was very well attended. The year culminated in our annual conference in October in Pisa run on the theme of ‘The European Perspective on Consumers in Research, Especially Vulnerable People’. This also was very successful and made even more enjoyable as a result of being hosted in Pisa. Following on from that it is hoped that as a research group we will continue to go from strength to strength in widening our horizons in this way. From our conference last year we have found that there are many disparities in terms of research nurses and their status, differences within other European countries as to how research is conducted along with general differences in relation to cultures and attitudes to healthcare. In increasing our diversity in this way I am sure it will be enriching for the C.R.N.A and its members.

Finally, this year we will be holding our annual conference here in exotic London! Do come along as there’s always something for everyone in the programme with the added possibility of exchanging ideas with some of our newer continental members and gaining a wider European perspective on research!

CRNA Annual Conference October 2005

The CRNA held its first European meeting in Pisa, Italy.  The location was the Royal Victoria Hotel, which provided charming and eccentric surroundings. This added to the enjoyment (the frescoed ceilings and ancient bathrooms provided plenty of scope for the imagination and the occasional ghostly sighting!).

The programme had already got off to a good start with 11 abstracts being submitted. The Committee had been busy since the spring in drawing up ideas and working on the scientific programme.

The theme of the meeting concentrated on ‘Issues of consent and ethics in vulnerable groups’.  This allowed a wide range of research experience and state-of-the-art information to be shared and a spirited exchange of views and implications for practice. It included invited speakers who covered challenges faced in clinical research from early life to old age and mental health.

The first presentation by Dr Maggie Shepherd, Exeter was on ‘Genetic testing in diabetes: the impact on families’ and provided an insight into how genetic testing can be of positive value to the patient and their family and the implications for treatment. Also dealing with children and families was Dr Laura Manca, Pisa, who described ‘Linking chronic disease families with medical research in Italy: examples of muscular dystrophies and immune-mediated inflammatory disorders’.  Laura gave us a colourful description of how research was funded and conducted in the chronic disease model within Italy.

Abstracts were presented on very diverse themes: Sue Palmer and Joanna Finney: Wellcome Trust CRF (WTCRF), Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, described ‘How the WTCRF developed to help vulnerable patients reach an informed decision’ and Marianne Smith, Acute Pain Service, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, presented work on ‘Nurses’ coping strategies: how nurses experience and manage feelings and thoughts in performance of a traumatic task’, a qualitative research study which stimulated discussion among the participants.

Two abstracts that dealt with the issue of ethnicity and health were Amena Dil-Mohamed: Whittington Hospital, London, UK ‘How to recruit hard to reach ethnic groups’, which described immigration in the UK over the past 100 years and its present impact on research recruitment. Calvin Moorley: School of Health and Bioscience, University of East London, London, then gave a lively presentation on how he had developed a ‘general assessment tool for a stroke/TIA clinic in an East London hospital, using exploratory data analysis’, which was a new method for many of us.

The second day began with an insightful invited presentation from Trish Daniel, West London Cancer Research Network, Charing Cross Hospital, London on ‘Cancer trials and implications of research for cancer patients’ the talk was enlivened with slides interspersed with video clips. Abstracts continued the theme of cancer research with Patricia Swift: Women’s Health, Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital, Margate, ‘The leadership role of the nurse specialist in oncology research’, Cathy Hughes, West London Cancer Research Network, Charing Cross Hospital, London, ‘Development, implementation and evaluation of a workshop to explore issues of informed consent into cancer clinical trials.’  Katharine Whayman, Burdett Institute of Gastrointestinal Nursing, St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, presented her work on ‘Improving timing and quality of information for patients invited to participate in colorectal cancer clinical trials’.

Guest speaker Anne-Marie Haigh, OPTIMA (Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing), University of Oxford, gave us an insight into ‘Vulnerable adults: issues of ageing and dementia’.  Followed by an abstract from Ellen McCulloch, OPTIMA, on the ‘Challenges and lessons during recruitment into a clinical trial on Alzheimer’s disease’. Joan Rischmiller, Neurovascular Research Unit, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, enlightened us about the challenging aspects of ‘Obtaining informed consent from acute subarachnoid haemorrhage patients’

Finally, Dr Edward Duncan, NMAP Research Unit, University of Stirling, addressed the ‘Challenges of access, consent and user participation in mental health research’, which provided a different social, political and research point of view for those of us who work with physical disease.

The conference came to an end on a high note with Dr Joe Pim presenting the 2006 Barbara Pim award for the best podium or poster presentation to a delighted Calvin Moorley – well done Calvin!

Apart from the scientific programme we enjoyed dinner at La Pergoletta restaurant, which despite being a bit on slow side (but that allowed us to get to know one another better and enjoy the local wines!) was a lovely meal of typical Pisan dishes.  Dr Joe Pim entertained us with his delightful after-dinner talk with memories of his late wife Barbara – after whom we have named our annual award for best abstract presentation. 

The CRNA enjoyed the company of colleagues from as far a field as Malta, who had us all laughing about their tale of getting arrested at the top of the Leaning Tower!

Copies of the abstracts are available via the CRNA website.