SIS Group Member - Dr Ross A. Atkinson
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:40:00 GMT
I recently became an honorary member of the Skin Interface Sciences (SIS) Research Group through my connections with Dr Karen Ousey. I have been working with Karen and Mr Brad Williamson (Consultant Spinal Surgeon at Salford Royal) over the past two years to develop a small programme of work investigating surgical site infection after orthopaedic spinal surgery. The SIS Research Group’s existence has strengthened this collaboration, particularly by raising my awareness of the expertise contained within the group.
My work with Dr Ousey has thus far has resulted in around £35k in grant funding, several publications in high impact clinical and professional journals, with presentations at national and international conferences. Recently, we have been investigating compliance with a care bundle intended to reduce the risk of surgical site infection in our patients at Salford Royal. In particular, we found that compliance with the policy for antibiotic prophylaxis in spinal surgery was lower than we would aim for. In particular, some of our patients were receiving antibiotics outside of the recommended 60 minutes prior to surgical start (for various reasons relating to the surgical procedure). We know that administering antibiotics in this crucial time period prior to certain types of surgery can be key in the prevention of infection. When stumped for the answer to a question posed by our surgeons about our antibiotic policy, the ability for Karen and I to call on the expertise of Prof. Barbara Conway (Professor of Pharmaceutics at Huddersfield and a member of the SIS research group) there and then proved a great help, and just the answers we were looking for. It is access to this kind of knowledge and support which is instrumental in successful working partnerships, and which helps to drive improvements in practice through greater understanding.
Dr Ousey’s links with industry, as well as those with experts in basic science and health care, have been valuable in building further collaborations which will improve our chances of attracting external grant funding. We are pleased that we have interest in our future studies from some of the big names in the field, such as Prof. David Leaper, an academic surgeon who chaired the committee responsible for producing the NICE Guideline regarding prevention and treatment of surgical site infection. Karen and I, together with the input of David and other key players, are now preparing a grant proposal for a prospective study to investigate the use of a specific type of post-operative dressing which we hope will stimulate healing of the surgical wound and prevent infection as a consequence.
I hope that the collaboration between Salford Royal and the University of Huddersfield will continue to grow with the support of the SIS Research Group.
Ross A. Atkinson, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Greater Manchester Neurosciences Centre, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
Honorary Research Associate, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, The University of Manchester
