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“It’s an amazing experience!”: Physio Gemma on her PhD training
Why did you decide a PhD was for you?
There were many questions that I came across in physiotherapy clinical practice; for example, why am I doing things this way? And where’s the evidence that this is the right way to do this? I realised that doing a PhD was an opportunity to investigate some answers to these questions.
I had already been involved in some research studies, working with Professor Di Bilton who was in the same department at the time. She really encouraged me to consider doing a PhD.
What was your PhD about?
At the time, a big question was ‘what chest physiotherapy technique is the best’? But in order to answer that question, we needed to know how you were going to measure what ‘best’ looks like! In other words, what’s the best way of measuring airway clearance? My PhD was about investigating the best way to measure airway clearance. I compared commonly used methods such as spirometry and sputum weight, with newer techniques such as multiple breath washout (MBW), impulse oscillometry and electrical impedance tomography. We found that there wasn’t really a best new way to measure airway clearance. However, I did learn a lot about the newer techniques along the way in terms of future usability and acceptability for people with CF. For example, I found out that MBW may not be acceptable for people with CF with lower lung function due to it taking too long to complete.
What advice would you give to another healthcare professional considering doing a PhD?
Absolutely do it, it’s an amazing experience! The CF research community are really helpful and supportive. As well as the opportunity to focus on a research study, it gives you lots of other opportunities in terms of new networks of colleagues and inspiring collaborations. It’s through doing my PhD that I’ve become a research representative for the UK’s Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in CF, Chair of the the ECFS Physiotherapy specialist interest group (PhySIG) and the UK representative of the REACH for CF collaboration. These roles have enabled me to work with national and international colleagues to establish best practice, offer peer support to others and to try and forge collaborations to answer key research questions in CF physiotherapy.
Don’t be put off starting on a research pathway by thinking that you’re not academic enough, or that you don’t have enough experience. When you think about it, most people do a bit of research every day that they’re in the clinic: whether that’s a comparison of different techniques for optimal effect for an individual, evidencing a treatment choice or an audit of a service.
A big thank you to Gemma for sharing her experiences of doing a research PhD.
How can I get started in research?
To do a PhD as a healthcare professional, the onus is on you to generate the ideas for the research questions that you want to answer, to assemble a supervisory team and to write the funding application to get the money. This can be really time consuming and hard to juggle with the demands of a clinical job. However, help is at hand in the form of the NIHR PCAF awards.
The NIHR PCAF awards are available at different levels and can fund your time to write a PhD application, complete pre-doctoral training or gather pilot data to support an application.
The funding call is open now, and the deadline for the submission of funding applications is Thursday 16 March 2023.
Find out more about NIHR PCAF awards
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It affects more than 10,800 people in the UK. One in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it, usually without knowing.
Since 1964, we've supported people with cystic fibrosis to live longer, healthier lives - and we won’t stop until everyone can live without limits imposed by CF.
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