Imperial College London Primary Care

Professor Sir Brian Jarman, Director of the Dr Foster Unit, recently appeared on Radio 4 and a Channel 4 News piece regarding the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry, discussing his involvement as an expert witness. A mortality alert system developed within the Dr Foster Unit by Professor Jarman, Dr Paul Aylin and Dr Alex Bottle detected high mortality rates at the hospital. The hospital received written notice of their high mortality rates, but in their evidence to the inquiry, claimed they were unaware of this information. Professor Jarman discussed the results of the inquiry on 20 February 2013 as part of the PCPH Seminar Series. The Daily Telegraph also covered Professor Jarman’s role in the public inquiry.

The following PhD students recently passed their vivas: Layla Abdulaziz Alhyas: Quality of Diabetes Management in the UAE . Carmen Tsang: Patient safety in English general practice-use of routinely collected data in detecting adverse events . Carina King: Can routinely collected electronic health data be used to develop novel healthcare associated infection surveillance tools?

Qualitative Methods for Health Research Geva Greenfield, Agnieszska Ignatowicz & Jessica D. Jones Nielsen (NIHR Research Design Service, Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College London) What is qualitative research?  Qualitative research allows researchers to investigate phenomenon by broadening and deepening their understanding through description and is used by a variety of disciplines. The strength of qualitative research lies in its ability to provide information about the “human” side of any issue – that is, it seeks to discover the meanings that participants attach to their behaviour, how they interpret and experience situations, and what their views are on particular issues. This methodology has received increasing recognition in health research as it focuses on how patients interpret and describe their experiences and captures their perspectives of healthcare. What kind of topics can qualitative health research address? A qualitative stu...