Imperial College London Primary Care

  Updates on my experience working on the vitamin D study   In my previous blog, I described my experience working on the vitamin D research project as part of my Student Selected Component (SCP). This is a project organised by the  River Island Academic Centre for Paediatrics and Child Health  in collaboration with the  Imperial Self-Care Academic Research Unity (SCARU), aiming to find out more about what people in the UK know and think about vitamin D, using an electronic questionnaire. It falls under the category of “formative research”, which is research aiming to gather data useful for the development and implementation of health initiatives(1). In the first week of my SCP attachment, I was mainly involved with the questionnaire, as I described in my last blog entry. In the following three weeks, I continued developing the questionnaire and I also worked on the study protocol, a step necessary to get ethics approval. In this blog, I describe my experience i...

In the UK around 1 in 5 people have low levels of vitamin D. This can have important consequences because vitamin D is essential for bone health, and low levels can lead to bone problems such as osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Vitamin D is needed for everyone at all stages of life, from newborns and childhood, to adolescence, adulthood, and old age – which I find very exciting and fascinating. Being interested in paediatrics, endocrinology and neurology, and considering following a clinical academic path in the future, I decided to pursue a research project in vitamin D for my Specialty choice placement (SCP). Vitamin D deficiency   Over the past few weeks I have been working with Dr Tanna, a consultant pharmacist, and Prof Blair, a consultant paediatrician with an interest in public health, on a research project about vitamin D aiming to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of people living in the UK. In the UK vitamin D deficiency is very common, and therefore the NHS...

Leveraging Community Assets to Tackle Social Isolation and Loneliness: A Needs Assessment of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Executive Summary Dissertation by: Mr Hao Yang Pang, Master of Public Health (MPH) Co-Supervisors: Drs Marize Bakhet & Shamini Gnani Supervisor & Principal Investigator: Dr Austen El-Osta (ICREC #19IC5385) This study is an investigation of factors that influence the routine adoption & diffusion of evidence-based asset-based community development (ABCD) initiatives to tackle social isolation & loneliness (using LBH&F as a case study)  INTRODUCTION ·        Social isolation may affect people of all ages, but it does not equate to loneliness and vice versa. Although acknowledged to be different concepts, social isolation and loneliness (SI&L) are often considered together. ·        SI&L is a r...

Resources on brief physical activity guidance for older adults in isolation for patients and clinicians Giving Older Adults Brief Physical Activity Advice. Given current clinical pressures, clinicians dealing with older adults will likely have limited time, and this adapted 3As model may provide a possible structure to clinician’s advice. Ask: Permission to discuss physical activity as something that could make a difference to health and wellbeing Advise /Explain/Explore: Ask how they physical activity levels have changed and what they could do to increase it?  Agree: A plan considering what they will do, how they will do it. Try to ensure that it includes some cardiovascular, muscle and bone strengthening activities including resistance exercises, balance and co-ordination elements to the plan. Cardiovascular : Ideally the individual should be slightly out of breath when performing the activity. Aim to build to 150 minu...