Education

Our aim is to deliver leading edge and high-quality research which will contribute to best practice, improved outcomes and enhance the patient experience.

Often the best way to generate and develop ideas is for different groups to get together and discuss. Trauma and Orthopaedics Research Charity facilitates this through organising events to promote research and improve patient care, for example the quarterly patient liaison group, trauma focus groups and monthly orthopaedic research committee meetings. In addition, specific meetings have been organised such as those associated with the new Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) plan. The charity has also supported local anaesthetic workshops and paediatric conferences.

TORC Research Seminar aimed at healthcare professionals. The feedback from this event was positive and staff felt it was very beneficial. Guest speakers that presented on the day included; Professor Dan Perry – Research Methodology, Professor Matt Costa – Critical Appraisal of T&O Research, Mr Fiachra Rowan – Developing research priorities & networks North & South, Mr Gerry Sheridan – How to be more productive with research during training and Professor John Wong – Research in the desert.

IOFAS Pre-Conference at Musgrave Park Hospital saw TORC’s Trustee and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dessie Gibson as one of the guest speaker at this event. The event consisted of a great mix of surgeons and physios learning and sharing ideas.

Funding has been provided for staff to present work at both national and international conferences to promote our research and staff development. Some of the conferences staff have attended in the past include: Current Concepts in Joint Replacement, the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedic and Traumatology congress, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting, the British Hip Society annual meeting, the British Orthopaedic Association annual congress and the Irish Orthopaedic Association Conference.

The charity has also supported local anaesthetic workshops and paediatric conferences and offered training space for the registrars to take part in simulation training.

So far 15 postgraduate qualifications have been completed: nine MPhils, two MDs and six PhDs. All of these have been part or fully funded by Trauma and Orthopaedics Research Charity These have been either in conjunction with the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences or within the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast.

The most recent of these was a biomechanical evaluation of reality-based navigation in total hip arthroplasty. In addition the charity has established funding for two arthroplasty surgical fellows each year to complete orthopaedic training and training for staff in areas such as statistical analysis, management and courses in the National Joint Registry.

Our Clinical Research Nurse also completed a BSc (Hons) Health Studies and BSc (Hons) Health & Clinical Studies degree course at Queens University, Belfast.

We also helped produce and fund patient education booklets for major trauma patients in the Belfast Trust called ‘Steps to Recovery Following Traumatic Injury’.