Medical Technologies IKC | 22
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Bringing patient
involvement
into the lab
Medical engineer,
Dr Claire Brockett, a
University Academic Fellow
in iMBE has recently been
awarded a one-year University
Engagement Excellence
Fellowship. Here she tells us
about her plans for public and
patient engagement, and
why she believes it’s crucial
to her research.
What made you apply for
a Fellowship?
I took part in an ‘Ask the
Researcher’ event, at Chapel
Allerton Hospital organised
by Leeds Musculoskeletal
Biomedical Research Unit
(LMBRU). It became clear
during the event that there
was a real disconnect
between me as a lab
researcher and the patients:
I wasn’t asking the right
questions and they had little
idea about what went on in
the lab. They thought
‘involvement in research’
was just about signing up
for clinical trials and weren’t
aware that they could help
inform the research at an
earlier stage too. It was a
bit of a ‘light bulb moment’
for me.
Why is it important
for you to engage with
patients?
When we’re working in the
lab it’s easy to forget the
end user – but patients
are the experts in their
condition! They know what
the problems are, how
much pain they’re in and
what they can and can’t do.
As medical engineers, we
strive to develop solutions
to challenges and we have
input from industry and
clinicians to facilitate design
and development, but it’s
the patients themselves who
know what they want from it,
and this perspective is really
important.
As engineers, we
might consider an
ankle replacement that
only lasts seven years
as underperforming,
compared with knee and
hip replacements that last
for much longer – but the
patient may be delighted
that they’ve had seven years
of pain-free function and
movement. Of course we
want to keep improving,
but we need to embrace
the fact that the patient is
benefiting and we don’t
always need to go back to
the drawing board.
What are your plans for
this Fellowship year?
I’m going to be organising
lab tours through LMBRU’s
patient networks so that they
can see what happens in the
lab and how new products
are designed and tested.
I hope that this more
open approach will give
them more confidence in
technologies that are coming
through and that they
appreciate that they
can influence research
ideas and new product
development.
They’ll also meet my PhD
students, so the next
generation of researchers
will also learn to engage with
patients, and I believe this
experience will make them
more rounded researchers
as their careers develop. n