What’s in a name?

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To celebrate Biomedical Science Awareness Day on Wednesday 19th July, Biomedical Science lecturer Ian Davies reflects upon the identity of the profession and their role in healthcare.

“So what’s that?” “Just like Prime Suspect” “Ugh, you do what?!” – just some of the responses I have had when conversations turn to careers and education. Despite being a biomedical scientist for over 20 years, amongst 23,000 registered by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) within the UK, it can still be difficult to clearly explain what we do and why we do it.

Being a biomedical scientist brings together a unique mix of laboratory skills, scientific and clinical knowledge and patient-centred professional practice and focuses them upon investigating the body’s response to disease. Clinically this could be in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease, in research though uncovering the detail of disease processes (often at the genomic level) or in the development and production of new diagnostic tools or interventions. It’s not just humans either – our ‘patients’ range from flasks of cell culture disease models to the entire range of species encountered by veterinary laboratories. It goes further still – the transferrable skills of biomedical science graduates are well utilised across a wide range of life science and education professions where their ability to integrate knowledge and apply it in a professional and innovative way are prized assets.

#BMSday2017

Biomedical Science Awareness Day takes place on Wednesday 19th July, the anniversary of the birth of Albert Norman MBE, founder of the Institute of Biomedical Science. In 1912 Albert was fundamental in the formation of the “Pathological and Bacteriological Laboratory Assistants Association (PBLAA)” which aimed to bring communication, advancements of practice and development of methods and techniques to the growing workforce of “unskilled menials” working in early emerging pathology laboratories. Over 100 years later the association, now the Institute of Biomedical Science, is the focus of our professional identity, the workforce is highly educated and skilled, and its practitioners contribute significantly to the scientific community within the NHS. Continue reading →

Higher Education’s Invisible Learning

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At this time of year we often hear of our recent graduate students obtaining employment and being accepted for higher degrees. They clearly impress employers and other HEI’s with their transferable knowledge and skills, some of which they have obtained during their placements, perhaps in hospitals, analytical laboratories and schools. On hearing such news we, as tutors, can look back and remember these students in their first year – and this often makes their achievements even more impressive. Of course, all our students learn more than just biology and transferable skills.

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Our work with Schools and Colleges

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Our Education academics regularly work with Schools and Colleges on projects to enhance the learning experience of students and promote their progression into further study and work.

Read below for updates from our academics about activities they have been undertaking with young people across the region, including:

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Quality – from laboratory bench to hospital bedside

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Ian Davies, lecturer in Biomedical Science and course leader for Healthcare Science, has just been selected to be part of the Q Community – a diverse and growing community of professionals with experience and understanding of improvement and committed to improving health and care across the UK.

Founded by the Health Foundation in 2013 and supported by NHS Improvement, Q (which stands for Quality if you haven’t guessed) is a community of frontline staff, managers, researchers and policymakers who share a common aim in developing a critical mass to accelerate improvements to the quality of care.

 

Although a common public perception of healthcare centres around nurses and doctors, as Ian explains biomedical and healthcare scientists play a vital contribution to patient care throughout the NHS: Continue reading →

15th Staffordshire Conference on Clinical Biomechanics (SCCB 2017)

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From the 4th– 6th May we saw the 15th consecutive version of this international  conference take place at Staffordshire University, hosted by Professor Nachiappan Chockalingam.

Over the 3 days of Conference, talks and workshops were delivered by internationally recognised speakers, researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students including Professor Joe Hamill (Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Massachusetts, USA) Dr Jos Vanrenterghem (KU Leuven, Belgium), Professor Tom Shannon (Oxford Metrics, Oxford, UK) and Dr Scott Selbie (CMotion Inc., USA). Continue reading →

Sport Therapy Students Soft Tissue Masterclass From Dan Buchannon

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Level 6 Sports Therapy students were given a soft tissue masterclass in myofascial “Rolfing” by Soft Tissue Therapist Dan Buchannon.  Dan, who has been a practising soft tissue therapist for 10 years having worked with an array of elite sports teams including Bracknell Bee’s Ice hockey, Reading FC, Ipswich Town FC, and most recently Derby County FC.

Dan provided students his experience and insight into the challenges facing new 20160314_140505graduates trying to break into professional sport, before passing on his knowledge of an emerging soft tissue technique known as “Rolfing”.  The technique was completely new to the students and helped enhance the skill set for these soon to be graduates.  The session included some unique methods of exposing the students to the realities of the myofascial matrix through the manual dissection and manipulation of raw meat tissue, before focusing on the application of techniques applicable to restoring ankle and hamstring function as well addressing postural faults in the torso and back.

The students excelled in their willingness to learn the skills and gain an appreciation of the treatment modality.  The students reported “Its been great to have someone like Dan who is currently working in elite sport come in to show us new areas in which the industry is working.  Seeing some the immediate effects and responses of the rolfing has been great too, and is something I definitely want to learn more about after today.”20160314_145119

Having just set up his own private practice (Go-Perform) in addition to his work with Derby County FC Dan finished the session with a Q&A about the important employability qualities within new graduates and discussed the importance for grauates to find their own niche area of expertise within the industry.  The students further commented “hearing from Dan about the importance of networking, and the ways he has gone about building a reputation both in sport and private practice has been priceless, and has been a real eye opener for myself with just 2 months to go before we graduate”.

Dan commented himself “It’s been a privilege coming in and sharing what I can to the students both in terms of new techniques and helping them understand what takes for them to make their own ambitions a reality. They’ve all taken on board everything I asked of them, and if they can show that same working ethos as graduates they every chance of succeeding in this industry.”

You can find out more about more about our Sport Therapy Course via our website or following us on twitter @SUSTclinic.

Entrepreneurial skills benefitting Sports Therapist

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After graduating in June 2015,  Sports Therapy graduates Natalie Jones, Sophie Minor and Kate Highy are now all reaping the benefit of the entrepreneurial, business and transferable skills at the heart of its programme design.  On completing their studies all three of these graduates took the first brave steps into the world of work by setting up their own sports therapy businesses.  In a competitive market, all three have successful developed their business drawing upon the skills and knowledge gained throughout their studies to ensure they have been able to survive the initial challenges that all new businesses face in its first year and have now begun to establish a strong reputation for their practice.

Reflecting back on their studies Sophie stated “The business proposal assessment we had to complete has helped me massively in setting up my “Sophie Minor Sports Injury and Rehabilitation Clinic” based in Blythe Bridge.  I’ve been able to use the materials acquired in the module and my 3-year plan in almost identical to that which I submitted for my assessment, allowing me to put my knowledge into practice”.

Adding further to this Natalie stated that “Having to complete the work placement module really helped to confirm to me which path of sports therapy I wanted to follow, and gave me a really insight into how to effectively use my time during appointment,Natalie Jones clinic logo and being able to develop communication skills with patients.  From this module it became an easy decision to base my “Natalie’s Sports Therapy and Massage”  business out of LS Health Club in Stafford.  I know love being in a working environment that I feel comfortable in and having a positive impact on people’s lives”.

All three of these graduates have utilised the increasing importance of online and social media marketing of their businesses and describe the importance the role of this in generating the initial client base.  Natalie said “A lot of behind the scenes work is needed to simply get clients through the door such as advertising, of which word of mouth is highly underrated. It’s also become abundantly clear to never stop studying or stop learning about lesser known conditions.” While Sophie added “The hardest thing was drawing people’s attention to my business to allow my reputation to build; therefore i put on a new offer each month to gain this attention. This has worked really well and I now notice that Sophie Minor Clinic Room Sophie Minor private practiceword of mouth is the best form of advertisement which has brought many people into my clinic.”

To illustrate the impact that Staffs students are now having further afield than Staffordshire, Kate Highy has successfully overseen the growth of her own Sports Therapy business in Windsor.  Similar to Natalie and Sophie, Kate has shown how the development of her understanding of the role that social media can play in driving new businesses by using her Kate Highy Sports TherapistKate Highy in practice Facebook page to promote her practice and drive new custom.  Kate said “It’s been great being able to set up my business and make an income to fit around my life.  The hardest part was having belief in myself and being brave enough to make the first steps, but the confidence I gained from being out on placement during my course, and gaining that understanding of the financial aspects of running a business helped give me that confidence.  Now each time my client leaves feeling improved from before their treatment just boosts my confidence further”.Kate Highy Logo

  To find out more about our Sports Therapy course click here.

Sports Therapy Graduates land roles in the NHS

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Staffordshire University BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy Graduates Eve Littler, Ryan Baddeley, Chiku Chilufya and Lauren Dicken have all recently landed roles working within the NHS. These four graduates offer further examples of the success stories coming from the Sports Therapy programme , with us having previously reported on our graduates breaking into football and running successful private practices, and illustrates the growing reputation and scope for employment of Sports Therapists within the UK.

Lauren, who graduated in 2014 is working as a Rehabilitation Assistant at the Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust; Eve, a 2015 graduate is working at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, while Ryan and Chiku, 2016 graduates, have landed roles as Physiotherapy Technical Instructor at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (Birmingham) and Band 3 Senior Therapist Assistant at the Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital respectively within 3-months of graduating in July.

Chiku stated “I’m really pleased to have got this job so soon after graduating and excited to be putting my sports therapy skills into practice. I’m hoping the role will give me the chance to apply my skills across a range of different client background to give me experience across different clinical settings and use this as a platform to gain a MSc Physiotherapy”.

chiku-chilufya-nhs (Chiku Chilufya, 2016 graduate)

With the increased recognition of the importance of exercise and rehabilitative therapy to improving public health, it is highly encouraging to see the number of Sports Therapy graduates being employed to apply their skills and knowledge in this sector of the health industry, while further illustrating the value being a Staffordshire Graduate   can have in enhancing our graduates employability.

The Sports Therapy programme at Staffordshire University is one of the most highly ranked accredited Sports Therapy programmes in the UK scoring a National Student Survey score of 97% for Overall Satisfaction, within a Sport and Exercise department ranked 13th in the 2017 Guardian League Table. To find out more about our programme click here or follow us on Twitter @SUSTclinic.