Sadia manages the Sponsorship and Facilitation Team.
She tells us how she first became interested in research and why she feels non-clinical staff have so much to offer research
My main role is to maintain oversight of all NBT sponsored studies and I also assist the facilitation team with setting up studies that come from outside the Trust.I make sure that all studies are run within the remit of good clinical practise. This involves safety reporting and all the protocol deviations. It’s very important as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency could come and inspect us at any time.
I'm a clinical practitioner by background
One of the first things I remember in medical school was doing a project in community service where we went around underdeveloped areas to see how many children were vaccinated. I think that's where I first became interested in research.
Research is probably one of the most hidden faculties in the NHS
There are lots of opportunities, lots to learn and it's definitely very rewarding. There are many trials we do for Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products (CTIMPs) and devices that bring in new techniques and treatments into the world. Research is so beneficial for finding new treatments and procedures.
Video Transcript
Sadia Khurshid, Research Compliance Manager
I'm the research compliance manager at North Bristol Trust.
I manage the sponsorship and the facilitation team.
My main role is to maintain oversight of all NBT sponsored studies and I also assist the facilitation team and setting up studies that come from outside of the trust.
I'm a clinical practitioner by background and my one of the first things I remember in my medical school was doing a project in community service where we went around the underdeveloped areas to see how many children were vaccinated.
So I think that's where my first interest came into research.
There's lots of trials that we do in CTIMPs (Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products) and devices that brings in new techniques, new treatments into the world.
And I particularly like the fact that, you know, diseases like cancer and even other disorders that don't have a treatment and research is just so rich and beneficial in finding new treatments and procedures.
The most interesting study that I've been involved in is called Time to Transition.
I recently did a teaching session on that as well and it's to do with Caesarean sections where children that are not born through the normal vaginal roots are kept inside the womb before they are delivered.
It's a good environment, It's almost like a family.
We work together.
There's lots of training opportunities that I have seen at North Bristol Trust where I haven't seen in any other trust.
I've received quite a lot of support from senior management.
I've been offered training opportunities.
I I've been introduced to other stakeholders and there's lots of support out there.
You just need to ask and there's a wealth of things that NPT holds for you.
I would definitely advise people to come and work for research.
Research is probably one of the most hidden faculties in the NHS.
There's lots of opportunities, there's lots to learn and it's definitely very rewarding.
I enjoyed being part of a birth study
The Time to Transition Caesarean Birth Study is investigating whether delivering a baby’s head, then adding a slight delay of up to 2 minutes by keeping the baby’s body inside the womb until it starts to cry, improves the baby’s transition to breathing air and reduces the risk of Transient Tachypnoea of the Newborn (TTN). I recently did a teaching session for this study.
NBT is a good working environment - almost like family
There are many training opportunities at NBT that I didn’t notice at other trusts I’ve worked at. I've received quite a lot of support from senior management and been offered training opportunities. And I've also been introduced to other stakeholders.
I feel I'm making an impact
Non-clinical people can offer valuable support to help spot things that help with patient recruitment and compiling the research data. It's all teamwork and I definitely feel that the non-clinical part of the team makes a big impact on research.
One of the main misconceptions about research is that it's very detached from clinical work
But in fact most of the interventions and improvements in treatments come from research. I’d like people to consider research more thoroughly as a career as it's the backbone of the treatments that we have in the NHS now.
Further information
- NBT’s Researcher Zone is a good starting point for finding out about research, what to do with an idea and funding.