POGP Research
Welcome to our Research Page
Research is the systemic study/search for new knowledge. It is vital for our clinical practice to develop and evolve and to ensure we are using best evidence based practice. It can provide answers to questions ranging from effectiveness of treatments to how our patients feel. There are many different forms that research can take: case studies, service development, audit, literature review or Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). Different types of data may be collected such as numerical data (Quantitative) or patients may be interviewed (Qualitative).
It all starts with a question.
Do you have a question you want to find an answer to?
Introduction
POGP want to encourage more members to be involved in the research process. We want to promote high standards and good quality work. We especially want to encourage those who are maybe not feeling confident to begin. Research can be daunting for novices and the experienced alike. It is important to learn how to conduct research correctly and to know how to develop an appropriate protocol in order that your efforts can produce the highest quality evidence. No matter how small your project can seem, or whether the outcome is positive or negative, conducted well, results are meaningful. We hope to promote debate and the generation of new ideas.
POGP is sometimes involved as an organisation in funding research in conjunction with other bodies and is an official partner with NICE in designing and reviewing guidelines.
Research theory
Getting started….
If this is all new to you here’s a few ideas to get you started.
- Why not join your hospital medical library or local university - get an Athens password.
- Libraries often have sessions to learn literature searching
- The CSP library services can also assist with conducting literature searches.
Learning how to search in a systematic way for studies is the first step to help answer a question or locate information on a specific topic. It is important to know you’ve found all of the most relevant studies, as if you read only one or two you will have bias. Your librarian may run sessions to learn these skills or may even do a literature search for you.
Next it is important to be able to learn how to read a paper critically and know how to assess, amongst other factors, the internal and external validity. How reliable are the results of the study and what does it mean for your practice? This is a skill which can be easily learnt although it may be new to many clinical physiotherapists. Here are a few ideas to get started…..
- Read studies and discuss them with colleagues.
- Discussing research papers with others is a great way to learn.
- Why not start a journal club or discuss papers at a POGP regional meeting.
- Contact your local university. They may run a module in learning research skills.
- Read JPOGP articles and see what other POGP members have done.
Here are some links for more information on research theory.
Funding
If you are seeking funding for a project there are sources:
Why not find the AHPRN Allied Health Professional Research Network Hub nearest to you and link with other researchers. The network aims to support the development of individuals interested in research and promote the evolving evidence base in practice. The network has 21 regional hubs, each providing bespoke research advice and support.
https://cahpr.csp.org.uk/about-cahpr
Publishing
If you have conducted research the final, most importance part of the cycle, is to share it. POGP would like to really encourage members to publish their audits, case studies, service evaluation and other studies through the POGP journal. The process of getting to publication is supportive and feedback is given to assist reaching publication standard. JPOGP also accepts submission of posters and infographics. Please read the journal section for more information, writing guidelines and templates to assist.
Go to Journal Section
POGP Research Competition
POGP formalised its research prize in 2014 and our first winner was Natalia Vasquez (photo below)
Each year POGP runs a research competition with an overall winner who will speak at conference and receive a prize of £100. There are usually 4 slots to speak at conference overall. Those selected for poster presentations will be judged for the best poster and a prize of £50. We hope you will get involved. We are also introducing a new category of best info graphics with a prize of £50 from 2020. For full information and an application form see our conference section. In years when conference does not run we aim to run a virtual poster and infographics competition.
How to design a poster
Access to our member database for research
We hold and maintain our member database. There are strict guidelines to confidentially and members can choose whether or not they receive information from third parties about advertising or research. Therefore any requests to send questionnaires or invitations to take part in research to our members MUST go through our admin and a fee is payable. Invitations to take part in research can be sent out via email or post. From 2023 members of POGP will have costs waived to email out research studies but not paper versions (this will still cost). Those wishing to do this will have their studies and ethics reviewed by the research team. POGP members can post an invitation to their research on the closed Facebook page. Students who wish to promote their research studies can become POGP student members and post an invitation to take part.
Physiotherapists can also post an invitation to take part in their research via iCSP POGP, which is free. Members cannot be emailed directly for research via iCSP however.
Contact: info@thepogp.co.uk
Researchers
If you have a project or area of interest you wish to promote please contact us. We hope to develop networking of researchers. Also please check the News section regularly for our involvement in NICE guidelines, published research and other new items of interest. Please note we will share research projects which have gained ethics approval but cannot take responsibility for any content. Please ensure you check ethics approval has been granted for any project you take part in.
We hope you are inspired to get involved. Please contact me and help make this new research page interesting and informative for POGP members.
Research Officer