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A periodic look into what the team at SAPC is upto.
11th March 2022
Hi! I’m Aarti. I work as a GP in Sheffield and four years ago I founded Greener Practice, the UK’s primary care sustainability network. I have 12 years’ experience working as a clinical academic and a few months ago I was appointed to work a day a week as Humber Coast and Vale ICS’s Net Zero NHS clinical lead.
Have you ever found yourself looking at blood test results and wondered why the test was done in the first place?
On Saturday 18th September 2021, I attended the Student Symposium for Research in General Practice (SSRGP), a virtual conference organised by students, for students, in support by the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). The day was designed to be an introduction to the world of research and academia in general practice and to help break down barriers for students to enable them to get involved in research.
For many of us, the last year has been a challenging one, whether at work or at home, as we faced the reality of a pandemic like no other.
As a medical student, I volunteered with a communication team connecting ITU patients and their families. I found the meaning of an empty bed quickly changing. Coming onto the ITU unit and seeing an empty bed was no longer just about transfers and discharges; it now represented a rapid turnover, a broken family and another lost battle.
Another year, another conference! The last time I attended a SAPC conference was the regional South-West one that we hosted in Bristol – about a week before the first lockdown kicked in, and normality abruptly ended. Indeed, I suspect it was actually the last big face-to-face meeting many of us attended. This time, Leeds beckoned. But rather than jumping on the train to the “grim north”, I descended the stairs to my rather grimmer basement (yes, my wife has kicked me out the dining room), for two days of online conference. What to expect?
I am delighted to have been awarded the SAPC PhD Prize 2021. As a Health Psychologist and Behavioural Scientist, one of my research interests is in how routine medical services and procedures can impact on mental wellbeing and health behaviours. Often, my work means working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders in policy, primary care, and population health.
Over the last four years, I’ve been focussing on the psychological impact of women receiving different test results at cervical cancer screening.
I attended the SAPC Primary Care Mental Health conference for the first time on 26 May 2021. Having attended a few conferences and events online over the last year, I have found they generally work well with online platforms and this was no exception. It was great to have a chance to present an update of my work, and answer some of the great questions that followed. It was even better to listen to a series of fantastic presentations and keynotes from peers and leading primary care researchers.
The need for new approaches to undergraduate teaching in general practice was brought starkly into focus by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A range of novel educational resources, developed by SAPC Heads of GP Teaching (HoTs), in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Medical Schools Council (MSC), has proved invaluable in supporting medical students’ learning in general practice.