April 2016 NUI Galway Conference on Public and Patient Involvement in Healthcare

Members of the public invited to make key contributions to healthcare research

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016: NUI Galway will hold a conference focusing on Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research on Wednesday, 27 April in the Westwood House Hotel from 10am-3.45pm. PPI involves an active partnership between members of the public, patients, researchers and doctors to ensure that the voice and perspective of the public/patient influence all stages of the research process.

One of the central themes of the conference is that members of the public can make a difference and contribute to healthcare research. The conference is particularly open to the public, along with patient organistations and researchers.

Involving the public and patients in planning and conducting research ensures that the real life experiences of patients are considered when decisions are being made about what research should be done, and about how to design studies that are sensitive to the needs of patients. Researchers may not have had personal experience of the condition they are researching, so hearing from patients about the experience of suffering from a particular illness or of living with a particular condition provides a powerful insight into what matters most to patients.

The conference showcases how people with intellectual disability, young adults with diabetes, people with aphasia (a language disability that can occur after a stroke) and a dementia family carer have all contributed richly to research in those areas.

Ciara Keighron, an NUI Galway student who will co-present alongside the University’s Professor Sean Dinneen at the conference, said: “I am part of a panel of young adults with Type 1 diabetes who are working with researchers at NUI Galway to help develop a new model of care and better approaches to self-management for people like me. I am excited to think that I can contribute to making life better for other young adults with T1 diabetes.

The conference is organised by the HRB Primary Care Clinical Trials Network Ireland at NUI Galway, a collaborative group of researchers conducting clinical trials through general practice and primary care. Director of the Network, Professor Andrew Murphy said: “Patients and the public always offer unique, invaluable insights that help shape our research – we need to listen.”

For more information visit www.primarycaretrials.ie or contact Edel Murphy, NUI Galway on 091 495308 or email info@primarycaretrials.ie. 

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