A Clinical Academic Nurse Researcher at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) has been given an award by the British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) to continue her research exploring how to improve the escalation of care for patients whose condition deteriorates in the hospital setting.
Jody Ede, who is studying at Plymouth University, was given the BFWG’s prestigious £5,000 Johnstone and Florence Stoney award, which will enable her to continue her PhD once her current funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) ends.
Jody’s PhD, the SUFFICE study, is exploring what factors affect successful escalation of care in deteriorating ward patients so we can learn from them.
“I’m really pleased to have been given this award,” Jody said. “I had to present my PhD study to a largely non-medical academic panel and was competing with people from all disciplines of academia. I’m delighted I was able to demonstrate to them the merits of my research, which I think will give us the evidence to develop a scalable complex intervention in the event of patient deterioration.”
The BFWG academic awards, given on the basis of evidence of academic excellence, are for women who will be in, or going into, their third year of doctoral research, or part-time equivalent, at the time when the awards commence in the autumn of each year.
In 2020, Jody became the first OUH nurse to receive funding for a PhD from the NIHR.
An important step in Jody’s career progression was being awarded a Preparatory Fellowship from the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). This funding supports the career development of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals working for the NHS Trusts in Oxford and/or the University of Oxford.