Professionally, I am a researcher at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research (@covuni_CTEHR) at Coventry University in the UK. My research passion is finding out what matters to people with long-term conditions and how best to support them (us!)
With my patient hat on, I am currently taking part in research for people with migraine to support self-management and return-to-work. It seems strange that I can either be part of a research project as a researcher or as a patient. I think that as a patient who is also a researcher, I can add valuable insight on both sides. NHS England is running a campaign arguing that staff and patient experience are ‘two sides of the same coin’ (check out @KarenDeeny1). Not only do they affect each other, but they can be the same people. Obviously it is important to have a range of patient representatives as part of the research team, but it would be great if ‘staff-patient’ could be one of them.
I do research because I am a researcher AND a patient. I want to find out how to improve things in the future with all of those involved in the process, so it is something that works sustainably in practice and helps others.