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Medicine student was an intern with ASPIRES: Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems

About me

I am studying medicine at the University of Sheffield and I did an intercalated iBSc Neuroscience degree at King’s College London and interning at ASPIRES: Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems was a component of my intercalated degree. I am particularly interested in psychology, mental health and global health.

What did it involve

During my time at ASPIRES in the Centre for Implementation Science I was involved in a project about implementing interventions to reduce antibiotic resistance in LMICs, where I was particularly focused on a tertiary hospital in India. My main role was analysing qualitative data from workshops and interviews in the hospital. I was able to work flexibly, either remotely or in the office. I was also fortunate enough to get the chance to present a poster of the qualitative work I conducted in the 3rd UK Implementation Science research conference and I am also writing for my first publication with the ASPIRES team.

Unexpected things

As I am more used to clinical placements, lectures and small group teaching, with limited exposure to research I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought research output would be very time and resource consuming but I had never appreciated the scale of how much an iterative processes research is. Implementation Science is something I have never encountered before, and I never knew how much goes into not only designing and planning an intervention but it’s evaluation and adaption over time.

What will I take away

Not only have I been able to develop key research skills such as reviewing literature and qualitative analysis, I feel it has benefitted my self-directed skills of time management and academic writing. I also have a greater appreciation of challenges in global health and the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, I have developed my understanding the interface between research and clinical practice and how these elements work together, especially in effective intervention implementation. As a budding future doctor, these points are really important to understand, and something I will take into consideration in future practice. 

Final thoughts

I have really enjoyed being part of the ASPIRES team and am grateful for the opportunity and the help I received. There are many learning points for me to take forward and working in research is something I will be definitely interested in. I would like to thank everyone from the ASPIRES team working at Kings College London (Prof. Nick Sevdalis, Dr Shalini Ahuja, Mr Andrew Leather) and °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ (Dr Gabriel Birgand and team), who assisted me and made the experience so beneficial.