- a journey of luck and hard work

One of the best ways of getting involved with research is being in the right place at the right time.

The tricky part is, of course, to make sure you are in the right place at the right time. As with hitchhiking all you can do is to set off early and have at least a vague idea of your destination.

As a first year SpR I had decided I would like to do some research, although I was not sure what in, where or how. What I did do was make sure that my educational supervisor was aware of my interest. I think that is often the place to start – ensuring that people who are likely to know about projects in the region, know that you are enthusiastic and interested. In this way somebody may just give you a ride. This is what happened to me: at one of our monthly meetings my supervisor mentioned a project, which had recently been funded to investigate the role of vitamin D in neuromuscular function in older people. This project was due to start the following year but the research fellow’s post was unfilled. As soon as I showed an interest, things started moving. An initial discussion with the lead clinician led to my being interviewed, followed by relocation from the sunny south coast and to south London. Nearly five years on (and one baby later) I am ‘looking forward’ to a PhD viva this summer.

The lie of the land
So, where should you start? As any hitchhiker will tell you a good place to start is where you are right now. Unless you have a burning interest, which is unlikely if you are in the first few years of being an SpR, the good step is to investigate the research interests of your local academic or NHS research active departments. Talk to research active SpRs and consultants, get a feel for the kind of projects that may be available, or brainstorm about your ideas. If you are not sure where to find these people the BGS Academic and Research committee will be able to help. If you are starting your own project, one of the most difficult steps is ethics application and funding. For this, you certainly need good guidance about where to go for money, and it helps to have someone in an appropriate position to support your application.

What do you need to bring along? I think that a vital piece of luggage is enthusiasm, but good mentoring, throughout the project, is crucial. Someone to sit with in a pub and moan to (as well as celebrate with) is also helpful.

And why stick out your thumb for this long and often uncomfortable trip? There are many useful skills that you will develop along the way. These include learning how to design a study, develop methodology, drink lots of coffee, and recruit patients.

The job of research
The next step is collecting, processing and analysing the data. This involves learning new computing skills and ‘refreshing’ your statistical knowledge. It feels like quite an achievement – being able to converse in t tests, analysis of variance and logistic regression. In order to make sense of your findings, you will learn how to review and critically appraise both your own and others’ work. Eventually you reach the point where you sit down (for hours) trying to shape your findings into a coherent and concise piece of writing. And then, at last, that feeling of having arrived - the thrill of knowing that you have found something new (even if it is a negative finding), having an abstract or article published, or presenting it at a conference (more exciting if it is somewhere sunny and exotic)!

Although it has been hard work, I really enjoyed my two years in full time research, enough to make sure I continued with research on returning to a clinical post. It has allowed me to acquire some of the skills I mentioned before. These are proving most useful, both in clinical work and in considering future research work. I have been able to publish our work, present it at national and international meetings, and write a thesis. It has opened up my career path and allowed me to consider new and different directions. Besides all that I believe good research, focussing on the older population, is essential to raising the status, profile and awareness of care of older patients.

Jugdeep Dhesi
Senior Clinical Fellow
Guy’s Hospital