Zara R

I am currently working as a research assistant at KCL health psychology department. I work with electronic health records of parents attending South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust addiction services. This involves quantitative data of approximately 10,000 patients.

I am also conducting a deep dive investigation of free-text notes of a subsample of patients from this large cohort. Main duties involve conducting analyses and preparing statistical and qualitative reports as part of a collaborative research project including a range of stakeholders. As well as writing literature reviews, research proposals and co-supervising students with their research projects.

As I am working with patients’ clinical records I understand the importance of confidentiality in management of participant data, as well as awareness of ethics and data protection systems as my work is conducted and remains within the SLaM secure IT environment. This post has also helped me advance my organisational skills, as I am working with large datasets and conducting various analyses with my patient group. An important skill in my work is paying attention to detail and ensuring accuracy throughout the research process.

As I am working with hundreds of case notes, it is critical that I go through them carefully to ensure the reliability of the findings.

• Research assistant at the Persistent Physical Symptoms Service at King’s Health Partners Long Covid Clinic (MSc placement January 2022 – July 2022). My main task for the placement was to conduct a service evaluation including public and patient involvement to determine how well the service is meeting its objectives, as well as patients’ feedback of current interventions and what type of treatment they would be interested in receiving for their symptoms. As part of this project I have conducted research, completed clinical audit forms, and developed a questionnaire with the help of the multidisciplinary team. I recruited participants for this research as well as collected and analysed the data to produce a report. I presented the overview of my work to my team and the health psychology department. The findings will help to inform future research and interventions at the clinic. 
• Research Assistant, Kings College London, Health Psychology Department (IoPPN). (September 2022 – present). I am currently working with electronic health records of parents attending South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust addiction services. This involves quantitative data of approximately 10,000 patients. I am also conducting a deep dive investigation of free-text notes of a subsample of patients from this large cohort. Main duties involve conducting analyses and preparing statistical and qualitative reports as part of a collaborative research project including a range of stakeholders. As well as writing literature reviews, research proposals and co-supervising students with their research projects. As I am working with patients’ clinical records I understand the importance of confidentiality in management of participant data, as well as awareness of ethics and data protection systems as my work is conducted and remains within the SLaM secure IT environment. This post has also helped me advance my organisational skills, as I am working with large datasets and conducting various analyses with my patient group. An important skill in my work is paying attention to detail and ensuring accuracy throughout the research process. As I am working with hundreds of case notes, it is critical that I go through them carefully to ensure the reliability of the findings.

Msc Health Psychology 2:1 - King's College London

BSc Psychology, Counselling & Therapies 1:1 - University of Bedfordshire