Research and Audit
College of Paramedics; British Paramedic Association.
Research
and Audit Group
Latest News
University of Ulster MATCH Programme Survey on Cardiac Point of Care Technologies
The university of Ulster is undertaking some research over five years on Point of Care Technologies. They are seeking an input into this research from the Ambulance profession. Please follow the link below if you like to learn more or participate in the study.
Match StudyIntroduction
Welcome to the BPA section dedicated to research and audit. The research and audit group have now become well established and some positive work has been completed to develop some research projects for out of hospital care in order that we can progress the future of the profession from an evidence based perspective.
The group is chaired by Professor Malcolm Woollard who is a registered
Paramedic and active member of your professional body. All of the participants
in this group are members of the BPA and come from a range of backgrounds:
Paramedics
Research specialists
Paramedic Lecturers
Academic nurses teaching paramedic degree programmes
Remember this is your specialist group and it exists to further research undertaken by the profession, to improve patient care, and to raise the threshold of the professional standing of our members.
The Terms of Reference for the group are available on this website, but some of our key objectives are:
1. To develop a research and audit strategy for the BPA
2. To design and undertake research and audit projects in the field of pre-hospital emergency and unscheduled care in support of the work of the BPA and to develop evidence-based pre-hospital care generally
3. To disseminate the findings of completed BPA research and audit projects to members and to a wider audience through publications and presentations
4. To identify and pursue opportunities to influence the health services research agenda at national, regional, and local level
5. To provide professional representation for the BPA on appropriate national and regional committees
6. To identify and disseminate international and national published research and audit findings of relevance and interest to BPA members
7. To develop educational initiatives for ambulance professionals in areas related to research
8. To identify and disseminate details of other sources of education in research and audit to BPA members
9. On request, to provide expert advice and support on research proposals developed by BPA members (see table below)
10. To review and approve all research to be undertaken under the auspices of the BPA
11. To provide a peer-review service for research protocols prior to submission to ethics and research governance committees (external peer review is now recommended by all ethics committees)
12. To ensure all research carried out under the auspices of the BPA meets current standards and guidelines for research governance, ethics, and good research practice
The group is planning not only to undertake research and audit in the name of the BPA but also to ensure that you, our members, are able to develop your own research skills. The ability to undertake research that guides practice is one of the key markers of a 'profession'. As our work develops we will be sending out research questionnaires on topics of relevance to our out-of-hospital care, and as larger projects come on stream we will be seeking funding for ambulance professionals to participate fully in the studies as research assistants. For the future, we are currently developing some workshops designed to develop your skills in research and audit.
Minutes of the group will be published on the website as will policy and guidance documents to support your own research. We have also assembled a list of useful links and would be delighted to receive further suggestions to expand on these. Topics covered include research and audit methodology, research governance, and funding sources.
I look forward to an exciting time with this group and enabling opportunities for all members. Please give us subject areas for which you would like to see research questions designed, and any suggestions to help promote our work will be welcome.
Professor Malcolm Woollard
Research and Audit group chairman.
Current BPA Research and Audit Group members:
Prof. Malcolm WoollardProf. Tom Quinn
Dr Julia Williams
Dr Sam King
Janette Turner
Pete Gregory
Mike Bjarkoy
Mike Templeton
Sarah Christopher
Roland Furber
The table below lists those BPA Research and Audit group members who are willing to be contacted by members for advice regarding research and audit projects. We are very keen to help, so please don't hesitate to ask! With your permission, we would like to publish some of the questions raised and responses offered on this website so that others can learn from them - but we will only do so with your approval.
Table of research expertise
| Name | Contact email | Areas of research / audit expertise |
| Malcolm Woollard | Quantitative research methods; writing for publication; statistics; research governance | |
| Tom Quinn | Audit; observational studies; research ethics; critical appraisal; writing for publication | |
| Janette Turner | | |
| Julia Williams | Qualitative research methods; ethnography; computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) |
Note that
if you have a fully-developed protocol that you wish to submit for peer-review
prior to making an application to an ethics committee, this should be emailed
to Malcolm Woollard in the first instance.
Research Pages