Wearable devices in hospital inpatients and preventing cardiometabolic disease in the young

Project researcher: Dr Marianne Beach, Academic Specialised Foundation Programme

I participated in numerous projects whilst on the OUCAGS programme during my Foundation training, focussing on two main projects during FY2.

The first of these involved working with Professor Peter Watkinson and the Critical Care Research Group on the use of wearable devices in hospital inpatients and, specifically, ICU patients for the detection and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. For this project, I mainly worked on a systematic review with Dr Jonathan Bedford as my supervisor. I attended weekly critical care research group meetings and learnt a lot of clinical research insights as part of this.

The second project was with the OxSOCRATES group, with Dr Alexander Jones, for a project focussing on prevention of cardiometabolic disease in the young. This is a longer-term project which has allowed me to gain a greater understanding of long-term research and working with large datasets. I was again able to work with Python and MATLAB and to learn new software skills including the use of Horos.

As part of my research with the OxSOCRATES group, I also completed further training for working in the OCMR (Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research) and laboratory environment, which I will now feel more confident to do in the future.

The write-up for several papers and two systemic reviews is underway because of this use of my academic time and I am excited for these achievements. Going forwards, I will continue to seek out research projects that I enjoy and find fulfilling for work as both a clinician and academic.

Thank you, OUCAGS!

October 2024