Claire Rischmiller, Lead Research Nurse
I love working in research! I chose research for the curiosity - the who, what, where, when, how and why of wanting to understand more about people and how they experience their life, health diagnosis and what we can do to improve this.
Through research and listening to people’s life stories, we can better understand what contributes to maintaining a person’s mental wellbeing, how this can be enhanced or how treatments can be improved. This curiosity drives me forwards to continually explore how we can improve people’s health and wellbeing.
My new role as Lead Research Nurse continues with supporting feasibility, delivery of new studies and supporting our Research Nurses and wider team. I enjoy welcoming and supporting research colleagues, staff within our Trust and Student Nurses in their research roles, on their research career journeys and raising the awareness and the importance of research.
Prior to moving into research, I was a Memory Treatment Nurse working with people who have memory problems or dementia, and with carers. Then as a Senior Research Nurse I worked within delivery, leading many different studies and trials for people with dementia and carers, or with people who have mental ill health such as psychosis, bipolar disorder, anxiety or depression. Studies I have worked on include drug trials, therapy trials, genetic research, carers therapy/interventions, and studies which seek to understand more about dementia, psychosis or bipolar symptoms.
Working in research has given me the opportunity to learn and question more about what we do, how and why, in terms of research development. I have gained a lot of knowledge by working with inspirational colleagues, and through achieving an MSc in Clinical Research. My dissertation was a systematic review looking at how people with a diagnosis of dementia with Lewy Bodies and their carers experience post diagnostic support, which I presented at 2 international conferences and aim to develop this further with primary research exploring people’s lived experiences and how this can inform future practice - to understand and better improve the lives of people living with dementia, and the people supporting them. I am also leading on a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) grant application, collaborating with other professionals, researchers, academics, and organisations working in this area of interest. As a Research Nurse there is so much variety to learn and experience and it is a hugely rewarding and exciting career!