The Exploration of Patient-prisoners, Radiographers, and Operating Department Practitioners, Lived Experiences of Receiving and Providing Care in an Acute Hospital

Project Code: PHASE-39958749

Project Description:

When prisoners require any form of medical imaging or a surgical operation, they are transferred to a hospital, usually in restraints and accompanied by prison officers. The provision of medical imaging or a surgical procedure on a patient-prisoner can be challenging for all those involved due to a risk of violence and/or possible escape attempt. Therefore, appropriate security is important, although previous research identified doctors and nurses did not request for restraints to be removed or ask prison officers to leave the room during a consultation, treatment, or the provision of care, but did ask prison officers if the patient-prisoner posed a safety risk. Patient-prisoners found security in hospital was more important than the provision of healthcare and were excluded from decisions regarding their own treatment.

The role and experiences of doctors and nurses caring for patient-prisoners in hospital has been begun to be explored, however, this work does not include the wider team within healthcare such as radiographers and operating department practitioners. This study aims to address this by:

• Scoping review of healthcare professionals’ experiences of supporting patient-prisoners in an acute hospital.
• In-depth interviews with radiographers, operating department practitioners, prison officers and patient-prisoners, to understand their experiences.

The successful student will have the opportunity to work closely with experts with specific experience of working with patient-prisoners within radiography and surgical settings.

Anticipated Findings:

This is an important and under researched area. We anticipate the findings will support changes to healthcare practices, corrections policy, and legal governance, through the development of understanding how the process of delivering gold-standard care in radiography and peri-operative settings. This is important to support the fair and equitable delivery of care for patient-prisoners, and to support the role, education and practice of radiographers and operating department practitioners.

The anticipated findings and contribution to knowledge will include:

• An understanding of contemporary literature and the challenges of supporting patient-prisoners within an acute hospital admission.
• An understanding of the experiences of radiographers and operating department practitioners, including challenges and/or barriers to providing gold-standard care.
• An understanding of the experiences and role of prison officers during radiographic investigations and surgical operations, and the appropriateness of restraint and surveillance.
• An understanding of patient-prisoners experiences of an investigation in a radiography department or a surgical intervention and the impact on their health and well-being.
• The contribution of knowledge will include the development of recommendations for practice in both radiography and perioperative environments, with a specific reference to both radiographers and operating department practitioners.
• Results and recommendations will be disseminated not only through academic journal papers and conference presentations, but to hospitals and prisons, as well as the regulatory bodies of both radiographers and operating department practitioners.
• The ultimate impact of this study would be the enhancement of care for patient-prisoners in radiography and perioperative settings in a hospital.

Contact (and Director of Studies for this project):

Prof Joanne Brooke - Joanne.Brooke@bcu.ac.uk

To apply, visit the course page