Recognizing Site Innovation: The Story Behind an Award-Winning Mobile Research Unit

Celebrate clinical trial innovation with Catherine Pitman, Lead Research Nurse at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, recipient of the 2023 European Site Spark award. Catherine shares how the pandemic brought on new opportunities to enable more accessible clinical trials through the launch of a Mobile Research Unit (MRU). Hear how her organization's passion brought on new ideas and resolutions to problems created during the pandemic, and ultimately led to Plymouth Research and Development earning the Site Spark award.

Transcript

Michael Pierre 0:00

Greetings, everyone, and thanks for being a part of the Society for Clinical Research sites on SCRS Talks. I'm your host, Michael Pierre. Project manager here at SCRS. So let's get ready to dive into pressing clinical research industry topics, celebrate noteworthy achievements, and create a deeper connection within the research community. This is the space to amplify voices and perspectives that shape the landscape of clinical research. On today's podcast, I'm speaking with Catherine Pitman, lead research nurse at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. Hi Catherine, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and your current role?

Catherine Pitman 0:40

Hi everyone I qualified as a nurse, it feels like a million years ago, but it was actually 30 years ago in London. So I worked in hospitals and the community and I ended up moving down to the southwest of the UK, which is where Plymouth is and took up a role in research and I loved it. and I stayed in research ever since. I've worked in the commercial side of things and now obviously in the NHS, which is the public health system of the UK. I've worked in Plymouth for 12 years in the Trust, in different roles, but the last two years I've been the lead research nurse, worked right through the pandemic, really felt the purpose of research at that point, which is really where the MRU was born.

Michael Pierre 1:29

All right, and the MRU is what we're going to talk about today. You won the 2023 European Site Spark Award. Congratulations on that. Can you share with us more about the inspiration behind the Mobile Research Unit project?

Catherine Pitman 1:45

So during the pandemic we were working really hard like many other units and clinics across the world to deliver that urgent public health research. But also, we became aware of funding through the vaccine task force from the UK government and decided to bid for some of that money because prior to the pandemic, we'd had had a public event and taken some public feedback about what they really wanted from research and what they really wanted was research where they lived and not to have to travel to large hospital sites in order to take part in research. So that was like a 95 percent of everybody that was there wanted to be able to access research much more easily. So it was a concept that we were aware of and we wanted to adopt. And When that funding became available, we felt like it was just the opportunity to do it and obviously a lot of the evidence sort of post pandemic has shown that we perhaps didn't recruit the diversity of participants into research, so it has kind of landed almost like a sort of perfect moment where we suddenly had vehicles that we could take out and actually offer research to people in Plymouth.

Michael Pierre 3:00

What kind of vehicles were they? Did you convert something that was a prior use? What, just what was that? What did you use?

Catherine Pitman 3:07

It was a learning journey in itself because I'm sure many people, when you cast your minds back, you couldn't buy a new car or a new van because they weren't making any. So we had to be quite creative in how we found vehicles. And we managed to find a sort of second hand car van that sold ex police vans. So that was a kind of bizarre buying two vans via Zoom because we couldn't travel. So it was really bizarre, but we then went out to sort of companies and We with the way the NHS works, you have to go out and you have to get three quotes. We ended up working with a local company that normally convert vans for like mobile homes, for people to go on holiday and have great times. For them, this was totally new, but that expertise has been absolutely pivotal to how we run the MOUs. Mm-Hmm. And when I talk at conference or other events or speak to others. We are a little bit ahead of the curve in that respect and I do think that's because of their expertise. There's things like we have brilliant Wi Fi, everything runs off batteries, we don't have to have a generator, which makes it a lot more user friendly, not just for staff but for patients.

Michael Pierre 4:23

And aside from the getting the vehicle or vehicles, what other challenges did you have, to address during the pandemic?

Catherine Pitman 4:30

I think a lot of it was making sure that we were ensuring that research was accessible for all and it became a bit of my passion project. Really? I was doing my masters at the time and I just thought, You know, if I did a work based project that actually really helped the department who was supporting me through that, it would make a real difference. So, I did a whole service evaluation of them, basically, and looked at the finances, looked at where we were going, looked at some of the difficulties in running it, looked at the whole evidence base. For mobile research units in research, and there is 1 article in 2012 that I could find. So, to me, it feels like it's not an area that's evidenced enough either.

Michael Pierre 5:15

So, now that the, the pandemic is. over ish. Is the MRU still going? Are you still finding ways to use it?

Catherine Pitman 5:24

Yeah, I would say it's probably the busiest it's ever been. I think what we've learned is that you engage with your communities and you do that alongside your clinical trials. You don't just do one or the other. So probably half of its time. They spend with community groups going to community events, and the rest of the time they are running clinical trials. We've run many clinical trials on it now, and we use a system that I developed from doing my dissertation, where we have what we call priority postcodes. So I looked at the data from the government about the highest disease burden and deprivation in Plymouth and identified those postcodes that the MRU should always be seeking. So when they recruit, they know they have to recruit from there first. They don't just go to what I would say are sort of probably the areas that are more predisposed. They've got more time. They haven't got the issues of finances or transport. But because they do a lot of engagement, it's now just becoming easier and easier. We're currently running a study looking at vaping. That was one of the big types of studies that the community asked for. So it's now becoming very different relationship. We're working towards what they want to do.

Michael Pierre 6:42

And so you mentioned postal codes. Are you focusing on underserved communities?

Catherine Pitman 6:47

Absolutely. I would say that in Plymouth and Devon, there probably isn't a huge ethnic diversity. There just isn't. It's a real sort of touristy, seasidey place. It's got a high elderly population. But really for me, when I think of underserved in my area, I'm thinking about the high disease burden and deprivation, because as we know, health and wealth are inextricably linked. By targeting it that way, we are taking Research to the people that perhaps need it the most.

Michael Pierre 7:16

And then now that you started this project and now it's busier than ever, how do you plan to sustain and further develop this concept?

Catherine Pitman 7:25

Out of my evaluation I very much came up with some recommendations. So we now have what we call a non clinical coordinator, which manages all the day to day stuff for the MIUs, but also we are going to try and evaluate it financially, which is always really difficult, but we should do it. And we are looking forward to creating a patient group so that they have a stronger voice in that service, so they can start really directing it or co directing it with us. But equally, we have a new unit hopefully coming online later on in the years because they are still used vans and they're really unreliable, so we have to have a new unit. But I would say a lot of it, they are, it's kind of fallen into place, but I think it's the work with the engagement and with charities and communities. They know who we are now, and we very much focused on, so the artwork is all designed by the community. So that was like a little competition we ran and basically it was a lovely group of, of a learning disability group who was led by a local artist and they basically designed the artwork on our van. So they do feel like it's theirs. It's not ours, we're not doing to and I think that's something I've really tried to emphasize in everything we do, that we are in listening mode, not in, I'm a health professional, this is what I think is best for you.

Michael Pierre 8:51

Yeah. What kind of trials work best for a mobile unit like that?

Catherine Pitman 8:57

I think you're right. There will always be a limitation with the type of trials you can run on it, but I would say looking at what we've done so far, we have completed a completely on the MIU, a commercial RSC, RSV vaccine study with babies. We've recruited 81 babies onto that. There's good examples of how we are able to target populations because we sent out letters back and forth by postcode. So that was always very much targeted. Good examples of mums who wanted their babies to be vaccinated, wanted to do the right thing, but obviously couldn't get their finance. Lots of reasons. They couldn't believe it when we said we'll just park up outside your house. Don't worry. They just couldn't believe it, and these are young mums that don't have lots of money and of course, it was a study that was also you know, recompensing them for their time. So they would also get a bit of money that day, which is so key. I think we've also managed to retain participants in some of the studies that we've been running really long term, where they've been getting older. It's so much more difficult. We take it to them. One of those just basically said it changed his life, which is so sweet, isn't it? But, you do think, actually, if we sustain this service, it is possibly how we should really be working. Because, there are a lot of people that engage with research. I've worked in it many years, but there's a lot of people that don't. And it's perhaps the work on the don'ts that is more important.

Michael Pierre 10:29

And then you did mention that you could pull up to someone's house. Is it more common for you to go to a person or to go to a location and people go there, like a school or a shopping center.

Catherine Pitman 10:43

It's really mixed. So very often we'll link in with our GPs. They have nice big car parks and they can let us go up there. So if we're running studies, we'll very much look at say who we've recruited, where do they all come from? Sit and we'll come up with locations. That's easy for them to get to but equally we can bespoke it So if they're struggling we'll say well, we'll come to you and we deliberately chose vans that were not too big because it's a rural area and You know, it's full of silly little tiny streets and things like that So it does make a huge difference in where we can take them.

Michael Pierre 11:20

Well, now there was very nice chatting with you about this today. Congratulations again on the 2023 European Site Spark Award. So, as we wrap up today, don't forget to explore more site focused resources on our website, myscrs. org. You'll find a wealth of content and publications, plus the opportunity to save your spot for upcoming webinars and SCRS Summits held throughout the year. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time, we'll see you all later.