Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to work in the world-leading Critical Care & Perioperative Medicine Research Group (CCMPG) based jointly at Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London. This unique post combines clinical research activity with the opportunity to further develop leadership and research skills. The successful applicant will play a key role in a diverse multi-professional team of nurses, doctors, allied health professionals and specialist researchers. 

They will be responsible for the recruitment and data capture of anthropometric and physical function data for the ASICS II trial across the London trial sites and working with the research team on day-to-day management of the ASICS trial programme of work. They will also be responsible for site education on trial feeding protocols and troubleshooting. They will ensure all projects are run according to Regulatory requirements, guidelines, GCP and to the study protocol.  They will liaise frequently with trial chief/principal investigators and the clinicians responsible for patient care. Further responsibilities may be allocated depending on the specific skills that the applicants have and/or wish to develop. 

This role is appointable for one year in the first instance, extendable to 36 months.

Main duties of the job

Brief background of ASICS 2

The Alternative Substrates in the Critically Ill Subject-II (ASICS-II) trial

Research question: In critically ill patients, can a 10-day ketogenic enteral feeding regimen increase the number of repetitions in a 30 second sit to stand test 30 days from randomisation, compared to a standard enteral feeding regimen?

 Aims/Objectives

• Primary clinical: To assess the efficacy of the ketogenic feed versus standard feed in increasing sit-to-stand repetitions performed in 30 seconds, 30 days from randomisation in critically ill patients.

• Secondary clinical: To confirm induction of ketosis by determining between-group serum concentrations of ketone bodies seven-days post randomisation in a blinded fashion.

• Secondary mechanistic:  To examine efficacy along the causal pathway (differential ketone and amino acid flux, urea cycle flux and Tri Carboxylic Acid cycle intermediate generation) using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry based targeted metabolomics.

Key result areas

•             Study Delivery of ASICS 2 and other trials within the ASICS programme

•             Patient Safety

•             Education and Training of the multi-professional team at trial sites

•             Clinical/Professional Support of the multi-professional team at trial sites

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.  

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.  

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.  

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.