The challenge of balancing an academic career with clinical practice
Aligned with our mission to advance the understanding and impact of microbiology, the Society reached out to our community of microbiologists to share their experiences in responding to SARS-CoV-2. We aim to showcase the perspective of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic and the variety of roles adopted to mitigate the global crisis.
This case study is written by Dr Suzy Moody, a Lecturer of Eukaryotic Microbiology at Kingston University London whose research specialises in bioremediation of plastics. However, before she embarked on a PhD she was an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse. Here, she tells us about juggling her academic responsibilities with returning to the wards to treat COVID-positive patients.
How are you responding to the SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 pandemic?
I was an ICU nurse before a did my PhD in microbiology, so when Boris Johnson called on ex-nurses to return to the NHS in the first wave of the pandemic, I went back. I was working at Solent University at the time, and they agreed to let me work on the wards whenever I wasn’t teaching. I worked on the COVID-19 wards at Southampton General Hospital (SGH). I now work at Kingston University and have gone part-time to continue working at SGH.
What were some of the challenges that you faced during this time?
The same as other nurses – initially a lack of FFP3 masks and fit testing, then a sore face from wearing FFP3 masks all day. In the early days there was also a lack of knowledge about transmission and concerns about taking the virus home on your uniform. There was conflicting guidance regarding whether CPR was an aerosol-generating procedure (SGH followed the Resuscitation Council guidelines, giving their staff more protection than hospitals that followed PHE advice), creating worries about not being able to do enough to save your patients. And, of course, we were constantly short-staffed. Exhaustion is an ongoing challenge. While life has gone back to close-to-normal in academia, those of us working clinically face increased numbers of high care patients with reduced numbers of staff as so many nurses have left in the last year.
I am part of the policy team for the Society for Applied Microbiology and co-wrote a response to the All-Party Parliamentary Groups’ call for evidence on pandemic preparedness in 2020 – focusing mainly on the conflicting advice around CPR as an aerosol-generating procedure.
It was during the first wave that I realised that most nurses’ understanding of microbiology, infection risk and transmission was no better than when I left nursing several years before. This has been an issue for many years as nursing education contains very little microbiology. It made me want to do more to protect my colleagues by empowering them with the understanding to protect themselves and their patients better. This is something I intend to pursue through both education and research routes.
I have chosen the ongoing challenge of balancing an academic career with clinical practice. I think women who work part-time have a particularly difficult time when it comes to academic promotion, but it is a risk I’m willing to take.
How does your experience throughout the response aid in your development?
I’m not sure it does! I’m an environmental microbiologist whose main research focus is on bioremediation, so other than worrying about the landfill mountain of gloves and masks, my clinical work doesn’t aid my current research. I teach eukaryotic microbiology at Kingston University and being back in practice gives my teaching about clinical signs and symptoms of disease some authenticity that the students appreciate. I’d like to do more research around nurses’ understanding of infection and how that can be translated into better practice.
What can we learn about the importance of microbiology from the COVID-19 pandemic?
I think the key thing for me is to keep trying to improve nurses’ microbiology education. Our two greatest challenges in healthcare globally are in microbiology: COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance. If we are to respond well to these, we need to empower our nursing workforce with a better understanding of infection, transmission and the role of the nurse in preventing and mitigating against these.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council guidelines for nurse education put a big emphasis on drug administration and safety, but hospital-acquired infection causes more morbidity and mortality every year than drug errors. We need urgent action from the grassroots of teaching microbiology to nurses, and a change in policy from the top to mandate good infection prevention and control as part of our training.
About the author
Dr Suzy Moody is a Lecturer of Eukaryotic Microbiology at Kingston University London. Her research specialises in bioremediation of plastics.