Bahrain-based GCU PhD students reflect on their research
Two GCU Professional Doctorate students have given an insight into their innovative research, which aims to provide a better learning experience for Nursing students around the world.
Maryam Yaqoob and Sumaya Faraj both work as Nursing lecturers at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland – Bahrain (RCSI), and were keen to create their own research from their own experiences, benefitting students for years to come.
GCU and RCSI have had a partnership in place for a number of years and Maryam and Sumaya are the latest Doctorate students to work remotely in conjunction with lecturers here in Glasgow.
Maryam’s study is entitled: Enablers and Barriers for a Successful Transition to Higher Education as Perceived by First Year Undergraduate Nursing Students during first year of their Nursing Studies
Sumaya’s study is entitled: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Exploring Undergraduate Nursing Students' Experience of Interprofessional Simulation in Bahrain
We spoke to both to hear more about their research and their recent experience presenting their findings at the annual RCSI Research Conference.
Tell me a bit about your background?
Sumaya: “I studied my Masters in Medical Surgical Science (Nursing) at GCU in 2007-2008. I then became a full time nursing lecturer for a number of years, but I never forgot about my time at GCU. I found it to be a fantastic experience and when the time came to complete my doctorate in 2019, it was an easy decision to select GCU because I’d had such a positive experience previously. There was so much support offered throughout the University during my time there, which made it an easy decision to return.”
Maryam: “I was a Senior Staff Nurse working in an intensive care unit in Bahrain. I then wanted to take my next step and completed my Masters at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland - Bahrain. I then joined the University as a lecturer in Nursing in 2011 and I’ve been there since.
“I actually share an office with Sumaya and I heard about her joining GCU. I’d applied to do my Doctorate at many different Universities in the UK and she told me how great her experience at GCU was. I decided to apply and then joined GCU in 2020. It really has been a great experience for me and I’ve been given so much support by the lecturers, especially Dr Keith Halcro.”
How has it been to work with GCU so far?
Maryam: “Everything has been online because of the pandemic, however it has not had an effect on my experience working with GCU. I have submitted all the assignments on time and all the instructions we received from our lecturers in Glasgow were clear and organised.
“It isn’t easy being a full-time lecturer and managing work, family and study, but I’ve absolutely loved it. Everything is going very smoothly.”
Sumaya: “Both of us are completing the Doctorate part-time, so we aren’t actually required to be in Glasgow. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of blocks of teaching in Glasgow though, which was a really great experience. I got the chance to see my colleagues and had the opportunity to interact with my cohort and different people. Even getting to use the services at GCU was a great experience and I hope I get the chance to visit the campus again in future - hopefully for graduation.”
Your Doctorate studies have involved intensive research, tell us a bit about what you’ve been focusing on?
Maryam: “Since I joined the RCSI (Bahrain), I’ve mainly worked with year one Nursing students and graduate students. I wanted to study students experience transitioning from secondary school to higher education. RCSI is an international University located here in Bahrain. Most of our students are from Bahrain but we do have a few international students, so I wanted to find out about everyone’s experience and hear about the positives and negatives of their time in higher education.
“There also isn’t a lot of studies done in this region exploring this aspect. There are many studies done exploring Nursing students transition from University to the clinical placement, but not from secondary school into University. I felt it was very important because it will help us bridge the gap in the literature.
“My study is qualitative and I collected the data during the last academic year – 2022-2023. I now have all the data, so I’m at the analysing stage and writing up the chapters.”
Sumaya: “I’m teaching on the Undergraduate Nursing programme and I’m a member of the Interprofessional Learning here at RCSI (Bahrain). We aim to bring together different healthcare disciplines and practice in the lab. I’m the lead person here at the school who is leading interprofessional simulation activity in the lab, so I tried really to focus on that.
“I found that all the researchers confirmed that there is a positive impact from interprofessional simulation within the healthcare institutions. It is well recognised that the simulation has an immediate impact and really helps empower the students from different disciplines, while also building on teamwork, collaboration and the safe administration of medication. However, I found there was a gap in research in terms of how the interprofessional simulation would impact the students later on in their clinical placements. Due to my background, I chose to focus on Nursing and how the experience effected them during their placements.”
How did the opportunity to speak at the RCSI Conference in March come about?
Sumaya: “I decided to apply to present and went through the official process. I discussed the opportunity with my supervisors, who encouraged me to take the opportunity to get involved in an international conference. I applied and submitted my abstract and was accepted for an oral poster presentation."
Maryam: “At work we have a site where we submit all of our activities and I had sent something in explaining how I presented my preliminary findings at another conference in Abu Dhabi. From that, I was invited by one of the members from the RCSI committee to be a key-note speaker.
“It was really beneficial to take part in this. The preparation, data analysis, being asked questions was all going to help our research develop further and benefit us as Doctorate students.”
Maryam, how did you feel presenting at the RCSI Annual Conference?
Maryam: “I wasn’t that nervous because I’d had previous experience presenting my research in Abu Dhabi. When I presented there, I wasn’t within the allotted time, so I have learned from the experience and shortened my slides and practiced more – I was telling myself to be calm and be confident!
“There were quite a few people there: senior staff from the University, our Head of School, the Head of School for Medicine, and then we had medical and nursing students.”
Sumaya, it must be very difficult to summarise your work in a presentation?
Sumaya: "Absolutely! It’s very important for me to acknowledge the work from my supervisors. Even with the abstract writing, they were always there – even during their weekends! They always spared their time to make it a well structured, acceptable abstract.
“Once I’d been accepted they were so happy and then offered their help right up until I submitted my poster to the printing room for the conference – the support was incredible. This made me really confident because I knew every single aspect of the poster for presenting and felt very happy when the time came to present.”
Maryam: “I would like to echo what Sumaya had to say. I would like to thank Dr Evelyn McElhinney and Dr Gordon Hill for their continued support. They always have regular meetings with me and constantly provide guidance, while also encouraging us to promote our work at different conferences.”
What are the next steps from here?
Sumaya: “I have between six to eight months left of my Doctorate, I’m in the writing stage now. After finishing I would like to disseminate the work and share the results further. There is no point in research if you don’t share the findings with other people it can benefit – especially those involved in interprofessional simulation. We are also both looking forward to coming to Scotland for graduation!"
Maryam: “I’m not due to finish until around 2025, but I’m looking forward to the whole process. I’m excited to see what my data shows and to have the findings in front of me.”
There might be students currently studying at GCU who are considering a career in research, what would you say to them?
Sumaya: “Every single action in nursing should be based on evidence. We can’t practice safely and produce high quality care if we don’t have evidence. I’d encourage recent graduates to look at small projects and conduct their own research before gradually moving towards more complex topics - this will increase their profile as researchers. The important part is then to share their findings and share their work through social media and websites so they can promote themselves but so they can also benefit other people around the world with their research.”
Maryam: “The most important thing as a researcher is having a good mentor. It’s important to take advice and that’s something I benefitted from with my mentor Dr Catherine O’Neill. I worked with her on a research study, and that really helped me understand what to expect and follow the appropriate steps.”
Find out more about GCU PHD opportunities here
By Ross Clark
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