Summary
Dr Helen Goodman has worked as part of the Health Services Research since starting her PhD. For her PhD she carried out a pilot programme to assess whether home-based, nurse-led support and education for patients waiting for heart surgery reduces their anxiety and improves their quality of life while they wait and whether they have a smoother recovery from their operation. The programme also looked at whether the risk factors for heart disease could be reduced during this time and whether it is cost-effective to intervene during this period to improve physical and psychological fitness. This fit-for-surgery programme built on previous work that had highlighted a need to provide more support for patients waiting for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The pilot programme and new manual were intended to provide psychological support and risk-factor management, and both nurses and patients felt this had been achieved.
Helen is currently still working at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and has taken on the role of Project Managing the Integrated Care Pathway within the trust and covers both sites of the hospital. She also oversees the Garfield Weston Project, which looks at individualised self care management frameworks for heart failure patients following discharge from hospital.