Dr Alison Powell
Research Associate
Dr Alison Powell is a Research Associate working on the SAFER study, exploring patient and clinician experience of participating in a trial of an innovative screening programme aimed at detecting atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart condition responsible for one in ten strokes.
Before coming into research Alison trained as a direct-entry midwife and also worked at the British Medical Association, supporting negotiations on pay and terms and conditions of service.
Alison has a degree in history from the University of Cambridge. She did her PhD in health services research at the University of St Andrews, exploring the organisational and professional challenges faced by acute pain services in improving postoperative pain management in NHS hospitals. Since then she has worked on qualitative and mixed methods research studies with the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh, studying specific services like maternity care and respiratory services in primary care and broader questions like the working relationships between managers and medical managers, how health professionals engage with quality improvement and what research organisations do to encourage the use of research in practice settings.
Research Interests
Alison’s research interests fall into two broad areas. The first area is service improvement in health care and the impact of professional identities and boundaries on the delivery of care. A related area of research interest is knowledge mobilisation in health care: how research can be used alongside other forms of knowledge to deliver more effective and responsive services for patients.
