The Patient Effect

The Patient Effect’ tells the story of public and patient involvement in research – how tapping into the lived experience of patients, their families and carers, has the potential to hugely enhance the quality and relevance of health and medical research.The Patient Effect was co funded and developed by a Health Research Board Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination Scheme grant awarded to the HRB Primary Care CTNI. Directed by Mia Mullarkey and produced by Alice McDowell both of Iskha Films, this Irish documentary follows three personal stories, which reflect the power of including public and patient voices in planning and conducting research. Paul Ryan, father to Sophia who was born premature at 25 weeks, is contributing to a major research programme called NEPTuNE – exploring the most effective methods to monitor and manage babies with neonatal brain injury. Cameron Keighron lives with type 1 diabetes and has been heavily involved in developing a new way of delivering healthcare to young people with diabetes. Connecting up with Margaret Devaney and the Swinford Arthritis Walking Group has provided first-hand insight of the impact of chronic pain on their day-to-day life to medical device developers at University of Galway, inspiring the latter in their research endeavours.