Primary Care & Health Sciences

RGN, RNT, PhD, MSc (Health), BSc (Hons), Postgraduate Certificate in Higher and Professional Education (PGCHPE) (Distinction), V300 independent prescriber, ENB 998, ENB100.

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Alison graduated from Edinburgh University in 1992 with a first class honours degree in nursing and since then worked  in the acute areas of secondary care; mainly intensive care, trauma, accident and emergency, theatres and finally acute medicine. Eventually specialising in respiratory medicine. She is also a member of the British Thoracic Society, the Primary Care Respiratory Group and the UK Association of Respiratory Nurses.

Alison’s teaching role in the School of Nursing and Midwifery sees her teaching across both pre and post registration studies and leading for prescribing studies and IPE which is a faculty wide teaching strategy. She also supervises two PhD students. More general roles with in the university include sitting on Senate and being a member of the Independent Peer Review Committee.

She gained her PhD at Keele in 2009 and is now undertaking a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship.

Alison obtained her PhD from Keele University in 2009, which examined the psychosocial factors related to exacerbations of severe asthma and the role of a nurse led clinic in the care of these patients. She was the runner up for the RCN Akinsanya Award for PhD studies in 2010. She is now undertaking a post-doctoral fellowship examining the psychosocial factors associated with acute exacerbation of COPD and resultant hospital admission plus the mediating factors involved in this relationship.

During her clinical years she was also involved in many research trials in respiratory medicine including looking at the underdiagnosis rates of COPD in primary care and the implications for patient care, the physiological and psychological effects of CSIT in brittle asthma, studying the genetic background of asthma and atopy (Oxygen UK study), testing the effectiveness of Omalizumab in persistent severe allergic asthma and an RCT evaluating the efficacy and safety of Etanercept in severe persistent asthma. Many of these studies have been multicentred across the UK and Europe.

Alison has also been heavily involved in educational strategies across North Staffordshire area in both primary and secondary care for multidisciplinary health professionals in asthma and COPD and was part of the team from UNHS that won a national award.

Her areas of research interests mostly lie in the mixed methodology approaches but she has also gained extensive experiences of the systematic review process of mixed complex reviews whilst undertaking her post-doctoral fellowship. She also regularly reviews for Nurse Education and Nurse Research.

Books:

• Pooler, A., Mansur, A. (2013). Psychological morbidity in difficult-to-treat Astham. Chapter 5 In. Heany, L., & Menzies-Gower, A. Handbook of Difficult to treat Asthma. India. Jaypee Brothers

• Pooler, A. (2011). An Introduction to Evidence Based Practice. Harlow. Pearson Education

• Campbell, P. Longbottom, A. Pooler, A. (2007) Nursing in General Practice; the toolkit for nurses and health care assistants. Oxford, Radcliffe Publishng

Articles:

• Pooler, A. (2012). An Examination of the relationships and correlations of a range of pstchosocial factors on exacerbations of severe asthma (article in progress)

• Pooler, A., Priest, H (2012). The impact of a nurse led clinic on the reduction on numbers of exacerbations of severe asthma. (recently submitted to Journal of Advanced Nursing)

• Pooler, A. Campbell, P.K.(2006) “ Identifying the learning needs of Community Matrons” Nursing Times. 102; 37, 36-38

• Pooler, A. (2005) Nurse-Led Management of Severe Asthma. Airways Journal. June, pg. 92-97

Websites:

• Campbell, P. Longbottom, A, Pooler, A (In conjunction with the Working In Partnership Project (WiPP), DoH and Medicom (2006) A Toolkit for nurses working in general practice, a guide for nurses and health care assistants. A web based toolkit”

Reports:

• 6 monthly and annual reports to the SHA and West Midlands Deanery on non-medical prescribing at Staffordshire University

• “Background Document to the Care of Asthmatic Patients in North Staffordshire” (2004) University Hospital North Staffordshire, Respiratory Health Improvement Group

• “Care Pathway for the Care Of asthma Patients in North Staffordshire” (2004) University Hospital North Staffordshire. Respiratory Health Improvement Group

Conference Presentations:

• April 2012: International Primary Care Respiratory Conference, Edinburgh. Poster presentation and spoken session “Psychosocial factors in the care of people with severe asthma” and “The effects of a nurse led clinic on the psychological factors in people with severe asthma”

• December 2011: British Thoracic Society Winter Conference, London. Poster presentation “Psychosocial factors and exacerbations of severe asthma”

• May 2010: poster presentation at the RCN International Nurse Research Conference at Gateshead

• May 2010: "Exacerbations of severe asthma, psychosocial factors and the impact of a nurse led clinic" (poster presentation). Graduate symposium, Keele University

• May 2009: "Exacerbations of severe asthma, psychosocial factors and the influence  of a nurse led clinic". Graduate symposium. Keele University

• April 2008: "Exacerbation of Severe Asthma, psychological predictors and the Influence of a nurse led clinic". World Asthma and COPD forum.Dubai. UAE

• June 2007: “Why do we need to clean out data”. Graduate symposium, Keele University    

• June 2005: “Asthma Education Across the Interface”. Innovations in Education Conference, Keele University

• March 2005: “Nurse-led Asthma Care”  Breaking Boundaries Conference, UNHS.

• Dec 2004: “Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in Severe Asthmatics”   BTS winter conference, London

• Oct 2003: “Continuous Infusion of Subcutaneous Terbutaline in the quality of life of  Brittle Asthmatics”. European Respiratory Society Conference,Vienna

• April 2003: “Asthma Care across the Interface”. MTS spring meeting / conference, Stafford

Lead for non-medical prescribing and pharmacology and teaches in areas such as anatomy and physiology, research methodologies and research governance, respiratory medicine and acute medicine, health psychology and evidence based practice. Also supervises dissertations for degree, masters and PhD level students. She strives to embed her research activities and interests into her teaching to enhance students understanding of the use of research in today’s health service.

Before coming to work at Keele she also taught for the National Respiratory Training Centre in Warwick (now Education for Health) and the Respiratory Education Centre in Liverpool. She also teaches part time for the Open University on level 1 and masters programmes in the faculty of health.