Kay Stevenson

Biography

Consultant Physiotherapist, Honorary Professor Clinical Care and Leadership, Arthritis UK Clinical Champion, NIHR Senior Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow

Kay Stevenson is a Senior Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow within the Impact Accelerator Unit (IAU) Keele University, an Honorary Professor in the Medical School, Keele University and a Consultant Physiotherapist within the Midland Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

Within the IAU, she leads the Knowledge Mobilisation theme and is responsible for embedding the best evidence into system and practice across health and local authorities. She provides mentorship to a wide range of fellows including the Applied Research Collaborative Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows. She also leads The Arthritis Research UK Epidemiological Research Consortia Knowledge Mobilisation Community of Practice and Knowledge mobilisation within the PHIRST PHRESH team.

She formed the successful Critically Appraised Topic Group. This multidisciplinary group of academics, clinicians and librarians have asked and answered over 200 clinical questions and improved care as a result. This has also led to three funded research trials and was awarded a British Society of Rheumatology Award for Outstanding Clinical Practice (2016).

Her clinical, system and NHS England roles allow her to provide clinical leadership and expertise to a local, regional and national teams with the aim of improving evidence-based care and building KM capacity. She leads the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Integrated Care Systems Musculoskeletal Stewardship and Transformation Group and has recently completed a three-year secondment to NHS England Midlands team as a MSK Advisor.

Research and scholarship

My MPhil focused on the concept of evidence based practice and how to best change clinicians behaviour in light of best evidence. This interest led to the development and leadership of a multidisciplinary group whose main aim is to search for the best available evidence to inform practice. The group has developed 33 clinical recommendations, and has published their work nationally and have presented at international conferences.

The web address is http://www.keele.ac.uk/ebp/mrfgroup/aimsofthegroup/

The group has also been involved in the joint development of three randomised trails which followed as a result of the process.

I am part of a team that is researching the types of patients that are seen in our Musculoskeletal Interface Service. We are interested in clinical outcomes, describing the factors that affect risk of developing chronicity and exploring the effect of our treatment interventions.

Teaching

I have jointly developed and continue to deliver a masters level module on Soft Tissue and Intra-articular Joint Injections. This module, is organised by the School of Health and Rehabilitation, Keele University, has successfully trained over 200 physiotherapists and nurses to deliver this mode of treatment in clinical practice

I have also developed a master’s module to support practitioners who wish to develop additional musculoskeletal assessment skills in the clinical environment (Musculoskeletal Management at the Interface). The module is aimed at general practitioners and physiotherapists.

I deliver sessions on master’s modules on physical examination to rheumatology nurse specialists and assist in the deliver of evidence based practice modules within the Centre.

I co-ordinate training for clinicians who work within our Musculoskeletal Interface service to ensure the delivery of the  highest standards of clinical care and regularly deliver training sessions to local physiotherapists on aspects of clinical management.

I co-ordinate and lecture on an annual Best Practice day for Allied Health Professionals. This aims to share innovation in the areas of clinical practice, research and service redesign.

Further information

• Editorial Board member of Musculoskeletal Matters and Midland Medicine Journals

• I co-ordinate our local ARMA group (Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance)

• Vice Chair of the Haywood Foundation Charity