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Brunel Physiotherapy Lecturer awarded Intensive Care Society's Researcher of the Year

Brunel University London's Dr Eve Corner has won the Intensive Care Society's prestigious Researcher of the Year award in recognition of the impact the scoring system she developed has had on improving the healthcare of patients in intensive care units.

Dr Corner developed the Chelsea Critical Care Physical Assessment Tool, known as CPAx, during her PhD when she spotted that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on rehabilitation after critical illness would be enhanced by an assessment tool to enable regular clinical assessment of a patient's physical function.

First piloted in 2012 – and rigorously tested, validated and refined since – CPAx now has over 100 UK hospitals using it, and many more worldwide.

The tool takes a clinician through ten different aspects of how the patient is doing, encompassing how effectively the patient breathes and coughs, their grip strength, and how well they perform movements such as rolling in their bed and transferring from their bed to the chair. Patients like CPAx because they can identify problem areas, set rehabilitation goals and track their recovery. Their motivation is welcomed by the multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, who have also found CPAx provides a common language with patients and within the team, provides a consistent approach, and makes rehabilitation and recovery more tailored and meaningful to everyone.

Dr. Corner’s CPAx is now being used internationally and is translated into various languages, including Danish, German, Japanese, Swedish and Spanish, with 15 Spanish-speaking countries using it. 

Dr. Corner is well recognized not only for her exceptional work with the CPAx, but within the Brunel community as well. Prof Paul Hellewell, Brunel's Vice-Provost and Dean of College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, remarked at how fitting the award was: "Dr Corner is an inspirational role model to physiotherapist professionals and students alike, especially because she has always remained in clinical roles whilst carrying out her research and lecturing.” 

Physiotherapy students at Brunel are fortunate to have such exceptional mentors, and you could be next. To find out more about Brunel, visit their profile page here. Enquire today to find out more about Physiotherapy or Brunel University London here.

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