Emma Dennett (Airways Managing Editor) was thrilled to be contacted recently by Naomi Winfield, who authored the Cochrane Airways Review Non-pharmaceutical management of respiratory morbidity in children with severe global developmental delay which was initiated by stakeholder involvement.  Here, Naomi tells us about the impact on her career of authoring a Cochrane Review:

“Doing the Cochrane Review really opened a lot of doors for me - I was invited to speak at APCP (Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists) national conference the year after publication, at UCL on their physiotherapy Masters’ course, and I have joined the APCP Specialist Respiratory Committee and teach on their respiratory physiotherapy courses. Through this teaching I have been able to share my passion for quality care for a complex and under-represented patient group with very complex needs.  I have just accepted the position of part-time senior teaching fellow for postgraduate physiotherapy studies at UCL alongside my clinical work.  None of that would have happened without the Cochrane Review so thank you for having faith and backing an unusual review.  I do see it cited quite a lot which is always a good feeling. Finally and most importantly, the results of the review have made a difference to the patients that my team and I treat and hopefully to patients across the world.  Although the results of the review could not provide strong evidence for any single intervention, the results have helped to guide our clinical reasoning in selecting the best treatment approaches for our patients. The result has been reduced frequency of hospital admissions and improved quality of life (such as sleeping through the night) for some of our patients and their families” [Naomi Winfield, Highly Specialist Physiotherapist Paediatrics, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust].

Emma Dennett thought Naomi’s story perfectly demonstrated an aspect of impact from the author’s point of view. It's also brilliant because the review title was not an obvious Airways title, and shows how important it is to work where there is a need identified from stakeholders.

Emma Jackson, Assistant Managing Editor