DoP Seminar - Dr Sarah Yardley

Synopsis: In this seminar I will explore intersecting concepts and patterns in multidimensional aspects of space, place and relationship in human interactions focusing on Palliative Care and Psychiatry. These are exemplars of reliance on liminal work at intersections of expertise to address boundary-spanning needs. Success depends on therapeutic relationships between professionals, patients and carers; and collegiate relationships between Palliative/Psychiatry specialists and other healthcare professionals (generalists).

My work is integrating: (1) sociocultural and ergonomic theories with network concepts of actors, relations and tie creation; (2) experiential expertise (working with a patient/carer engagement group); and, (3) qualitative observations and egocentric network interviews with patients, informal carers, specialist and generalist healthcare professionals.

The work demonstrates a problematic absence of shared language to conceptualise safety, risk or how change can lead to improvement. Even when shared underlying values are identified, expression through very different language and behaviours means misunderstandings and expectation-experience gaps arise during efforts at liminal work. Further research is planned to explore the creation of meaningful connections through experiences of legitimacy and closeness across psychological and social dimensions of liminal spaces in palliative and psychiatric care to improve relationship-centred care.

Biography: Dr Sarah Yardley, BM PGCertClinEd MA PhD MRCP MAcadMEd is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London.

THIS Institute Post-doctoral Fellow https://www.thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk/about/people/dr-sarah-yardley/

Sarah's research expertise is in qualitative methodologies, applied to health professions education, palliative care and patient safety through study of sociocultural influences, informal learning and 'real world' practices. Sarah’s research interests include: how patients, families, carers, and healthcare professionals do the work of frontline day-to-day healthcare and make sense of their experiences; specialist-generalist interfaces in palliative care and mental healthcare; care for these patient groups during transitions between care settings and in Emergency Departments and Acute Medical Units; and, the impact human-dependent interventions such as therapeutic and professional collegiate relationships have on current and future care. Sarah is also on the Editorial Board for the journal Palliative Medicine and the Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group (PaPaS). She works clinically in a large palliative care service (hospital and community).