Dr Naomi Farrington RN, MA, PhD, PgDip

Clinical Academic Fellow, Visiting Clinical Academic Fellow'

Dr Naomi Farrington is a staff nurse on a chemotherapy day unit at Southampton General Hospital, and a post-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellow at the University of Southampton. Her research interests include managing toileting in palliative care and at the end of life, and supporting older people who are having treatment for advanced cancer. She works closely with Professor Alison Richardson and Professor Mandy Fader at the University of Southampton, and with a team of experienced cancer care clinicians at Southampton General Hospital.

Having academics who work clinically means that research questions, and ultimately research outcomes, are more likely to be relevant to what actually goes on in clinical practice. It also means that we can act as a conduit for research findings to be swiftly integrated into clinical practice.

I am a post-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellow, meaning that I divide my time between the University and Southampton General Hospital, where I work as a staff nurse on the chemotherapy day unit. I also have experience working in the Acute Oncology Service.

My academic background is in the field of archaeology and anthropology, and I hold a PhD from the University of Cambridge on the development of archaeology in Israel. I chose to become a nurse after a positive experience volunteering on an elderly care ward, and have never regretted the career change.

My research interests are twofold; my work so far has focused on continence management in end of life care, a much neglected area that requires attention. In addition, I am interested in providing appropriate care and support for older people undergoing treatment for cancer.

I retain an interest in the methods used in my PhD thesis, including discourse analysis, narrative analysis and grounded theory.