Patient and public involvement
As a nurse-led centre, SWaT has a wealth of experience in tissue viability and wound care, pioneering research, epidemiological monitoring, and working with patients and their families in the management of wound prevention and treatment.
The centre successfully secured funding from the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel Research 2024 Committee Starting Grant for Empowering Patient Expertise (EmpowerPEx). Further information about the project can be found below and on the EPUAP research hub.
EmpowerPEx
EmpowerPEx has established an advisory panel to identify research priorities in pressure ulcer (pressure sore) prevention through partnerships grounded in lived experience.
We want patients, their families, and caregivers that know about pressure sores, to have a say in making important decisions about avoiding them. We are collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences who have either:
- had a pressure sore
- are trying to avoid having a pressure sore
- assisting someone with a pressure sore
These people have become our advisory partners and are deciding with us:
- What needs to change to better avoid pressure sores
- Where we should start with the changes we want to make
- What solutions can help make things better
- How we can improve the lives of those affected by pressure sores
Our goal
We are a patient, person, and professional involvement (PPPI) group that represent people with the lived experience of having a pressure sore, or assisting someone with a pressure sore, together with healthcare professionals that are passionate about preventing pressure sores.
We are coming together in partnership with a shared goal to better understand and avoid pressure sores by involving people that are most affected by them. That way, our research will aim to improve care and make a real difference to the lives of people affected, or at-risk of pressure sores.
National PPI priority setting workshop
Together with our advisory panel, we are excited to invite you to a national PPI priority setting workshop taking place on Friday, 29 May 2026 (10am-1pm) at RCSI Dublin and online. If you are interested in voting on the top 10 areas of importance in the field of pressure sore prevention, we encourage you to register your interest and receive further information. We look forward to your participation in shaping future research priorities in pressure sore prevention.
You can learn more about the event by watching this video.
Join us
If you are interested in joining this group or would like more informaton, please complete the form here or contact Dr Hannah Wilson directed at wilsonhannah@rcsi.com.
Voices that matter
In October 2024, the School of Nursing and Midwifery hosted a special in-person event for the National Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Festival. This live panel discussion focused on the crucial role of PPI in shaping nursing research and education.
Panelists included Sorcha Boyle and Declan Naughton, advisory partners with lived experience; Dr Hannah Wilson, Research Lecturer; Dr Chanel Watson, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of Academic Affairs; and Dr Bridget Murray, Lecturer, who discussed how the School of Nursing and Midwifery at RCSI has successfully integrated PPI into its work, how it has enriched their efforts, and their future plans to further embed PPI in all aspects of their work.
You can listen to the discussion below.
We hosted a World Café and Networking Event during the 2025 National PPI festival which was led by our advisory panel and experts with lived experience.
Interested to know more about what we are working on? Our team are performing a scoping review to explore research studies that have included people with the lived experience of pressure ulcers (pressure sores). We have developed a scoping review protocol which outlines what we plan to do. To follow our project updates, please visit the Open Science Framework here.