Dr Sarah McLachlan

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Senior Research Fellow
Location:
Chelmsford

Sarah is a Senior Research Fellow in ARU's Centre of Excellence in Equity for Uniformed Public Services.

Sarah completed her PhD in Social and Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham in 2011. She has since worked as a health services researcher at Keele University, King’s College London and, most recently, ARU, when she was also Research & Scholarship Lead at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.

[email protected]

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Background

Sarah is a mixed-methods researcher with experience in a range of methods, including qualitative interviews and focus groups, ethnography, surveys, scale development and systematic literature reviews. She has recently developed an interest in the use of arts-based methods in health research.

Sarah also has extensive experience of patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) and established a national special interest group for PPIE in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services research. She also sits on the steering group for the National Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Research & Audit Forum.

Sarah supervises doctoral students and is research mentor to two clinical academic fellows. She is a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the BPS Division of Health Psychology.

Research interests
  • Health services research
  • Mental health and well-being of uniformed public services staff
  • Arts-based methods in health research
  • Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE)
Qualifications
  • PhD in Health and Social Psychology, University of Nottingham
  • MSc in Health Psychology, King’s College London
  • BSc (Hons) Psychology, University of Essex
Memberships, editorial boards
  • British Psychological Society
  • British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology
Selected recent publications

Edmunds, C. T., Lachowycz, K., McLachlan, S., Downes, A., Smith, A. ... Barnard, E. (2023) 'Nine golden codes: improving the accuracy of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) dispatch – a retrospective, multi-organisational study in the East of England', Scandinavian Journal of Trauma Resuscitation & Emergency Medicine, 31, pp. 27. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13049-023-01094-w

Ramage, L., McLachlan, S., Williams, K. and PreHOspital Trainee Operated research Network (PHOTON) (2023) 'Determining the top research priorities in UK prehospital critical care: a modified Delphi study', Emergency Medicine Journal, 40, pp. 271-276. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2022-212622

Walton, M., McLachlan, S., Nelson, M., Skeffington, P., Phillipson, L. and Christian, M. D. (2022) 'A psychological resilience briefing intervention for Helicopter Emergency Medical Service observers', Air Medical Journal. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amj.2022.07.010

Recent presentations and conferences

McLachlan, S., Bungay, H., Williams, M. and Meshe, F. (2024) 'Does prehospital critical care provided by Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) improve the outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury? A systematic review of the literature', poster, London Trauma Conference.

Robinson Southey, S. and McLachlan, S. (2024) 'Breaking Bad News: The experiences of Helicopter Emergency Medical Service clinicians and aftercare teams', oral presentation, Emergency Care Conference, Manchester.

McLachlan, S., Power-Mason, A., Bungay, H., Lang, N., Vasireddy, A., and Land, C. (2024) 'The mental health and well-being of Helicopter Emergency Medical Service clinicians: A systematic literature review and national survey of organisational provision', oral presentation, European Emergency Medicine Congress, Copenhagen.