Mrs Kath Donohue
Profiles

Mrs Kath Donohue

Lecturer in Physiotherapy (Education)

School of Health Professions (Faculty of Health and Human Sciences)

Role

Part-time cardio-respiratory lecturer on the undergraduate BSc (Hons) Degree course in Physiotherapy and post-graduate Masters modules at Plymouth University.

Year 1 tutor.

Personal tutor across all 3 year UG cohorts and PG modules.

Module lead for Year 1 and Year 2 cardio-respiratory modules.

Dissertation supervisor for International MSc student.

Qualifications

MSc in Applied Professional Practice (Generic).

Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from the Queen Elizabeth School of Physiotherapy, Birmingham, in 1991.

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2015.

I consolidated my education through 2 years of junior rotations across core areas before specialising in the physiotherapy management of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Using this knowledge I spent a year in India, volunteering with Voluntary Services Overseas, where I furthered the physiotherapy and nursing education in an attempt to improve care for patients.

On my return to the UK I further developed my specialism towards the respiratory management of SCI, for those patients at risk of ventilatory failure and moved into management of long-term respiratory conditions and palliative care services.

A move back to the South West gave me the opportunity to take on a clinical specialist role with the Plymouth Adult Cystic Fibrosis Service and Outpatient Respiratory Service, before moving more formally across into academia at Plymouth University.

I maintain clinical contact with patients with CF through participation as an interventionist in a multi-centre RCT, studying adherence support in CF. 




Professional membership

Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (MCSP).

Registered Physiotherapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Member of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Cystic Fibrosis (ACPCF).

Member of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC) and chair of the South West branch.

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. (HEA)


Teaching interests

Cardio-respiratory Physiotherapy


Part-time lecturer with a special interest in Cystic Fibrosis across all 3 year groups on the BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy course.

Part-time lecturer and supervisor on post-graduate MSc modules.


Research interests

Interventionist in a multi-centre RCT studying the efficacy of a web-based training programme in enhancing adherence to nebulised treatments in Adults with Cystic Fibrosis.


MSc research project: systematic review of the literature surrounding the engagement of patients with CF with web-based self-management packages.