ISRRT_COVID-19_book

Researching in a pandemic – a non-starter or unmissable
opportunity?
Andrew England and Alexandra Partner
Introduction
The challenges of the SARS-CoV-19 virus and the resultant global pandemic are all too familiar.
Responding to the threat of the virus has become the everyday role of the radiographer.
Initially, there was widespread anxiety and speculation that healthcare systems would
become overwhelmed 1 . For most countries this has not been the case, however, coronavirus
has led to a significant change in how we practice radiography and how we teach student
radiographers. With dedicated COVID-19 hospitals being established in record time 2 and the
implementation of national vaccination programmes 3 , the availability of radiographers to
undertake frontline COVID-19 related activities was a priority. Government based healthcare
research organisations, such as the United Kingdom (UK) National Institute for Research,
recommended suspension of all but only essential COVID-related research 4 . Radiography
education also required rapid redevelopment to facilitate a need for remote learning and to
help manage a reduced access to clinical placements 5,6 . As a result, and early in the pandemic,
there was a real threat to the continuation of radiographic research.
Despite prior concerns, radiographic research in the pandemic has flourished and journals
such as Radiography have seen an enormous increase in the number of submissions, 223 in
2019 versus 420 in 2020, up 88% 7 . Many of these were COVID-19-related, however, a
significant contribution to journal submissions was from non-COVID-19 related research.
What looked like a pause in radiography research has resulted in a surge of research activity.
Submissions to Radiography came from all around the world and included the full range of
subspecialities (medical imaging, radiation therapy and nuclear medicine).
Despite the increase in the number of submissions and resultant publications, research during
the pandemic has been far from easy. Many non-COVID-19 studies that had been planned
immediately prior to the start of the pandemic had to be postponed. In many cases, priority
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