{"id":529,"date":"2026-10-07T13:07:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T12:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/?p=529"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:10:08","slug":"reflecting-on-the-impact-of-gynae-narratives-my-internship-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/2026\/10\/07\/reflecting-on-the-impact-of-gynae-narratives-my-internship-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Impact of Gynae Narratives: My Internship Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our latest blog post, former intern and Biomedical Science student at Lancaster University, Emily Waters, reflects on her experience with the Gynae Narratives project.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This summer, I had the opportunity to complete a Grow Your Future micro internship with Lancaster Medical School, working with Dr Lisa Ashmore, one of the leads for the Gynae Narratives project. The internship focused on evaluating the impact of the Gynae Narratives<\/em> book, which was developed to improve experiences of radiotherapy for people receiving treatment for gynaecological cancer.<\/p>\n

During the internship, I analysed data from people who had ordered the book, helped design a follow-up survey for readers and wrote an impact report exploring how the book had been used. This gave me experience in survey design, analysing qualitative data and communicating research findings.<\/strong> More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to see the impact that patient voices can have on improving healthcare.<\/p>\n

The most rewarding part of the internship was analysing the survey responses and seeing the genuine impact of the Gynae Narratives project.<\/strong> Responses from healthcare professionals demonstrated how the book had been used to support conversations with patients, improve understanding of lived experiences and encourage more patient-centred approaches to care. It was encouraging to see that the project had influenced the way people think about and deliver healthcare.<\/p>\n

I was equally moved by the responses from patients. Many described feeling understood and empowered after reading the book. The book helped people recognise that their experiences mattered and that their voices deserved to be heard. Seeing the impact of the project from both healthcare professionals and patients highlighted the importance of listening to lived experiences when designing and improving healthcare services.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Biomedical Science student, much of my degree focuses on the scientific and laboratory aspects of healthcare. This internship reminded me that, although much of our work takes place behind the scenes, it can have a real impact on people’s lives. Seeing how the Gynae Narratives project had helped patients feel understood and influenced healthcare professionals’ practice highlighted the importance of research that leads to improvements in care. Behind every sample and every research finding is a person with their own experiences and concerns, who deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion.<\/p>\n

One of the key lessons I\u2019ll take forward from this experience is the importance of ensuring that patient voices remain central to healthcare improvement.<\/strong> The Gynae Narratives project demonstrated that research is about listening to people\u2019s experiences and using that knowledge to create real changes in care.<\/p>\n

Overall, this internship has been a really valuable experience. It strengthened my understanding of research impact, introduced me to qualitative research, and shown me how patient-centred research can influence healthcare. I am grateful to the Gynae Narratives team for giving me the opportunity to contribute to such meaningful work and for providing an experience that I will carry forward throughout my studies and future career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our latest blog post, former intern and Biomedical Science student at Lancaster University, Emily Waters, reflects on her experience with the Gynae Narratives project.\u00a0 \u00a0 This summer, I had the opportunity to complete a Grow Your Future micro internship with Lancaster Medical School, working with Dr Lisa Ashmore, one of the leads for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2037,"featured_media":530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,8,7],"class_list":["post-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-gynae-narratives","tag-internship"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/files\/2026\/10\/Gnae-narratives-book.jpg?fit=1152%2C1536&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2037"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}