Current methods for lateral force calibration are often time-consuming, expensive, or cause significant wear of the tip. A quick and simple alternative is presented in which the linear relationship between force and voltage is exploited. The technique is independent of the shapes of the sample and cantilever and eliminates common problems, while maintaining better than 10% precision. This advance will facilitate quantitative comparisons between experiments.

Practitioner psychologists are at risk of compassion fatigue (CF) due to the emotional demands of helping individuals who have experienced pain and suffering. Practitioner psychologists may also be impacted by wider socio-political events (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), which can lead to global compassion fatigue (GCF). While these concepts have been examined in various healthcare professionals, research exploring the impact of CF and GCF on practitioner psychologists has been very limited. This study therefore aimed to explore the impact of compassion fatigue (CF) and global compassion fatigue (GCF) on practitioner psychologists’ practice. Ten participants were recruited for online semi-structured interviews during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected was thematically analysed. Five themes related to compassionate care were identified, which included: ‘How to be compassionate’, ‘Psychologists require TLC too!’, ‘Hindrances of compassionate care’, ‘Constraints within the NHS’ and ‘Indicators of compassion fatigue and burnout’. Three themes related to GCF were identified, which included: ‘Effects of news/social media’, ‘Management of news/social media’ and ‘Challenges faced by COVID-19’. The implications of CF and GCF and ways to mitigate their effects on practitioner psychologists’ wellbeing, development, and their practice are discussed.

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Clinic flow at the Wessex adult cystic fibrosis service was recognised to be sub-optimal with patients spending on average 36% of their total clinic time waiting to see the next clinician. Changes had been made to improve the clinic experience for patients and clinicians and following these changes an initial questionnaire was completed in 2019 to explore patients’ views of the face-to-face clinic experience. Results were analysed from the first questionnaire but before further changes could be implemented the COVID-19 pandemic began and almost all clinic appointments became remote appointments. A second questionnaire was completed in July 2020 to understand the patients’ perceived advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face and remote clinics. A total of 25 adults with cystic fibrosis completed the 1st questionnaire and 48 completed the 2nd questionnaire. Participants reported advantages and disadvantages to both types of clinic appointment and neither type of appointment offered the perfect solution. A majority of participants (71%) were happy to continue with remote clinic appointments in the future with some participants keen for a hybrid approach of face-to-face and remote appointments. The feedback from both questionnaires has provided clinicians at the Wessex adult cystic fibrosis service with the opportunity to further improve the current clinic experience and to give patients a greater choice of clinic appointment type which also meets their clinical and personal needs.