Post by Rachel Chan

Finally getting around to posting this… turns out “I’ll post this later” really meant much later. (I was busy 🤓) I was really grateful to be invited to present my very first poster at the International Clinical Research Conference (ICRC) 2026, hosted at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge! My audit focused on emergency appendicectomies at North Middlesex University Hospital, looking at whether patients were being discharged within 48 hours in line with GIRFT guidance, and understanding why this target wasn’t always being met. I designed and created the poster, but the audit was very much a collaborative project with Ayman A. , Abhishek Sivakumar and our supervisor Mr Shailesh Mohandas! It was a great learning experience getting feedback and seeing the huge range of work being presented — from meta-analyses to lab-based and library research. Presenting as the only audit among all of that was definitely a little daunting 😂, but also a valuable reminder of the importance of real-world clinical practice and quality improvement work alongside research 🩺.