Abstract
BackgroundA highly skilled workforce is required to deliver high quality evidence-based care. Clinical academic career training programmes have been developed to build capacity and capabilities of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) but it remains unclear how these skills and roles are operationalised in the healthcare context. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of early career clinical academic NMAHPs who have undertaken, or are undertaking, clinical academic master’s and doctoral studies in the United Kingdom.MethodsWe conducted 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with early career clinical academics which included; nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsTwo themes emerged from the data; identity transformation and operationalising transformation. Both these highlighted the challenges and opportunities that early clinical academic training provided to the individual and organisation in which they practiced. This required the reconceptualization of this training from the pure acquisition of skills to one of personal and professional transformation. The findings suggest that individuals, funders, and organisations may need to relinquish the notion that training is purely or largely a transactional exchange in order to establish collaborative initiatives.ConclusionStakeholders need to recognise that a cultural shift about the purposes of research training from a transactional to transformative approaches is required to facilitate the development of NMAHPS clinical academics, to enable them to contribute to innovative health and patient care.
Highlights
A highly skilled workforce is required to deliver high quality evidence-based care
Further guidance for organisations and staff has been developed by the Association of United Kingdom University Hospitals [6] and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) [7] to support the actualisation of clinical academic roles with the potential to transform patient care, outcomes and experiences
Clinical academic roles have the potential to significantly impact on the quality of patient care provision, to inform efficient and effective service delivery, and we argue that their development requires increased prominence in healthcare, higher education and research [7, 23, 24]
Summary
A highly skilled workforce is required to deliver high quality evidence-based care. Clinical academic career training programmes have been developed to build capacity and capabilities of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) but it remains unclear how these skills and roles are operationalised in the healthcare context. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that research active healthcare organisations provide higher quality care, increased treatment choices and better clinical outcomes [2]. This requires a highly skilled and educated clinical workforce [3]. In 2007, the UK Clinical Research Collaboration [4] identified the need to develop capacity and capability in nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) to develop clinical academic careers (CAC) Following these recommendations, funding was identified by Health Education England to support a fully funded non-medical clinical academic training pathway, administered by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) via its Academy. Further guidance for organisations and staff has been developed by the Association of United Kingdom University Hospitals [6] and NIHR [7] to support the actualisation of clinical academic roles with the potential to transform patient care, outcomes and experiences
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