IBS17.01 Undertaking Nursing and Allied Health Research — How to Survive It and Get Published

Abstract

The nursing and allied health professions include a diverse range of disciplines, such as many different specialist nurses, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, dietetics, social work, and others. The foundation of modern health service interventions is that of evidence-based practice, to ensure that patients are receiving interventions that have been proven, through robust research, to provide benefit for the patient. Nursing interventions have a longer history of research underpinning them than allied health. In the allied health professions, there remains a dearth of robust research providing a clear evidence base for interventions routinely used. This presentation will focus on the challenges faced by both nurses and allied health professionals, particularly clinicians, in undertaking research and, once a research study is completed, how to get the research published. This is even more challenging in the general specialty of oncology and within the sub-specialty of lung cancer. The lack of research among nursing and the allied health professions is not a new phenomenon. My unpublished undergraduate thesis for the BAppSc(OT) in 1994 was titled ‘The replication of research in the health sciences’, investigating the level of replication of research in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology and nursing. The aim of this research was to ensure the scientific knowledge base of the interventions being utilised were valid and reliable. The outcome of the research demonstrated a significant limitation in the replication of research, with many interventions being utilised by these professions not having a strong evidence base, or any evidence base at all. Twenty-five years later the scientific base for these professions, as well as dieticians and new and emerging allied health professions, has improved. In the field of occupational therapy most national professional bodies now have a focus on supporting research through funding and the dissemination of research findings. How does a novice clinical researcher go about funding, designing, implementing and publishing a research study? One of the keys for novice researchers is to find an academic or clinical research mentor, who is able to support you in navigating the muddy waters of clinical research. Clinical research is key to ensuring research projects are designed to meet the needs of our rapidly changing clinical environment, emerging clinical areas and interventions. There are many challenges in being a clinical researcher. These include a lack of research competency and training, the pressure of large clinical caseloads, a lack of support from within nursing and allied health departments, as well as at a hospital level, where the priority is primarily for patient intervention, not research. In this presentation I will outline how I navigated my initial clinical research in lung cancer and progressed over time to become an applied public health researcher in cancer control. Throughout this research progression I have had the support of mentors and supervisors while completing higher degrees, as well as clinical champions in my workplaces. I will outline the steps required to develop a research project, including protocol development, practical tips for managing Human Research Ethics and Governance Committee applications, data collection and management. Once your research study is complete what next? Publish or perish remains a key concept for nursing and allied health professionals. While in some health conditions, such as paediatrics, spinal cord injury, and acquired brain injury to name a few, there is a strong body of evidence for allied health interventions, in oncology, specifically lung cancer, a dearth of evidence from the allied health professions continues. There has been an improvement in research in some specific areas of lung cancer management which involves allied health professionals, such as in exercise, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support. However, significant gaps in the evidence base for allied health interventions for people living with lung cancer remain. There has been a growth in nursing research, particularly in lung cancer, but how robust is this research output? Is the nursing profession producing robust RCT studies that inform clinical practice? Internationally, both nursing and allied health professionals may be completing research or quality improvement activities that are building on their evidence base. However, they may not be publishing these important findings. It is critical that the work being done is published and further built on, with ongoing research and investigation, to ensure a robust and evolving evidence base for all nursing and allied health interventions being provided to patients. There continues to be a dearth of research studies by allied health professionals, particularly in the area of oncology and more specifically lung cancer. For our professions to continue to grow in this speciality area and demonstrate our benefit, we need to engage and support clinicians to bring research into their daily clinical practice, to ensure a robust evidence base in oncology, and more specifically lung cancer, is developed. Nursing, Clinical research, Allied health