Abstract
BackgroundIncreasing the number of patients participating in research studies is a current priority in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. The role of specialist nurses in inviting patients to participate is important, yet little is known about their experiences of doing so. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of barriers and facilitators held by specialist nurses with experience of inviting adult NHS patients to a wide variety of research studies.MethodsA cross-sectional qualitative descriptive study was conducted between March and July 2015. Participants were 12 specialist nurses representing 7 different clinical specialties and 7 different NHS Trusts. We collected data using individual semi-structured interviews, and analysed transcripts using the Framework method to inductively gain a descriptive overview of barriers and facilitators.ResultsBarriers and facilitators were complex and interdependent. Perceptions varied among individuals, however barriers and facilitators centred on five main themes: i) assessing patient suitability, ii) teamwork, iii) valuing research, iv) the invitation process and v) understanding the study. Facilitators to inviting patients to participate in research often stemmed from specialist nurses’ attitudes, skills and experience. Positive research cultures, effective teamwork and strong relationships between research and clinical teams at the local clinical team level were similarly important. Barriers were reported when specialist nurses felt they were providing patients with insufficient information during the invitation process, and when specialist nurses felt they did not understand studies to their satisfaction.ConclusionOur study offers several new insights regarding the role of specialist nurses in recruiting patients for research. It shows that strong local research culture and teamwork overcome some wider organisational and workload barriers reported in previous studies. In addition, and in contrast to common practice, our findings suggest research teams may benefit from individualising study training and invitation procedures to specialist nurses’ preferences and requirements. Findings provide a basis for reflection on practice for specialist nurses, research teams, policymakers, and all with an interest in increasing patient participation in research.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12874-016-0204-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Increasing the number of patients participating in research studies is a current priority in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom
In the UK, the conduct of clinical research is a core role of the NHS [2], and The NHS Constitution for England pledges to inform all patients about opportunities for involvement with suitable research studies [3]
A number of previous studies have investigated barriers and facilitators to a variety of healthcare professionals inviting patients to participate in research, including general practitioners [6,7,8], practice nurses [8, 9], pharmacists [10], and mental health care coordinators [11, 12]
Summary
Increasing the number of patients participating in research studies is a current priority in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. A number of previous studies have investigated barriers and facilitators to a variety of healthcare professionals inviting patients to participate in research, including general practitioners [6,7,8], practice nurses [8, 9], pharmacists [10], and mental health care coordinators [11, 12]. Fletcher and colleagues published their qualitative syntheses alongside a systematic review of interventions aiming to improve recruitment of patients by clinical staff to RCTs [5]. This highlighted that ‘common sense’ interventions often had little success, and that greater understanding of barriers and facilitators to clinical staff inviting patients to research is required [5]
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