In this episode, we explore the working life of research nurses. I had the pleasure having a round table discussion the Research Nursing team of Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Due to social distancing, the there are some parts of the discussion that were not picked up as clearly through the microphone.
Nursing research is a vital part of driving standards of care, investigating and evaluating quality and safety of care and in many cases, improving people's quality of life. The team from Barnsley share their experiences of transition from more traditional nursing roles into the field of nursing research, the challenges they face in their work and how research studies offers opportunities for nurses to learn unique skills and many facets of healthcare. Where they get peer support , supervision and the wider research nursing network. They explain how research is funded and the importance of having research nurses being placed in organisations to as close to patients as to improve opportunities to recruit patients into studies.
They describe nursing research as delivering the research, NOT writing the research. Research is everybody's business and it's for the benefit of the patient. The team have some great ideas about making nursing research more accessible to nurses through delivering Research Cafes and offering taught courses. Interestingly, Nurses and midwives are by far the largest group of health care professionals involved in research and through the National Institute of Health Research, there are free online learning courses for those interested in the Nursing research. https://www.nihr.ac.uk/health-and-care-professionals/learning-and-support/ https://www.nihr.ac.uk/health-and-care-professionals/learning-and-support/good-clinical-practice.htm The team from Barnsley are happy to have nurses work alongside them for a day to learn more about the role. Barnsley Research team can be contacted via; Twitter: @BarnsleyRD www.barnsleyhospital.nhs.uk/research
