Commentary: Embedding clinical research in pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes

I have a keen interest in student nurse and midwife education in clinical research. When I was at university, research was my worst subject and a career in clinical research was the last thing on my mind! I am now an Education and Quality Lead in Clinical Research and have been an advocate of student engagement in clinical research for over 10 years. Consequently, I was invited to be a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Group discussed in this paper and was very interested to read the results of this study.

As discussed in the paper, it is recognised that nursing and midwifery students develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of research if they engage early (Council of Deans of Health, 2019) but much research education is based on methodological theories with relatively little taught about clinical research or theory linked to practice (Menzies et al., 2021). I have experienced many students on a clinical research placement who initially thought they were coming to read articles so I believe that demonstrating that patients are at the heart of clinical research is crucial to altering misconceptions and embedding research into everyday care. This requirement to link patients to research was highlighted in this study in the student feedback in phase 1 of the learning resources review, requesting increased ‘real-life examples’.

This study clearly demonstrates that students valued the clinical research education, the learning resource significantly increased their knowledge, and it was felt to be worthwhile training. The most valued learning objective was ‘understand why all clinical staff need to be research aware’. This is pertinent as the UK government recognises the importance of clinical research and its impact on improving standards and quality of care in the NHS. However, it is acknowledged that staff are not always able to deliver research as part of their daily activities and that change is necessary to promote a positive research culture (Department of Health and Social Care, 2021). It is possible that embedding the clinical research modules developed in this study into student nurse and midwife education UK wide could contribute to this cultural change by linking theory to practice and demonstrating the crucial connection to patient care.

The paper also discusses the accessibility of the learning resource and how it has been developed to be used as online or face-to-face modules. It would be interesting to see a review of these teaching approaches to assess which was preferred by students. The study suggests that the face-to-face sessions would benefit from being taught by research delivery staff. I agree that this would be advantageous but this would need to be supported so that clinical research delivery staff could be released from their clinical duties. I believe teaching face to face improves interaction and engagement but, in this case, I’d argue that the quality of education delivery across higher education institutions would need to be assured to ensure consistency of approach and accuracy of content.

This study has achieved its objectives to report on the development and evaluation of pre-registration clinical research resources. If incorporated into training programmes, this learning resource could spark interest in research careers, therefore contributing towards addressing staffing issues and succession planning. Delivering the learning resources described in the study could also promote sustainable links between Higher Education institutions and research facilities/units and provide further opportunities for students to have access to clinical research placements. Brand et al. (2022) recognise the importance of clinical research placements allowing students to gain skills that complement their academic learning. Many research facilities already offer student placements and a comprehensive Student Placement Toolkit has been developed by the UK Clinical Research Facility Network to support the setup of new placement areas and to maximise learning opportunities in existing research placements across the UK (UK Clinical Research Facility Network, 2023). This contains many resources for staff and students and is free to use for all research units. Collaboration between those providing clinical research education and practice placements could be beneficial to promoting a positive research culture and improving patient care.

Biography

Naomi Hickey has been working in clinical research for over 15 years and has a wealth of experience in delivering research trials and research education.