Project
Enabling NHS staff to contribute to research: reflecting on current practice and informing future opportunities
Dec 12, 2018
RAND Europe was commissioned by The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute to conduct a rapid review of the evidence base on engaging NHS staff in healthcare research. The review contributes to the knowledge base about how to support effective healthcare staff engagement in research.
Reflecting on current practice and informing future opportunities
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RAND Europe was commissioned by The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute to conduct a rapid review of the evidence base on engaging NHS staff in healthcare research. The review aims to help inform THIS Institute's efforts to establish and implement an effective strategy for engaging staff across the NHS with its research activities. The report will also be useful for other organisations and initiatives seeking to engage NHS staff in research.
The report is focused on a diverse NHS workforce that is directly or indirectly involved with care delivery, including individuals in clinical, managerial, administrative and support roles. The terms NHS staff, healthcare professionals and NHS workforce are used interchangeably throughout this report.
Staff across the NHS have important expertise to contribute to healthcare research. However, they also face competing demands on their time, not least delivering patient care. Any efforts to mobilise wide-scale NHS workforce engagement with improvement research need to understand what motivates staff to engage with research; to consider staff constraints; and to establish practical and rewarding mechanisms for harnessing their expertise, commitment to high-quality and safe patient care, and interest in evidence-based practice.
Chapter One
Background and context: enabling the NHS workforce to contribute to quality improvement through research
Chapter Two
Profile of the reviewed literature
Chapter Three
Why do NHS staff engage with research?
Chapter Four
How do NHS staff engage in research?
Chapter Five
How can the involvement of NHS staff in research be enabled and rewarded?
Chapter Six
Challenges to engaging NHS staff in research
Chapter Seven
What impact does NHS staff engagement have on research?
Chapter Eight
In reflection: key learning points and areas for consideration in future practice
Appendix A
Examples of NHS staff involvement in practice
Appendix B
Study design and methods
The research described in this report was by commissioned by The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute at the University of Cambridge and conducted by RAND Europe.
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