What do research nurses do

Many have failed multiple previous medications and are still dealing with significant symptoms. Some could not afford the necessary co-pays for their medications in clinical trials, medications are free to all research subjects. Some appreciate the value of clinical research and potentially helping other patients with their condition in the future. The reputation and demeanor of the referring physician or principal investigator may also be a factor.

I now have more than a decade of experience as a research nurse and study coordinator. I have learned to multitask effectively and balance face time with patients along with time at my desk. Being a good research nurse requires a strong base of medical and medication knowledge along with computer proficiency. Every year, I find that there are frequent opportunities to advance my personal education and improve my skills as a research nurse.

It helps to work with a team of smart professionals who share my passion for learning and advancing the practice of medicine. Transitioning from a traditional nursing career into a role as a research nurse is certainly not for everyone. It requires mental flexibility, attention to detail, organization, and a love or at least a tolerance for data entry. But for those nurses who value a structured professional schedule and enjoy playing a role in developing areas of medicine, it is definitely a viable career with many rewards.

Reference 1. National Institutes of Health. I applied for my current position in Bath to help set up a research unit in the department of General Surgery and Gastroenterology. I was the first research nurse recruited to work purely for the two units.

Initially, it was a challenge because I had to find my way around the system. With the help of the surgeons and colleagues from oncology clinical trials unit, I had to look for office space, desk and all the equipment needed. I had to ensure that everyone joining the unit had Good Clinical Practice training and I went around the wards meeting the different specialists and nurses to discuss the research we did in the unit and this was repeated as required.

It is important that I develop good working relations with non-research nurses because most of my patients are in their care. It also allows them opportunity to understand the research we are doing. I meet patients in pre-op assessment unit, wards and in outpatients. To hear these words from patients is very encouraging. Many people when they hear the word research think having a career in research is beyond them, but in research I find that there are many opportunities to learn different things as well as witnessing how research is improving lives.

The desire to be a research nurse came from a passionate belief that healthcare needs to be evidence based. It combines all the things that I enjoy; law, ethics, clinical care and working in complete partnership with research participants.

At times, healthcare can be paternalistic. Patients come to us unwell and we do things to make them better. Whereas in research the balance of power shifts considerably, we cannot achieve medical advances without help from patients research participants. We work with them to assess the efficacy and safety of novel therapies and there is no guarantee that participating in a research study will be of benefit to the participant.

In research, the safety and wellbeing of our participants is at the centre of everything we do and the research nurse is crucial to supporting them through the whole process of taking part in research. There are a specific set of skills that a research nurse needs. All the skills you learn on the ward are transferable and it is essential to have a good clinical grounding.

You also need to pay attention to detail, understand the principles and importance of informed consent and be extremely organised. Our nurses need to have the confidence to act as an advocate for the participant and must remain clinically relevant.

We specialise in experimental medicine and provide care to healthy volunteers and patients with a wide range of disease and conditions. It is possible that a participant could become very unwell during a trial and therefore it is essential that research nurses remain sufficiently engaged with their clinical training to act appropriately and quickly.

Part of my role is to ensure that researchers are allocated appropriate levels of support and that the studies are set-up in a timely, safe and efficient manner and that we deliver an excellent standard of clinical and research care.

Research nurses bring a study to life; they make a huge contribution to advancing healthcare and are a valuable asset for any research team. I was a Health Care Assistant before qualifying as a nurse. Although I am passionate about research nursing, this is not enough to build a career. I would not have progressed as quickly to the role of Senior Research Sister without support, mentoring and developmental opportunities.

Since I started in research in I have seen more career opportunities. More training has become available and there is a greater understanding of what clinical research nursing is. We try to encourage our nurses to consider all their development options. We facilitate academic development as needed and also strive to provide career opportunities. A few of our band 6 and 7 nurses have been very fortunate in obtaining MRes funding. The NIHR funds the course fees, salary and also backfill for their position.

The NIHR fund one person to do a Masters degree in research, but really they are funding the development of two people because someone else can then act-up into a more senior role and is also developed. Our aim is to ensure that research is fully embedded within healthcare at this hospital. All research nurses now wear a dark grey uniform.

This has given us a very visible identity and it is exciting to see how integrated into and dispersed around the hospital we are. Suddenly people become very much aware of the research presence in every division. I was trained in India to become a nurse. My first placement was in renal dialysis.

I was interested in learning more about renal because of its vast subject area; renal medicine, renal transplant, research, transplant clinic and dialysis. The main aim was to get more knowledge and experience working in a specialised unit. I moved to Manchester as I wanted to gain more knowledge and experience of transplant. Initially working in the renal transplant clinic conducting follow up I became aware of research and I was curious about the research studies my patients had been recruited to.

When a vacancy in Renal Transplant Research was advertised I applied. I was a bit apprehensive in taking the role initially as I had heard many people say you lose your clinical skills and you do not get to take care of the patients as you would on the ward.

I realise that those assumptions are inaccurate. I get to spend more time with the patients and I have discussions about the research. What we do in research today may change the way we practice medicine in the future.

We work with two different types of donors, live donor transplant and cadaveric donors. With live donor transplant we know when they are coming to us. So I have to organise myself on the day itself. Recruitment always takes priority. The first thing I do each day is check if there are any transplant operations and if there are, I see if the patients are eligible for my study, and recruit them if they are happy to take part.

At times I have found it difficult to get the Principal Investigator PI to consent the patients because they were either in surgery or clinic. I began to wonder whether it would be possible for me to conduct informed consent? At the same time, the Trust was undertaking a scoping exercise to assess the need for clinical staff who were not doctors to take informed consent and developed policies and procedures to support us to take on this role.

This is a wonderful opportunity for clinical staff who were not doctors to extend their role. Initially the role was delegated by the Principal Investigator who had to justify the need for a clinical research nurse to take the informed consent for a specific study. A half day training programme was developed to gain more in depth knowledge of informed consent and group activities to explore the issues and processes involved. My competency in obtaining informed consent was assessed by the PI.

I passed and felt really proud of myself. I also consult with the respective surgeon to see whether they are happy for their patient to be approached for the particular study. When the patient comes to clinic I discuss the study and if they are happy to take part, I make sure they are fully aware of what the study involves. In total, I have taken 20 informed consents so far, which has enabled the team to recruit to time and target.

I have now been working in research for over five years. I feel that due to the skills and expertise gained in particular informed consent my leadership qualities have improved significantly. I ensure the patient feels valued, they are followed closely from their pre-transplant appointment to their aftercare and they always remember me for the care I provide for them. The need to influence the right people in order to get research done was completely new to me.

Clinical research nursing is definitely not for the fainthearted. Most people get into nursing for the patient contact. You still have that but you also get other experiences like handling data, project managing and making direct approaches to very senior managers and consultants. You have to be proactive which can be difficult. When I began in the Cancer Research Network my personal worry was about approaching patients to join a study.

It is an unusual position for a nurse, you are asking them to help you. The first patient I recruited was a lung cancer patient for an observational trial. He was very receptive which gave me the confidence going forward. Nurses are in a much better position now in clinical research as there is a much clearer career structure. Our goal is to develop them, and within a year to 18 months, most become Band 6s. Training is passion of mine.

I think there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained in passing on your knowledge and skills to people who are new and inexperienced. It is great when you see people growing and becoming a more confident and competent version of themselves. At the last facilitators meeting it was announced that we had now trained 30, people across the network, to be even a small part of that it great. There was very little research activity at the time but awareness of research is definitely starting to change.

A major culture shift but there are still areas within our CLRN where there is no research activity. That has changed. My hope is that within my lifetime research will be embedded into the NHS in Kent to such an extent that the public can go to their doctor and ask what clinical trials are available for them and their doctor will know. Wherever my career takes me from here, I know that I want to stay within research I have developed a passion for it.

I loved research from the start. I loved the autonomy, responsibility, the degree of change, the degree of learning. When new nurses start with me I tell them that they will probably feel like a fish out of water for six months.

I explain it is a very dynamic and interesting environment, not suitable for anyone who likes things to stay the same. Adapting to change is probably the most important thing. A big misconception is that research nurses float around with a clipboard, drink tea and work very standard hours. None of that is true. I have several parts to my role — my day-to-day operational role, a translational development role, a role within my trust as a research expert for other departments, and my Cancer Research UK role in engaging with the public at events.

I work with some of our clinician scientists to deliver their protocols. I help them look at what they are currently doing in the labs and how that could translate into patient care.

As a result, I have some co-investigator roles on a few grants. I have seen huge changes in almost every aspect of research since , except for the fundamental of how we care for the patient.

Research Governance has changed, the way we structure and deliver clinical research has changed, the way we inform people has changed. Clinical trials are much more complex than they were ten years ago, and so the role of a research nurse is much more complex too. It's a very dynamic and interesting environment, not suitable for anyone who likes things to stay the same. Obviously medical science wants to engage with the public and keep them aware of advances but when a newspaper runs a 'magic bullet' headline it impacts the work I do.

I think we have a duty to give people hope but make sure it is a realistic hope. Research allows you a degree of personal and professional development in a more flexible framework than traditional nursing.

As recently as five years ago if you wanted to move beyond a Band 7 you had to leave nursing, now I am a Band 8b and still a nurse. We need to move away from the idea that as a research nurse you are just picking up the trial and delivering it. Research nurses can now have a role that is much broader. You can be involved in writing the protocol, be a patient voice with scientists, change the research culture within the wider trust.

I was working as a nurse giving chemotherapy. It was just at the start of the cancer research networks. There is a lot more now. We mentor people. Student nurses absolutely loved it. Accessibility to information is really important.

So can you say to me, what you might say to your wife when you get home? It is important that we have tools to measure understanding. The power imbalance between a nurse and a patient is less than between a consultant and patient. It makes it easier for a patient to say no to taking part in a study.

It is important, that people can say no to a trial. Patients understand the incremental process of research. One of the things they say is "all that I have benefited from has come from someone else doing a study. I think people are sometimes terrified of signing up for Patient and Public Involvement, thinking that they may have to do more than they want to do.

So all our stuff is about saying to people, you can be involved as much as you want to be, you can do the occasional information sheet, you can look at a questionnaire and comment on it or you can come and be part of a steering group. People and patients can be involved in research as much or as little as they like. NIHR has made it easier for consultants to take a study on, partly because of the nursing infrastructure.

Nurses and support staff can work with consultants and we are here to stay. If you are interested in research nursing just do it, it suits most people.

It is a role that requires a person to have initiative and drive to keep all aspects of a study relevant every step of the way. Often nurses are drawn to research because they feel it is exciting to be at the cutting edge of new developments and they like being part of making things better and they are attracted to the autonomy that research roles offer.

Is research nursing for you? Well if you like working autonomously within a team, if you are happy to roll your sleeves up and give it your best, if you have a good sense of Ethics in action and you like the idea of being part of change …maybe research nursing is for you!

Why not give it a try? Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Subscribe to the RSS Feed. Follow us on Twitter. Like us on Facebook. Find us on LinkedIn. What is a research nurse and what do they do? Protocol Development The first phase of a research project, whether it be a study or a clinical trial a clinical trial meaning it is a study which involves an unlicensed drug which is being tested , is the development of a study protocol: what are we trying to determine, how will we measure this, what tests will need to be undertaken by patients and at what time points, what clinical data will need to be collected, will blood tests be required, how often and will this coincide with regular patient visits or will these be extra visits to the hospital.

Patient Recruitment Patient recruitment is also often the responsibility of the research nurse, and where nurses spend a good deal of their time.

Data Collection and Safety Reporting The research nurse then follows the patients recruited to a clinical trial or study through their treatment making sure they attend all necessary visits as per protocol and that all necessary data is collected at each visit.

Tissue and Sample Collection and Processing In many research roles, lab skills are often acquired by research nurses. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.