Occupational Therapy News OTnews January 2019 | Page 36

FEATURE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT network CoRNN (Collaboration for Research Neurology Network), which is a city-wide research network for developing neurological research, and she is also a founder member of a community of practice of clinical academic occupational therapists called SOTCA @SheffOTCA. In 2015, Natalie was awarded the UKOTRF Early Researcher Award and was a finalist for her research champion activities at the National Advancing Health Care Awards in 2018. Creating a research culture takes time, patience, tenacity and strategic development (Jones 2015). There are a number of enablers that support the growth of research cultures, and Natalie also outlines her five top tips for engaging staff in research and building research capacity: Create a research team that includes managers: involving managers as research team members can help to overcome some of the barriers to doing clinical research. Managers can enable research to take place by supporting generated together on how to overcome obstacles. A licence to be creative (occupational therapists are good at this): notice gaps in the research evidence where occupational therapists could contribute to healthcare innovation and build collaborations with the academic partners who have expertise in these areas, they will value our contribution. Start small and build over time, think about audit and service evaluation projects as a precursor to developing an evidence base for research. Look for funding streams and small pockets of money, including those from charitable trusts, use income generated from courses and overseas students to re-invest into research capacity building activities. Consider a variation of research capability building activities such as workshops forums and education opportunities, this will help keep momentum going and share your vision widely. backfill arrangements and secondments and also play an important role in embedding research outcomes into practice. If managers are part of the research team they can observe the benefits of clinical research more closely and help establish new innovations into clinical practice. Having a team of individuals from different organisations, academic, healthcare and third sector together with patients at the centre, can strengthen research delivery and as patients move across services in the healthcare system so can research (Jones 2016). Be bold and brave in your ambition and vision, but realise you might be more like the tortoise than the hare: start with a burning ambition, discuss as a team what research topics motivate you, and choose topics that you are passionate about. There are many benefits to doing clinical research, discuss them widely to create engagement in your ambition and vision to become a research active team. Create a forum for managers to discuss operational matters including the challenges and enablers to research. Share impact stories, this is crucial to getting buy-in and support for your vision. Developing a critical mass of research champions and leaders is key to success. This can be self-appointed clinical champions, managers and researchers at all levels. Work on getting executive buy-in and sponsorship from people that can help you achieve your vision. Find ways to keep the momentum going and anchor to a strategic plan: co-produce a research strategy with your staff; this is your anchor to keep you on course for realising your vision. Talk about why research active organisations are better for patients, review the research evidence for this and share research impact stories. It is just as important to spend time discussing the barriers to clinical research and all of the reasons ‘why not to do research’ so that solutions can be Occupational therapists are motivated by patient stories and real life clinical problems, research networks are a good way to create energy, momentum, commitment and incubate research ideas. Tell your stories of success, celebrate and share impacts: Research impact stories are very powerful. The benefits of clinical research are not always visible, so try to find ways to make visible, elevate and amplify your impact stories to those that can influence your research development such as mangers and system leaders. ‘One of the biggest challenges for clinicians face to engaging in and with research is releasing time from clinical practice,’ Natalie says. ‘Management commitment to overcome these obstacles will enable clinicians to think and work differently to develop research capacity and ultimately improve patient care.’ 36 OTnews January 2019 References Cooke J, Nancarrow S, Dyas J, Williams M. (2008) An evaluation of the ‘Designated Research Team’ approach to building research capacity in primary care. BMC Family Practice 9:37 doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-9-37 Jones N (2015) Creating conditions for growing collaborative research in occupational therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy 78(8):15 Jones N (2016) Growing collaborative research in occupational therapy: can you hardwire research into clinical practice? Occupational Therapy News 24(8) 46-47 For further information, please contact Natalie Jones, acting head of occupational therapy at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, at: [email protected] or Patricia McIlwaine, clinical lead occupational therapist, Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland McIlwaine, at: [email protected]