Research Pillar

Building Your Research Pillar

Getting involved in research and improvement is a core part of clinical practice. This is set out in the four pillars of practice:

Clinical or professional practice
Leadership
Facilitation of learning
Evidence, research and improvement

Evidence, Research and Improvement

What research and improvement looks like for each person will depend on their role, the stage of their career, and their own interests and preferences.

Your research pillar could range from using current research evidence to inform your clinical decision-making, right up to developing and leading your own research. The research pillar capability framework is a useful way to understand what research in practice could look like for you.

Below are some ideas to get you started and where you might find more information:

Access the evidence base

Gain access to NHS OpenAthens and search databases containing a wealth of evidence. Contact our knowledge specialist for information or attend one of our workshops about using our library services.

Understanding the evidence

Once you have found some evidence what do you do with it? Attend one of our workshops to explore using evidence in care, or tips for critical appraisal. These skills can empower you and your team to build knowledge of current research and ensure all improvement work starts with a search of what’s already been done, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel.

Journal clubs

You can keep up to date with the evidence base and support others in your team to build their critical appraisal skills by running a journal club. Not sure how? Come along to our workshop on setting up a journal club.

Becoming a reviewer

Develop your critical appraisal skills by becoming a reviewer for an academic journal or research funding stream. Your clinical knowledge is vital to ensure research publications and grant applications are relevant to current practice.

Getting involved in other people’s research

Huge amounts of research is going on in clinical services. Find out what is happening in your area by checking out our open studies, or contacting our research team. Refer your patients into relevant studies, or if there is no research in your area, we can help you get things started. Contact our research team to find out how.

Lead research delivery in your area

All research carried out within an NHS trust needs a local lead known as the Principal Investigator (PI). The PI is responsible for co-ordinating the research within their team/service and works closely with our research practitioners. You might need some training to be a PI so check out our external training opportunities.

Become a collaborator

A great way to get involved in research is to become a collaborator on someone else’s project. You have a huge wealth of clinical knowledge that could shape the research so it’s relevant to current practice. Find out about these opportunities by joining research groups or networks in your field, approaching academic colleagues, or linking with research active clinicians. If there isn’t a research group, you could form your own.

Doing your own research

If you have identified a clinical problem, or gap in the evidence and would like to do your own research, we have a variety of workshops covering different approaches. Our roadmap to research guides you through the approvals process. If larger-scale research is for you there are many funding streams you can apply for to cover your salary and research costs. Contact us or the local Research Support Service for more information.

Disseminating your work

Whatever you are working on consider sharing findings or experiences so others can learn from your work. This could be writing an article, creating a poster, presenting at conferences, writing a blog, making a video or even just posting on social media. Check out our dissemination workshops for guidance.

Research training

The academy offers many workshops about clinical research, and research methods. You could start with our Researcher development programme, or sign up to our mailing list to hear about opportunities. You may like to undertake more formal training like a masters in research or a PhD. More information can be found on our clinical academic careers page.

Research mentorship

Need a bit more guidance? Find yourself a research mentor. Contact clinical academics or researchers in your field, or find someone locally using the Wessex reach research community map.