Skilled nurse-advocate within the implementation of research

Pauline Brown is a lead research nurse within the multi-disciplinary research team at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Pauline has been conducting research for 13 years. She is obsessed with skilled learning, development and quality improvement, and recently earned the designation of knowledgeable nurse advocate.

The introduction of the Skilled Nurse Advocate (PNA) program following the success of the Skilled Nurse Advocate (PMA) program has refreshed my understanding of clinical governance and the importance of midwives and nurses taking time to think, enabling them to make the perfect decisions. The A-EQUIP (Protecting Education and Quality Improvement) model represents the PNA’s areas of responsibility and is consistent with the Proctor model of clinical governance with its normative, formative and remedial elements with the addition of non-public quality improvement activities (NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2021).

Perhaps as nurses we’d like to just accept that spending time with our colleagues to share practice, concerns or needs just isn’t an extravagance, but a necessity. The PNA role can facilitate this by supporting staff to realize confidence and competence through learning and development, each individually and in groups through clinical supervision (Carter, 2022). This in turn supports our wider teams and excellence in patient care.

How can PNA support teams implementing clinical trials?

We all know that individuals starting research activities must learn quickly. Junior research nurses or coordinators are still developing their skilled skills and confidence, and must quickly adapt to a brand new way of working, different from any previous role in a clinical environment, while also navigating the world of research. Working in a multidisciplinary research team specifically requires quickly learning about patient paths and constructing relationships with recent clinical teams. In a previous BMJ blog, Research Delivery was described as a separate specialization (Aldridge, 2020).

An actual challenge for a lot of research staff is the autonomy in coordinating research projects. Employees could also be a part of a supportive team of colleagues, but in addition work independently, with individual responsibility for coordinating assigned research, and it could be obscure one another’s job requirements. We’d like to encourage our employees to decelerate, reflect and process their thoughts to assist them see different perspectives.

Figure 1 Clinical Surveillance Model for Restoration (Wallbank 2007)

Wallbank’s (2007) Restorative Clinical Supervision model (Figure 1) shows that we must first address any fears in our work to enable us to discover learning and development needs, which then creates space for creative pondering. Restorative clinical surveillance just isn’t a brand new concept, but when it just isn’t fully understood, it might not be as accessible because it might be. I introduced the thought of ​​clinical supervision to my birthing team through our journal club and Butterworth’s (2022) article. Butterworth suggests that while there could also be some doubt about how clinical supervision is used, there is no such thing as a single strategy to provide it and there may be definitely evidence to support its effectiveness.

As a team leader, I strive to learn and improve to be a part of our team culture. This implies creating time and space for workers to learn and develop, relatively than adding it to their to-do list. Restorative clinical supervision with PNA support can provide staff with the chance to reflect on personal development in addition to supporting service change.

It isn’t just recent faculty and research nurses who can profit from restorative supervision. Although the nursing occupation may dominate clinical research implementation teams in lots of organizations, an increasing variety of healthcare professionals are taking over specialized research implementation roles, in addition to clinical research practitioners (CRPs), each of whom may have a unique set of data and development needs when performing the identical or similar roles (NIHR, 2023). Research execution leaders even have unique roles, especially in the event that they are employed in smaller organizations or research departments. Connecting with others in similar supervision roles can provide reassurance, support and reduce feelings of isolation. This might all be achievable across our regional NIHR clinical trial networks through distant meetings.

Research staff constitute an increasingly large workforce. Staff retention is one among the important thing outcomes of the PMA and PNA programme, together with improved staff wellbeing and improved patient outcomes (NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2021). If we would like to support, develop, develop and retain our research workforce in any respect levels, we’d like to supply greater than just research skills training.

Discover who the PNAs or PMAs are in your organization to access support for you or your team, or ask your skilled development team how one can access PNA or PMA training.

Bibliography

Aldridge N (2020) Clinical trial teams and the response to Covid: defining a brand new specialization. https://blogs.bmj.com/ebn/2020/08/17/clinical-research-delivery-teams-and-the-covid-response-defining-a-new-specialty/ (accessed: May 2, 2023 )

Butterworth T (2022): “What’s clinical supervision and the way can it’s implemented in practice?” Nursing times [online]; 118:2, 20-22 Available at: https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-managers/what-is-clinical-supervision-and-how-can-it-be-delivered-in-practice-17-01-2022/ (Accessed: April 25, 2023)

Carter, V. (2022) ‘Can restorative clinical supervision positively impact the psychological safety of midwives and nurses?’ British Journal of Nursing [online] 31(15), pp. 818-820. Available at: https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjon.2022.31.15.818 (Accessed: May 2, 2023)

NHS England and NHS Improvement (2021) Skilled Nurse Advocate Model A-EQUIP. Clinical supervision model for nurses https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/professional-nurse-advocate-a-equip-model-a-model-of-clinical-supervision-for-nurses/ (Accessed: April 25, 2023)

NIHR (2023) Clinical research practitioners

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/health-and-care-professionals/career-development/clinical-research-practitioners.htm (Accessed: May 2, 2023)

Wallbank S (2007) Corrective supervision handbook. Corrective clinical supervision program http://www.restorativesupervision.org.uk (Accessed: April 25, 2023)

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