Sackler MSK LAB, Imperial College London, London, UK.
School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Jean McFarlane Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2021 Apr 23;21(1):236. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02672-1.
Healthcare professionals outside of medicine (HCPs), including nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, are increasingly involved in research for patient benefit. Their challenge is to negotiate inter-professional or professionally isolated contexts. The aims of this study were to evaluate the 'Healthcare Professionals in Research' (HPiR) Facebook group (a self-directed and confidential peer support group for doctoral and postdoctoral HCPs) including engagement, the experiences of doctoral and postdoctoral HPiR members and to identify future career challenges using an on-line survey.
The HPiR Facebook group was launched in May 2019. Five HCP Community managers (CMs) were trained in on-line platform curation, moderation and screening. An on-line survey was designed to capture data from HPiR members. A purposive sampling approach was applied. Respondents were required to be doctoral and postdoctoral HCPs and a registered member of the HPiR group. Respondents represented a range of healthcare professions, 79 % of whom had over ten years clinical experience. Membership growth and engagement was analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to present numerical data. Qualitative data were analysed thematically.
96 members were admitted to the group within the first month. All members were actively engaged with group content. 34/96 doctoral and postdoctoral HCPs completed the survey. Most members joined for networking (88 %) and peer support (82 %) purposes. Analysis of text responses showed difficulties in balancing a clinical academic career and highlighted the consequences of undefined clinical academic roles and pathways.
Doctoral and postdoctoral HCPs value the opportunities that HPiR provides for peer support and connection with fellow HCPs. HPiR has the potential to strengthen research capacity, support research skill development and drive change within the clinical academic community. Clinical academic roles and pathways need to be standardised. The creation of opportunities beyond doctoral studies is a priority.
医学领域以外的医疗保健专业人员（HCPs），包括护士、助产士和联合健康专业人员，越来越多地参与到有益于患者的研究中。他们的挑战是协商跨专业或专业孤立的环境。本研究的目的是评估“研究中的医疗保健专业人员”（HPiR）Facebook 群组（一个为博士和博士后 HCPs 提供自我指导和保密的同行支持小组），包括参与度、博士和博士后 HPiR 成员的经验，以及使用在线调查确定未来的职业挑战。
HPiR Facebook 群组于 2019 年 5 月推出。培训了 5 名 HCP 社区经理（CM）进行在线平台策展、 moderation 和筛选。设计了一个在线调查来从 HPiR 成员那里收集数据。采用了有目的的抽样方法。要求受访者为博士和博士后 HCPs，并且是 HPiR 小组的注册成员。受访者代表了一系列医疗保健专业，其中 79%的人有超过十年的临床经验。分析了会员增长和参与度。使用描述性统计来呈现数字数据。对定性数据进行了主题分析。
在第一个月内，有 96 名成员被接纳到该小组。所有成员都积极参与了小组的内容。34/96 名博士和博士后 HCPs 完成了调查。大多数成员加入该小组的目的是为了建立人脉（88%）和寻求同行支持（82%）。对文本回复的分析显示，在平衡临床学术职业方面存在困难，并强调了临床学术角色和途径不明确的后果。
博士和博士后 HCPs 重视 HPiR 为同行支持和与其他 HCP 建立联系提供的机会。HPiR 有可能增强研究能力、支持研究技能发展，并推动临床学术社区的变革。临床学术角色和途径需要标准化。在博士研究之外创造机会是当务之急。
