McNiven A, Boulton M, Locock L, Hinton L
Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Department of Nursing, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2021 May 4;19(1):74. doi: 10.1186/s12961-021-00722-0.
Research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals are members of an important emergent profession delivering clinical research and, in the United Kingdom, have been the focus of considerable investment by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This paper considers the experiences of research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in relation to professional identity work, recognizing these are coproduced alongside others that they interact with (including patients, clinical staff and other research staff).
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in the UK about their experiences of working in research delivery. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically coded and analysed.
Our analysis highlights how research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals adjust to new roles, shift their professional identities and undertake identity work using uniforms, name badges and job titles as they negotiate complex identities.
Research nurses, midwives and allied health professionals experience considerable challenges as they enter and transition to a research delivery role, with implications for their sense of professional identities. A change in the work that they undertake and how they are (or perceive they are) viewed by others (including clinical non-research colleagues and patients) has implications for their sense of professional and individual identity. The tensions involved extend to their views on symbols of professional identity, such as uniforms, and as they seek to articulate and demonstrate the value of their conjoined role in research and as a healthcare professional, within the unfolding landscape of health research. We embed our study findings in the context of the newly emerging clinical research practitioner workforce, which further exacerbates and complicates the role and identity complexity for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in research delivery.
研究护士、助产士和专职医疗人员是从事临床研究的一个重要新兴职业群体，在英国，他们一直是国家卫生研究院（NIHR）大量投资的重点对象。本文探讨了研究护士、助产士和专职医疗人员在职业身份塑造方面的经历，认识到这些经历是与他们互动的其他人（包括患者、临床工作人员和其他研究人员）共同产生的。
对英国45名护士、助产士和专职医疗人员进行了半结构化访谈，了解他们在研究实施工作中的经历。访谈内容逐字转录，并进行主题编码和分析。
我们的分析突出了研究护士、助产士和专职医疗人员如何适应新角色，转变职业身份，并在协商复杂身份时利用制服、姓名徽章和职位头衔进行身份塑造工作。
研究护士、助产士和专职医疗人员在进入并过渡到研究实施角色时经历了相当大的挑战，这对他们的职业身份感产生了影响。他们所从事工作的变化以及他人（包括临床非研究同事和患者）对他们的看法（或他们认为他人对自己的看法）的改变，对他们的职业和个人身份感都有影响。其中的紧张关系延伸到他们对职业身份象征（如制服）的看法，以及在不断发展的健康研究领域中，他们试图阐明并展示自己在研究和作为医疗保健专业人员这一双重角色的价值时。我们将研究结果置于新兴的临床研究从业者队伍的背景下，这进一步加剧并复杂化了护士、助产士和专职医疗人员在研究实施中的角色和身份复杂性。
