Abstract

Internationally the need for the development of clinical academic careers for nurses, midwives and
allied health professionals is becoming ever more apparent. Clinical academics maintain their clinical
practice whilst also carrying out research, placing them in a unique position to make connections
between the two fields.
Integrated academic training pathways have been introduced across the UK since 2006 to combine
clinical training with research experience; however, aspiring clinical academics still face a range of
challenges in balancing the clinical and research aspects of their careers and there is a lack of
evidence to demonstrate impact of clinical academic career pathways, post initial training.
AIMS
This research aimed to follow up scholars from a Pre-Masters and Pre-PhD Clinical Academic Training
Programme delivered since 2013, to investigate the extent to which their training has been
implemented in clinical practice and to explore the extent to which the training enabled them to
move on to develop and support subsequent research activity in the clinical setting.
METHODS
This qualitative study followed up participants (including those who did not successfully complete)
from the Health Education England: East Midlands funded Clinical Academic Careers training
programme, delivered at Lincoln from 2013-2017. All previous scholars were contacted and invited
to take part in an individual interview. Data were collected from May to July 2017. Ethical approval
was granted by the host Higher Education Institution. 18 in-depth interviews were conducted,
transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
RESULTS
The results of the study will be presented at the conference. Key barriers and facilitators to accessing
and sustaining, both initial research training and on-going implementation have been identified.
DISCUSSION
This research highlights the importance of clinical academic training programmes in developing and
supporting an environment conducing to research in the clinical healthcare setting.
CONCLUSION
There is a need for on-going work to support both clinical academic scholars and also manages
working in the healthcare setting, to overcome some of the practical and financial barriers to the
development of clinical academics.