Understanding the value of a doctorate for allied health professionals in practice in the UK: a survey.

Background: The need to transform the United Kingdom's (UK) delivery of health and care services to better meet population needs and expectations is well-established, as is the critical importance of research and innovation to drive those transformations. Allied health professionals (AHPs) represent a significant proportion of the healthcare workforce. Developing and expanding their skills and capabilities is fundamental to delivering new ways of working.

Organisational benefits of undertaking research in healthcare: an approach to uncover impact.

There is increasing focus to review the societal impact of research through assessment and research excellence frameworks. These often link to financial and reputational incentives within the academic community. However, timeframes to demonstrate impact using these approaches are often long and are not designed to show benefit to service collaborators who require evidence of improvement and change to their services more immediately.

Using the making Visible the ImpaCT Of Research (VICTOR) questionnaire to evaluate the benefits of a fellowship programme for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.

Background: There is increasing emphasis in the UK on developing a nurse, midwife and allied health professional (NMAHP) workforce that conducts research. Training for clinical academic careers is provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). However, the low number of successful applicants suggested there were barriers to achieving this.

Leading co-production in five UK collaborative research partnerships (2008-2018): responses to four tensions from senior leaders using auto-ethnography.

Background: Despite growing enthusiasm for co-production in healthcare services and research, research on co-production practices is lacking. Multiple frameworks, guidelines and principles are available but little empirical research is conducted on 'how to do' co-production of research to improve healthcare services. This paper brings together insights from UK-based collaborative research partnerships on leading co-production.

Understanding the value of a PhD for post-doctoral registered UK nurses: A survey.

Aims: This study investigated, 'What is the perceived value of a PhD to doctoral and postdoctoral nurses in the UK?'

Background: Little is known about what happens to the careers of nurses who undertake a doctorate and whether they use these skills in the next career steps.

Methods: Nurses (n = 47) with doctorates were recruited via professional networks and twitter (@NMAHP_DoctorateStudy). Qualitative responses from the nurses were analysed using thematic analysis.

Hospital training and preparedness of parents and carers in paediatric tracheostomy care: A mixed methods study.

Introduction: Within the UK, the majority of paediatric tracheostomy care is delivered by parents and carers at home. To facilitate this, extensive in-hospital training is delivered by a variety of health care professionals. Our goal was to assess carer perceptions of this process and highlight areas in which we can further improve our service and the training for other hospital providers of paediatric tracheostomy care.

Developing a consolidated research framework for clinical allied health professionals practising in the UK.

Background: Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) form a significant part of the healthcare workforce and have great potential to improve services through research and research-informed practice. However, there is a lack of tradition in research embedded in practice in these professional groups. Barriers include clinical caseload pressures, a lack of sustainable training and consequent lack of confidence in practitioners.

Building Research Capacity for Impact in Applied Health Services Research Partnerships Comment on "Experience of Health Leadership in Partnering With University-Based Researchers in Canada - A Call to "Re-imagine" Research".

Bowen and colleagues ask us to re-imagine how to conduct research in academic-practice partnerships, and to develop capacity in the applied research health workforce to do this. This commentary reinforces their messages, and describes a framework of research capacity development for impact (RCDi) which emphasizes active and continuous experiential learning within research partnerships. The RCDi framework includes the need to focus on multiple levels in the collaboration architecture, and describes principles of working that aims to increase impact on services, and learning opportunities for all partners.

What is a research derived actionable tool, and what factors should be considered in their development? A Delphi study.

Background: Research findings should be disseminated appropriately to generate maximum impact. The development of research derived 'actionable' tools (RDAT) as research outputs may contribute to impact in health services and health systems research. However there is little agreement on what is meant by actionable tool or what can make them useful.

Uncovering the mechanisms of research capacity development in health and social care: a realist synthesis.

Background: Research capacity development (RCD) is considered fundamental to closing the evidence-practice gap, thereby contributing to health, wealth and knowledge for practice. Numerous frameworks and models have been proposed for RCD, but there is little evidence of what works for whom and under what circumstances. There is a need to identify mechanisms by which candidate interventions or clusters of interventions might achieve RCD and contribute to societal impact, thereby proving meaningful to stakeholders.

'Collective making' as knowledge mobilisation: the contribution of participatory design in the co-creation of knowledge in healthcare.

The discourse in healthcare Knowledge Mobilisation (KMb) literature has shifted from simple, linear models of research knowledge production and action to more iterative and complex models. These aim to blend multiple stakeholders' knowledge with research knowledge to address the research-practice gap. It has been suggested there is no 'magic bullet', but that a promising approach to take is knowledge co-creation in healthcare, particularly if a number of principles are applied.

How do NHS organisations plan research capacity development? Strategies, strengths, and opportunities for improvement.

Research that is integral into a 'learning healthcare system' can promote cost effective services and knowledge creation. As such, research is defined as a 'core function' in UK health service organisations, and is often planned through research and development (R&D) strategies that aim to promote research activity and research capacity development (RCD). The discussion focuses around the content of ten R&D strategies for healthcare organisations in England and Scotland, with respect to RCD.

"Seeing" the Difference: The Importance of Visibility and Action as a Mark of "Authenticity" in Co-production Comment on "Collaboration and Co-production of Knowledge in Healthcare: Opportunities and Challenges".

The Rycroft-Malone paper states that co-production relies on 'authentic' collaboration as a context for action. Our commentary supports and extends this assertion. We suggest that 'authentic' co-production involves processes where participants can 'see' the difference that they have made within the project and beyond.

Squaring the circle: a priority-setting method for evidence-based service development, reconciling research with multiple stakeholder views.

Background: This study demonstrates a technique to aid the implementation of research findings through an example of improving services and self-management in longer-term depression. In common with other long-term conditions, policy in this field requires innovation to be undertaken in the context of a whole system of care, be cost-effective, evidence-based and to comply with national clinical guidelines. At the same time, successful service development must be acceptable to clinicians and service users and choices must be made within limited resources.

On-going collaborative priority-setting for research activity: a method of capacity building to reduce the research-practice translational gap.

Background: International policy suggests that collaborative priority setting (CPS) between researchers and end users of research should shape the research agenda, and can increase capacity to address the research-practice translational gap. There is limited research evidence to guide how this should be done to meet the needs of dynamic healthcare systems. One-off priority setting events and time-lag between decision and action prove problematic.

Accuracy of diagnosis and classification of COPD in primary and specialist nurse-led respiratory care in Rotherham, UK: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Studies have suggested that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is commonly misdiagnosed and misclassified in primary care, but less is known about the quality of diagnosis in specialist respiratory care.

Aims: To measure the accuracy of COPD diagnosis and classification of airway obstruction in primary care and at a specialist respiratory centre, and to explore associations between misdiagnosis and misclassification and a range of explanatory factors.

Methods: Data were obtained for 1,205 referrals to a specialist respiratory centre between 2007 and 2010.

Barriers to keeping warm in later life.

Aim: To identify factors influencing older people's ability to keep warm and well in winter.

Method: This qualitative study used in-depth individual interviews with older people (n=50) and health and social care staff,(n=25), alongside six focus groups with 43 participants and a consultation event. Temperatures were measured in the homes of the older people interviewed.

Developing and establishing school-based sexual health services: issues for school nursing practice.

School-based sexual health clinics are emerging as one of the key ways to promote sexual health among young people, and school nurses play an important role in developing and delivering these services. This study used a qualitative design to explore the experiences of health professionals and policy makers involved in setting up such services in U.K.

Developing indicators for measuring Research Capacity Development in primary care organizations: a consensus approach using a nominal group technique.

Research Capacity Development (RCD) in the National Health Service supports the production of evidence for decision-making in policy and practice. This study aimed to establish a level of consensus on a range of indicators to measure research capacity in primary care organizations. Indicators were developed in a two-stage process using workshops and modified nominal group technique.

An evaluation of the 'Designated Research Team' approach to building research capacity in primary care.

Background: This paper describes an evaluation of an initiative to increase the research capability of clinical groups in primary and community care settings in a region of the United Kingdom. The 'designated research team' (DRT) approach was evaluated using indicators derived from a framework of six principles for research capacity building (RCB) which include: building skills and confidence, relevance to practice, dissemination, linkages and collaborations, sustainability and infrastructure development.

Methods: Information was collated on the context, activities, experiences, outputs and impacts of six clinical research teams supported by Trent Research Development Support Unit (RDSU) as DRTs.