At the start of this year the Department of Health launched Northern Ireland’s first Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) strategy for Allied Health Professionals (Department of Health, 2023).
It addresses the need to support all AHPs in RDI activity via three key strands: the transformation of AHP professional identities, culture and roles; the delivery of excellence in evidence-based practice; and Northern Ireland strategic research priorities are explicitly inclusive of Allied Health research and innovation.
As an occupational therapist in clinical practice who also been involved in RDI, the strategy is a long-awaited roadmap; or more so, a compass that will assist fellow OTs embarking on their own unique research journey. While many people have supported me on my research adventures, there has been the occasional wrong turn or dead end but inevitably the journey has got easier as experience and networks have grown.
The strategy addresses four interdependent domains that are necessary to achieve transformational impactful change: Capacity; Capability; Context; and Culture. These domains have been vital in the development of my research career.
Capacity has been earned by successfully applying for research funding through my NHS Trust and demonstrating research productivity. I currently have half a day a week dedicated to research.
Capability was established by undertaking a Masters in Clinical Research in 2008. Successive years have built upon this through private study and practicing writing in an academic style.
Context has been channelled through building networks with clinical and academic peers close to home and globally, being alert to any relevant funding to make research happen. I am indebted to my supervisors at Ulster University and to HSC Innovations for providing me with direction across all aspects of RDI.
Culture is underpinned by the mantra that “research (and innovation) is everybody’s business” which has been integral to my clinical development. Actively appraising research as a clinician helps you decipher best evidence-based practice to help your patients. Through reading, it can build knowledge and skills. The flip side of evidence-based practice, “practice-based evidence”, may help you start to formulate research questions on interventions you value but where the evidence is lacking. You ask questions, consider solutions, and reflect on the best way to answer. You engage the creative and the academic parts of your brain. This process can be extremely rewarding and enjoyable.
This OTalk invites you to consider, wherever you live and work, how you can take that first step into RDI or help you further along that road. Becoming familiar with an RDI strategy can provide aspiring researchers with a bird’s eye view of what infrastructure, resources and support are potentially there to help. Inevitably this can only enhance OT evidence-based practice and help our patients everywhere.
Reference
Department of Health (2023) AHP Research and Innovation Strategy Northern Ireland. [accessed 20/02/2023] Available at: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/ahp-research-and-innovation-strategy-northern-ireland
Questions
- Is there an AHP RDI strategy in your area? If so, have you witnessed the impact from this strategy?
- What would be the benefits of a strategy for RDI in OT?
- Consider the challenges in undertaking RDI activity as an OT, how could a strategy overcome these?
- Consider “practice-based evidence”, what areas In your practice are in need of some research?
OTalk 