Eight Oxford University Hospital healthcare professionals have taken their first steps on a clinical academic pathway following six-month internships.

Sponsored by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the initiative encourages nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, pharmacists and healthcare scientists with little or no research experience, to further their skills.

Covering salary costs, the internship focuses on dedicated time for research, with the interns spending 15 hours a week over six months on their projects.

The programme integrates classroom learning with practical sessions, where the interns are schooled on core research skills and guided weekly by an experienced mentor.

Each intern embarked on a project of their own choice, thus linking their clinical practice to research work.

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Among the eight interns were two nurses, five physiotherapists, and a pharmacist who combined their clinical skills with research talents.

Professor Helen Walthall, Oxford Biomedical Research Centre's research capacity lead said: "The internship enables practitioners to put their toe in the water, to see if they would like to do research as a career and to combine clinical practice with research.

"The presentations we've seen today have been inspiring.

"They are very much related to clinical practice, and aimed at moving practice forward for clinicians, patients and carers.

"It's been great to see that people want research in their careers, and they want to move forward on the research pathway, while marrying that with their clinical work."

Professor Walthall, also Oxford University Hospital's director of nursing and midwifery research innovation, added: "The next stage offered by the Biomedical Research Centre is the preparatory award.

"There are also NIHR national awards, and we will be offering support to apply for those."

Among the interns was Beverley Greensitt, a physiotherapist in same day emergency care whose project explored national acute frailty service guidelines application in same day emergency care units.

She said: "I loved doing this internship. The best aspect was having protected time to do some research, and that was very beneficial because I'm the only therapist on AAU, and doing clinical work five days a week and trying to put time aside can be quite challenging.

Rachel Tan, a specialist pharmacist in critical care, whose study aimed at reducing sedative use in the ICU called it a "valuable experience", saying it equipped her with essential skills such as writing good aims and designing surveys.

Lara Carnie, a renal supportive care specialist nurse, whose project aimed to address relatives of loved ones' information needs who had opted to stop dialysis, said: "I'm very grateful to the Biomedical Research Centre for giving me the opportunity, time and funding to do this project but also to my clinical team for releasing me and allowing me to do this research project."

The Oxford Biomedical Research Centre expects to recruit the next cohort of interns in May 2024.