Clinical research as a midwife – Improving care for patients in the South West
Research studies often span the country and involve recruiting centres in multiple locations. A recent study, ANODE (prophylactic ANtibiotics for the prevention of infection following Operative Delivery), is one such study that involved 27 maternity hospitals across the UK and has recruited over 3,400 participants.
The study was delivered in the South West Peninsula by the Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation Trust and University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust. ANODE was a randomised controlled trial in which eligible women were assigned to receive a single intravenous dose of amoxicillin with clavulanic acid or placebo within six hours of a forceps or vacuum delivery.
Heidi Hollands, Senior Research Midwife at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has moved from clinical backgrounds and progressed to working in research. Despite working in separate hospitals they are united by a shared vision to improve the care and outcomes for the patients participating in research and their families.
Heidi has been involved in driving the ANODE study forward to provide the evidence base to improve post-delivery care for their women. Her enthusiasm and commitment to the study highlights a collaborative approach between the research team, obstetricians and clinical midwives to deliver high quality research studies for patients.
Clinicians need to be involved in research, as Heidi describes: “The best positioned person [to deliver research] is the midwife giving care. If we don’t do research we won’t move on.”
Before a study can start there’s a huge amount of preparation work to be carried out, including study set up, expression of interest, feasibility, site selection, and liaising with Research and Development and other relevant departments. This is followed by the site initiation visit and ‘green light’ meaning recruitment can begin. Study visits, interventions, follow ups, data collection, data entry and other study related tasks are an integral part of the process too Heidi gets the most satisfaction from study set up seeing the project move from site selection to getting the ‘green light.’ As she says: “I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in. I enjoy the logistics and planning’ she goes on to say that during the study ‘I can build a good rapport with patients. They like to be involved in research as they get a new perspective on their condition or disease.”
Being a part of the changes that improve patient care have both motivated Heidi throughout her career and this is something that you could do too.
Heidi: “Research helps my professional development because it gives me opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise have been involved in such as trialling new drugs and inventions such as medical devices and new care practices. It also helps keep you up to date with your NMC revalidation.”
If you are interested in a pursuing a career in research there’s lots of advice and support available:
- Complete a free online course, find out how medical treatments are discovered, tested and evaluated to improve healthcare for all: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/clinical-research
- Access information, resources and signposting designed to support frontline staff engaging with research: https://learn.nihr.ac.uk/course/index.php?categoryid=66
- Find out more about ‘Your Path In Research’: nihr.ac.uk/yourpathinresearch
- Share your story on social media using the hashtag: #YourPathInResearch
