Simona
Simona was employed by the Clinical Research Network in her first research nurse post for three years. She is now a clinical research manager and draws upon her previous experiences to support a team of research nurses.
Simona is qualified as both a nurse and a physiotherapist, and has worked in health research for seven years. She has been involved in a variety of studies, including in surgery, gastroenterology and cancer. A combination of interest and health reasons led Simona to pursue a research nurse job. In her first research nurse post, she was employed by a Clinical Research Network to recruit patients and collect data for studies. For the last four years, Simona has been in a different role of building up and leading a research team. She now works on study design, securing approvals from ethics and funders, and supporting other research nurses to fulfil their jobs. Alongside her post as a clinical research manager, Simona is also working towards a PhD qualification and hopes to pursue a nurse-researcher role in the future. Across her different experiences, being a nurse remains an important and enduring part of how Simona sees herself: regardless of what I’m doing, I’m a nurse.
When Simona started her first post, she was the only research nurse in the group and there was no training offered. This meant working in isolation, having to find my own way, and learning new jargon. The wider research team were supportive but lacked understanding of the nurse-specific context Simona was used to and how to help her adjust to an unfamiliar role. Networking was important as she attached herself to other bigger, more experienced research groups for guidance. Another issue Simona encountered in her first post was a lack of dedicated working space for her and other research nurses as the team grew. She was expected to hot-desk, but this had challenges (for example, the storage of confidential data) and left her feeling undervalued. However, she liked that the role involved her continuing to do some clinical work alongside research.
When Simona moved to a clinical studies coordinator post and then onto her current role as a clinical research manager, she felt the increased responsibilities were a natural progression. She knew she would have less patient contact, but that there would be other responsibilities such as designing studies with recruitment targets that are feasible on the ground, in the real world. Simona doesn’t think it is helpful to think of nurses in research roles as becoming de-skilled; instead, you build on skills and knowledge. She thinks that taking informed consent, for example, should be recognised as an important clinical skill. Simona thinks it is unusual for nurses to enjoy the data management side of research but, for her, it is satisfying. She has developed a database for both clinical and research use, and found it rewarding to know it would give accurate, high-quality data.
Simona’s previous experiences as a research nurse in her first post have shaped her activities and outlook in her current post. For example, she developed a structured induction process with training and shadowing for new research nurses in her team. Simona also feels it is important to have good relationships with clinical staff. When she first started as a research nurse, Simona remembers feeling dismissed by clinical staff something which she felt really hurt by. Now, Simona thinks there is more understanding and she routinely trains clinical staff about the research taking place in the hospital, including how and why they may want to support research nurses. This is particularly important because the research nurses in Simona’s team are all university-employed and regulations often mean they must rely on clinical colleagues to help identify eligible participants. Simona would like research nurses to be officially recognised as part of the clinical care team in order to embed research in the environment, ease patient access to research opportunities and recognise the work her research nurses do in supporting short-staffed clinical areas.
Simona thinks a good research nurse must pay attention to detail, work well in interdisciplinary teams and be able to communicate between different groups (e.g. laboratory scientists, clinicians, patients). Her advice to other nurses considering a research role is to try it, although she acknowledges it may not be for everyone. For current research nurses, Simona’s message is to be confident and vocal about their accomplishments, and also to consider becoming a nurse researcher as a route to put their own research ideas into practice.