Karen

Throughout her career as a physiotherapist, Karen has combined research with clinical practice. Initially, before she was contracted to do research, she found time to follow her interests in research “on the side” by working long hours. Karen’s managers were generally supportive of her research, “as long as you were doing the job you were paid to do they were quite happy to tolerate you doing this on the side”. She also found guidance through more senior researchers in the field by attending a monthly research group, and support from a professor and a practitioner she worked with. Acting as mentors, they offered advice and comments on research ideas through to the writing-up of findings. Some of the early research that Karen undertook included a randomised controlled trial looking at outcomes of a TENS treatment on patients with unexplained abdominal pain. Karen’s first “formal post” involving research was a trial on spine stabilisation, where she was asked to recruit and follow-up patients.

Over the years, Karen’s involvement in research has shifted from aiding with recruitment and data collection, to developing and initiating research. In her current post, Karen is a clinical director in a hospital where she employs 65 staff, eight of whom do research. Karen supervises several researchers, encouraging them to gain experience in clinical practice as well as research, with the aim that they will eventually work in a “hybrid role”. She says that continuing to develop clinical skills is also important “so that they are not unemployable in the wider NHS”. Karen feels a sense of “duty” to promote career opportunities for her staff. Nonetheless, she acknowledges that maintaining a career in both clinical practice and research has its challenges. Karen describes there being a number of changes since she initially conducted research. For example, the amount of paperwork and emphasis on information governance has increased drastically. This can be time-consuming and Karen feels it should be “more proportionate to the level of risk of what the trial is”. 

Karen thinks research is “absolutely complementary and symbiotic with” clinical practice, and that this is necessary to ensure that the two inform one another. This includes to “generate clinically relevant questions”, but also for research to improve the care that patients receive: “the whole point for me of doing research is that it improves clinical practice and clinical pathways”. However, she feels it is important that patients understand the differences between the two when they are offered various treatments and interventions. Karen describes the need for research physiotherapists to make sure patients understand what participating in a study involves and what it means, “you’ve got to be careful you’re not coercing them because, particularly in this sort of setting, patients tend to be so grateful that you are helping with their clinical problem that they feel an element of obligation to help with the research”.

Karen encourages physiotherapists interested in taking on a research role to try it. She highlights that physiotherapists have important skills and knowledge to bring to studies. Karen suggests that an ideal career for a research physiotherapist would combine both research and clinical practice, to explore research questions that can make a difference. She feels there is a need for a “much clearer clinical academic pathway” for research physiotherapists.