Research careers in nursing – better together?

When asked as a student nurse what I wanted to do in my career, I immediately replied, “I’m interested in a research career’”. I was quickly told that although nurses were integral to research, it was not really a career path in its own right. Immediately, my curious head said, “Why not?” I then spent years carving out a nursing career that firmly embedded research. 

Such a career came in many possible forms. I turned to the greats of UK nursing, such as Professors Tierney, Topping, Callery, Macleod Clark, Clifford, Cullum, McCormack, McKenna, to name but a few. I read all their papers and used what I could to impact on my career choices. I would attend any professional conferences or events to hear stories about nursing research careers and projects. And it is key to say that I never gave up on having a career that integrated nursing research based on patient and stakeholder views with a career where I could lead research to make a difference. On reflection, I learned quickly. I went from being awarded a small but competitive Birmingham Hospital Saturday award to being part of, and later leading, important million-pound grants in Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry and Nottingham, forging onward my original dream.  

Luckily, in terms of changing perspectives, we move on. A research career, as part of any health care professional’s trajectory, is now widely accepted. So it should be: research is core to our business in health and social care. The essence of nursing research careers is firmly captured in the recent policy released by the Chief Nursing Officer Making Research Matter Plan 2021. 

While for England only, in this one document for the first time are the foundations for making research happen for nurses as individuals, as well as generally at the organisations where they work. In effect, this embeds research careers for nurses in this plan. And it so follows that choosing a research career should be supported and facilitated from undergraduate degree to post-Doctorate level – something I hope I have done for others in my own career.   

Like scones, jam and cream, some things are undeniably better together. We are better together in supporting research careers and quality research that benefits patients and stakeholders. In my experience, this can be achieved in many ways but there are some common denominators. First, it’s crucial to have leaders and managers who talent-manage individuals to develop a research career, in whatever form that takes. It’s those leaders who can see where a career path might lie and suggest opportunities such as grants, fellowships, scholarships and disseminating outputs.  

Second, teamwork is vital to facilitate the use of our best assets and resources. It allows us to support each other in providing choices and sharing ideas for research careers. Today’s teams should be – and are – different from the teams when I started out. The benefits of a research career should be clearer, more diverse, digitally smart and dynamic. As we face the challenges of research careers and navigating organisations, arguably it is a strong, dedicated and supportive team with a shared vision that can help members weather any storms.  

Finally, collaborating as teams and individuals across all four countries of the UK and beyond not only improves our research impact but should also make us more agile, giving us wider knowledge of interdisciplinary research careers to enhance our own ideas.  

So simply put – YES! We are definitely better together.