Educating tomorrow's clinical researchers: A review of research preparation in undergraduate education

Background: One large health region in England was experiencing difficulties in recruiting to clinical research posts which required registered nurse or allied health professional skills. Objectives: Pre-registration preparation may influence practitioners' career choices and the study reviewed the research content in pre-registration nurse/AHP degree level programmes in the region to i) describe key features of the modules, and ii) determine the extent to which clinical research featured. Design and settings: There are eight universities in the region. We reviewed and analysed 46 research and evidence-based practice module guides from relevant pre-registration degree level programmes. Documentary analysis was used and the findings were reviewed by the project group. Results: Modules aimed to produce practitioners who were aware of the principles of evidence based practice, and who could locate and evaluate research findings. There was some exposure to clinical research, though this was largely indirect, through considering research findings. Therapy students were more likely than nursing students to conduct a small clinical study for their final year assignment. Conclusions: Pre-registration programmes focused on producing practitioners who were competent users of research evidence to inform practice, rather than clinical researchers, and this was inevitably the focus of the research modules. However, feasible opportunities for increasing students' exposure to clinical research were identified.