Recipient organisationNIHR Great Ormond Street Biomedical Research Centre
NIHR supportRecorded as supported by this research centre
PeriodJan 2025 — Dec 2025
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Clinical research nurses are the invisible backbone of UK clinical trials, yet no one has systematically studied what they actually do or how they affect trial delivery. This 18-month qualitative study will fill that gap by interviewing senior research nurses, research delivery leaders, Clinical Research Facility directors, and principal investigators. Through focus groups and one-to-one interviews, the researchers will capture how these different groups perceive the clinical research nurse’s role and its impact on getting studies done on time and to standard. If this research succeeds, it will provide concrete evidence that hospital managers and policymakers can use to justify investing in the clinical research nurse workforce. The findings could directly inform the Chief Nursing Officer’s research strategy and the Department of Health’s life sciences plan, helping to embed research capacity into everyday nursing practice rather than treating it as an optional extra. For patients, that means faster access to new treatments and more trials available at their local hospital. For the research system, it means fewer delays caused by unclear roles or under-resourced nursing teams.
View original technical description
The purpose of this research is to enhance the understanding of the Clinical Research Nurse (CRN) contribution to research delivery within a UK Clinical Research Facility (CRF). The study will describe the impact of the CRN on research delivery within a UK CRF. It will explore the research staff and research delivery leader’s experience and perceptions of the impact of the clinical research nurse on research delivery within a UK clinical research facility. This qualitative research will take place over 18 months using a mix of focus groups anD interviews collecting data from the 3 groups – Senior research nurses, Research Delivery Leaders, CRF Directors (2x focus groups each ) and Principle Investigators (8 interviews). The focus groups will be held either face to face at the UKCRF Clinical Research Facilities Network annual conference or remotely via Microsoft teams. Interviews will be held either at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital or remotely via Microsoft teams Articulating the impact of the CRN would contribute to the wider understanding of the role, providing insight that could be utilised to raise awareness and embed research within the profession. Such information could be used to facilitate discussions at organisational level regarding the CRN workforce and their importance to research delivery whilst contributing to the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) strategy for research (NHSE 2021) alongside the DHSC 2021 strategy life sciences and growth in research delivery.
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