Bringing research and development into everyday health work: a paramedic’s story.
Every week for the next nine weeks, we will be bringing you as series of blogs around how the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC-GM) has been supporting health workers with across the region with applied health and social care research training and development. This training has been delivered as part of our mission to build capacity and capability in Greater Manchester, and we hear directly from the health and care workers we have supported to undertake a Research Internships or Pre-doctoral Fellowship.
For our first blog, we spoke to Kieran Potts, a Community Specialist Paramedic and End of Life Care Lead for the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, who undertook a Research Internship.
NIHR ARC-GM Research Internships are provided as a way of supporting the development of research culture and capacity in under-represented groups and settings.
Research Internships are useful entry-level opportunities for those from a variety of backgrounds to explore applied health and care research. They are designed to be flexible to suit each intern's needs, whilst also including elements of structured training and the opportunity to contribute to research activity.
As well as developing knowledge and opportunities for networking, the Internshipship allowed Kieran to build key relationships with other workers in his sector.
Kieran said: “I had been in discussions with colleagues about furthering my research career and had been encouraged to consider Pre-doctoral level support. Having applied for the Pre-doctoral Fellowship, I recognised that I needed to refine my future doctoral submission and I was pleased to have been offered the opportunity to undertake a Research Internship to focus on this.
“The Research Internship helped me consider the next steps for my research career, which has in turn aided the development of my relationship with the internal Research and Development Team within my Trust. I had great support from my line manager and those around me which allowed me to immerse myself in the Research Internship and to explore my doctoral aspirations.
“I would encourage others to consider an Internship as it provides exposure and development opportunities to further their research careers. It’s a safe space to develop and grow, with fantastic support which can be tailored to your experiences and aspirations.
“I personally believe that if we are to ever truly understand and improve the care we deliver, we need to commit to undertaking research within the healthcare sector; research provides an important opportunity for us all as Clinical Academics to really understand our past, present, and future.”
Kieran is one of 35 health and social care workers from across Greater Manchester who participated in the Internship programme. As well as the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, professionals from Bolton NHS Foundation trust, Trafford Council, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and beyond took part in our training programmes.
The Internships – set at 225 hours (or 30 days) - are aimed at health and care professionals who have an interest in exploring a research career combined with their current professional role and who may benefit from undertaking postgraduate research study. Interns are matched with an academic supervisor within NIHR ARC-GM and the topic for each Internship is aligned to at least one of our research themes.
There are still opportunities for health and social care workers across Greater Manchester to take part in our research and development training.
To find out more about taking part in our Research Internship programme https://arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/hcp-internship