Common Research Nurse Roles And Responsibilities

"One of the brilliant aspects of research nursing is that you get to spend quality time with patients… each participant you recruit will get your undivided attention, and you will accompany them throughout the trial from recruitment all the way up to after the study is completed and beyond."

The role of the Research Nurse has developed in recent years, but there are still many people, including nurses, who are unsure what a Research Nurse does. In this article, Jessica outlines the variety and scope of Research Nurse roles and whether it might be a good fit for you.

Areas Of Research Nursing

Research nursing covers an exciting range of different roles and areas. For a start, you can choose to work in different sectors, depending on what you are interested in.

It’s possible to work for a large pharmaceutical company, or you can work as part of the National Institute of Health and Care Research in one of their Local Research Networks.

You can also work for a university, or for an NHS Trust in a particular specialty. You can even go into primary care research at a GP surgery, running clinical research studies.

There is a whole area of research dedicated to engaging with the public to help shape research by the people who are involved, called Patient and Public Involvement.

There are also clinical research facilities which conduct on-site research, set up in Trusts specially to run several studies at a time.

Common Roles

There’s so much variety that it can be overwhelming to start with. It really depends on where your interests lie and what skill set you are interested in developing.

Just like clinical practice, you have the opportunity to move into a management role if you wish. You can manage a team of Research Nurses and get involved in delivering training to help nurses who are new to research. But there’s many other options if you want to progress in your career outside of the management role.

It’s possible to get funding to complete a masters and undertake your own research if there is a particular area of interest you want to explore. Or if you have a passion for primary care, you can become a Primary Care Research Nurse based at a GP surgery.

Each role is different and dynamic, and it involves a mix of skills. Some Research Nurses combine a mixture of different roles within their post, such as training other nurses, delivering clinical trials, and engaging the public in research.

Research Responsibilities

To give you more of an idea of what research nursing involves, here’s some of the typical day to day activities:

● Trial Recruitment: this involves checking participants’ eligibility for trials against the inclusion and exclusion criteria, sending them information about the trial, conducting a screening visit, taking informed consent with the consultant, and randomising participants.

● Trial Set-up: this includes all the activities involved to get a clinical trial approved so that it can go ahead. This includes liaising with the sponsor (the company or organisation which has developed the intervention or drug), and all the organisations involved in the regulatory approvals which are required to set up a clinical trial.

● Trial Delivery: Research Nurses are responsible for assessing their participants, administering trial medication, monitoring vital signs and measurements, and reporting any adverse events which occur during the trial to make sure they keep their patients safe.

● Data Collection: This is important because there needs to be a clear audit trail to show how study information is collected and stored, ensuring it is accurate and reliable. You’ll need to complete a LOT of training to show you are competent to deliver research, and since each study has its own training requirements, there’s always more to do!

● Follow-Up: This covers the activity with participants after the main ‘delivery’ phase of the trial, to make sure they are ok and have been referred back to the clinic or their GP if necessary.

Since there are so many different research teams across many specialties, it’s important that Research Nurses attend their local Clinical Research Network meetings, which are part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research. These networks are designed to support the delivery of research, providing the opportunity for research teams to share their learning and experiences about the trials they are working on, and brainstorm solutions to current problems.

One of the brilliant aspects of research nursing is that you get to spend quality time with patients… each participant you recruit will get your undivided attention, and you will accompany them throughout the trial from recruitment all the way up to after the study is completed and beyond.

Opportunities To Progress

There are ever-expanding opportunities to advance in your career in research nursing compared to the role 20 years ago. It’s an exciting time to be involved, especially since Covid 19, which showed how crucial research is in order to discover and test new treatments for global health challenges.

The emerging role of Advanced Clinical Research Nurse Practitioner means that in the future, not only will nurses recruit patients to trials, but they will also be able to prescribe trial medication and complete a physical examination for participants at each visit.

As research becomes more visible and accessible for both patients and clinicians, the variety of roles available to Research Nurses will branch out further. There are now clearer pathways for career progression, allowing a nurse to start as a Band 5 and move to a Band 6 position within 18 months in some areas.

Time To Care

One of the brilliant aspects of research is that you get to spend quality time with patients. Although you see much fewer people compared to the amount you would care for on the ward or in the community, each participant you recruit will get your undivided attention, and you will accompany them throughout the trial from recruitment all the way up to after the study is completed and beyond.

This is a really satisfying part of the job, because you get to know each person who takes part, and you can make a difference to their experience of being part of a clinical trial. Their input is essential, because without them the trial can’t run!

People are often keen to engage during their involvement in the trial, but the challenge is often convincing people to take part in the first place.

There are still common misconceptions about what it means to be involved in research so sometimes you need to think out of the box to find ways to engage the public.

If research nursing sounds like something you would like to explore, you can take a look at the latest Research Nurse jobs here.