More than meets the eye

In my work as a research nurse for more than four years, I gained experience in a range of tasks and roles. These included recruiting patients, gaining informed consent, collecting research data, dispensing trial medication, collecting and overall study co-ordination.

Last year, I moved to a new joint role of research nurse/research fellow in neuro-rehabilitation. This led me to reflect that most research nurse work is concerned with research delivery while the wider research process presents many other opportunities.

Research idea.

Research design.

Funding and approvals.

Research nurse activities.

Data analysis.

Dissemination of findings.

In the research nurse role, as well as co-ordinating research studies, I also helped neuro-rehabilitation staff to implement evidence-based practice, set up a journal club and devised research