Until recently there has been no incentives for Australian nurses or midwives to undertake a PhD if their intention is to remain working clinically. Despite academic-clinical collaboration at professorial level for almost three decades, the number of these positions in Nursing and Midwifery is small which limits research capacity building and cultural change. Nurses and midwives in Australia who engage in health services research during their PhD, and wish to pursue post-doctoral opportunities in their area of cognate specialty practice while continuing to work clinically, have had no avenue for university partnership. As such, the vast majority of PhD qualified nurses/midwives transition into an academic career abandoning clinical connection.
Western Health has a number of PhD qualified nurses and midwives who want to continue working clinically and undertake research to influence practice and improve outcomes, but there are no provisions within the enterprise agreement for these staff to have dedicated and protected time to undertake research.
Western Health has introduced an innovative and rarely-offered program to provide a pathway, opportunities and protected time for PhD qualified nurses and midwives who want to continue working clinically while engaged in translational research to influence practice and improve community outcomes. Closing this gap is crucial to address complex health services challenges, to make positive change and to enable our research community to make a difference.
The program:
The Nursing & Midwifery Clinical Academic Pathway program will provide PhD qualified nurses and midwives employed at Western Health 1 day per week of protected and dedicated research time (pro-rata).
This research time will allow them to:
- Develop and conduct programs of research in their cognate clinical specialty area.
- Prepare and submit research grant funding applications to support their programs.
- Achieve timely Human Research Ethics and Governance submissions.
- Build academic collaborations, integrate clinical academic mentorship and grow research teams.
- Augment the translation and implementation of best evidence for practice.
- Disseminate outcomes with impact as professional leaders in transformative partnerships.
Part of the program includes our PhD qualified nurses and midwives having an Honorary or Adjunct Appointment with a university partner, to allow:
- Academic title and recognition.
- Access to the Library and Digital Resources.
- Mentorship from established academic researchers in nursing, midwifery, and public health.
- Collaborative academic opportunities in teaching and learning seminars, and research forums.
- Co-supervision of Honours, Master’s and Doctoral students.
Partner universities include:
- Deakin University
- Australian Catholic University
- Victoria University
This is one of the first programs in Australia to provide a clinical academic pathway for nurses and midwives. Western Health’s investment in this program will enable participants to improve health care practices, grow and sustain clinical scholarship, and work towards becoming independent, grant-funded researcher leaders in the largest sector of the healthcare workforce.