Building research capacity among Irish prehospital practitioners.

Abstract

The National Prehospital Research Strategy was published in 2008, which aimed to gauge current levels of prehospital research activity in Ireland; ascertain the research strengths that exist in the Irish prehospital community; pinpoint the obstacles to high quality research in the prehospital arena; determine the building blocks for a national prehospital research culture; outline an implementation plan for the strategy; and, identify expected and measurable short and long-term outcomes of implementing the strategy. The characteristics of systems that facilitate research productivity include: the promotion of a research culture; mentoring by established scholars; communication with a professional network; rewards for research; and brokered opportunities. Almost ten years later, the development of research capacity within the practitioner cohort has not progressed as much as hoped. A culture of research provides a supportive context in which research is uniformly expected, discussed, produced, and valued. We propose that a culture of research does not yet exist among Irish prehospital practitioners.