The PREPARE Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Paramedic Experiences and Perceptions of Training for Participation in Research: the PREPARE study
IRAS ID
256831
Contact name
Eloïse Cook
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
We are currently conducting a research study, called PRESTO, in the pre-hospital environment where we are asking paramedics to talk to patients about participating in the research study, interpret a heart tracing (or ECG), take a blood sample and record some study specific information. These are activities that the paramedics would not normally do and so we had to provide training in order to ensure that these activities were carried out to the same standard across the four ambulance services that were involved, all of who have different working practices.
In order to do this, we provided a training package based around four subject areas – blood sample collection, heart tracing interpretation, background to the study and the importance of conducting the study activities to a high standard (called Research Fundamentals). These were presented to the paramedics either as online training or in a face-to-face session. There has been mixed response to the uptake in training across the four ambulance services as well as the engagement from paramedics in following PRESTO with a potential participant.
As more research is being done in the pre-hospital environment we feel that it would be beneficial to try to find out why paramedics may or may not have taken part in the PRESTO training. To do this we will be sending out a survey to each of the four ambulance services which will contain questions around whether they thought the training package for PRESTO was suitable, whether they felt confident following PRESTO with a potential participant after the training and what they think the main barriers are to participating in research. Up to 30 paramedics will also be approached to participate in an interview, which will explore these ideas further.
This should allow us to identify potential barriers that prevent paramedics from taking part in training for research studies. It should also allow us to offer insight to future researchers about the type of training that should be provided for paramedics for a research study and how it should be delivered.
REC name
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REC reference
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