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JCPSLP
Volume 16, Number 1 2014
Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
Clinical insights
(From the top)
Kyla Brown,
Anne J Hill and
Anna Copley
The changing face of
clinical research
Kyla Brown, Anne J Hill, Anna Copley, Miranda Rose and Bena Cartmill
research. We have chosen to focus on clinical research
in health care settings, while acknowledging that many of
the issues discussed could be applicable to other settings.
Two stories will be shared, illustrating clinical research in
practice. Finally, we will discuss the changing face and the
future of clinical research and suggest a way in which we
can find common ground in order to address our common
goal.
Factors influencing involvement of
academics in clinical research
A number of factors influence the manner in which
academics approach clinical research. The move within
universities to a business model, in which income
generation is crucial, has dramatically changed the
academic career structure. While research remains central
to most academics, the imposed business model has led to
pressures to generate income (e.g., commercial products
or continuing education packages) as well as produce
deliverables, such as graduates and higher degree
graduates (Onslow, 2008). Indeed income for research-
intensive universities (such as The University of Queensland,
The University of Sydney, etc.) is inextricably linked to their
outputs such as publications and commercialisation of
intellectual property. Furthermore, current research funding
models require a mix of feasible, yet innovative research,
robust scientific methods and clear translation to practice.
While these demands are achievable, the timeframe limits
imposed by funding models do impact upon their success.
Academics might therefore find it hard to “get off campus”
to establish research projects in clinical environments.
Developing trusting relationships with local clinicians who
are overseeing such projects takes time and gaining ethical
clearance for projects from hospital or clinical centres can
also be costly and time consuming, holding up the
commencement of research, and impacting on the
timeframe available for data collection and evaluation.
The demands of a business model have also dictated
changes in the measurement of academic performance
to one which values scientific quality measures, such as
number of publications, journal impact factors, citation
counts, grant success and student supervision. These
measures typically relate to the impact the research has
upon the academic community rather than the real world
impact. Linked to this is the conflict between the need to
produce the highest quality research evidence to satisfy
academic requirements versus the need to research in a
Clinical researchers, academics and
clinicians in speech-language pathology
share the common goal of trying to improve
the quality of life of those affected by
communication and swallowing disorders.
One way to meet this goal and to further our
practice is to engage in clinical research. In
this article the factors influencing the
involvement of academics and clinicians in
clinical research are discussed. Two stories
are told illustrating clinical research in
practice and the changing face and the future
direction of clinical research are uncovered.
M
uch of the research in speech-language
pathology falls under the term of clinical research,
but what does this actually mean to those
who are engaged in it? The National Health and Medical
Research Council (NHMRC) definition of clinical research is:
research involving human subjects in health and illness.
It is done in response to a clinical research question, in
order to inform clinical practice through the application
of patho-physiological, population-based, behavioural
or qualitative research methods. The research may
be observational or interventional (NHMRC Clinical
Research Working Group, 2001)
The other term, which is increasingly used in relation to
clinical research, is translational research. The NHMRC
definition of translational research is: “exploring ways of
applying evidence-based medicine, recommendations or
guidelines to clinical practice. This research yields
knowledge about how interventions work in real-world
settings” (NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, 2011).
These definitions encompass all aspects of speech-
language pathology research; however, it seems academic
and clinical speech-language pathologists (SLPs) at times
have conflicting views of what constitutes clinical research
and its translation into practice. Clinical and academic
SLPs are united by the common goal of improving the
lives of those affected by communication and swallowing
impairments. In order to achieve this goal we need an
understanding of the influences and pressures that are
being brought to bear on both sides.
In this article we will discuss factors influencing the
involvement of both academics and clinicians in clinical
KEYWORDS
CLINICAL
RESEARCH
FUTURE
SPEECH-
LANGUAGE
PATHOLOGY
