Building research capacity among Irish prehospital practitioners

Research can inform decisions about new technologies and treatments, and ambulance services can promote an evaluative culture. New advances are rapidly occurring in pre-hospital care, from staff with higher specialist skills, to new approaches to assessing and managing patients at scene. These new ways of working need to be assessed, to investigate if they deliver expected gains in terms of patient outcomes, cost savings, and relieving pressure on other parts of the healthcare system. Prehospital care practitioners have an important part to play in contributing to an evidence-based health service and improving patient care when it is most needed. The ‘National Prehospital Research Strategy’ was published in 2008 (4), 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