IWF Blog Archive
Using the IWF to aid professional development
Deirdre Brooking
"I was enthused so much by the excellent NIHR day, Celebrating and Developing Clinical Research Practitioners held on 28th March 2017. It was a day purely to talk about how this large group of multi-skilled people fitted into the world of clinical research.
In fact the first thing we did was to give ourselves a name. This may sound quite bizarre, but it turns out all of us ‘non-nurses’ or ‘non-doctors ‘are using nearly 300 different designations to describe ourselves.
I thought I would show support and reignite the interest and passion on the day by starting a blog, my first (ever) blog as a Clinical Research Practitioner. My colleague Andy Symonds (Head of Recruitment Delivery) and I have often spoken of a lack of structured career development or acknowledgement of progression, so were absolutely delighted to learn more about the Integrated Workforce Framework (IWF)
I would like to share how the IWF has been introduced to our team, and how this model is going to shape and structure how we move forward. We are a growing team aided by collaboration with the UCLH - biomedical Research Centre.
Ironically since the NIHR day both I and Andy have moved into new roles with a more leadership and more emphasis on trial set up and site management and we have both had to redesign our Role Profile Chart. I have also taken on the task of the championing the IWF and my first job was to complete a Role Profile Template for each distinct role within our team. I come from a science background with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and M.Sc. in Biotechnology and Andy has a background in Physiotherapy and recently submitted his PhD thesis.
It was very interesting to compare our previous charts with the current ones, and to look at the gaps. This is such a useful tool to aid professional development. It’s so helpful to see what you are currently doing and where the next step would be. Most of us know our current capabilities but are unaware of the next step.
Before I finish this 1st blog I want to share my most recent faux paux using the IWF. Our Department Lead, Iva Hauptmannova was kind enough to listen to my tutorial and was duly colouring in, but I had miscalculated the segments and when she only had half of the chart coloured and assumed finished, my first response was ‘Well what do you do with the other half of your time’!
Here are the 3 of us with our profiles, I have 2 charts: which show the slight differences after taking on my new role of Senior Clinical Research Practitioner."
Deirdre Brooking is a Clinical Research Practitioner, at the Research & Innovation Department in Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore.
September 2017
