Redefining the role of the nurse academic in practice: a pilot study

Worldwide, health services are interested in supporting the speedy adoption of research findings into practice. To promote the translation of research into practice, a university in the South of England along with a partner NHS Trust piloted a new role – Translation Fellow (TF). This article describes and analyses the experience of piloting this role. This paper outlines the successes achieved as a result of this partnership between a university and a healthcare organisation as well as describing the challenges involved in establishing such a role. The successes included submitting a joint abstract to a conference; collaboratively developing articles for publication; organizing a visit overseas to compare similar services; co-designing a database to assist in collecting data for service planning and research, and setting up a ‘one click access’ web space populated with evidence informed material to support the work of the clinical staff. The pilot acted as a proof of concept in which the TF role demonstrated its potential. Additional roles are already being established nationally