Exploring Advanced Clinical Practitioner's Experience Developing Clinical Competence and Opinions on Role Identity

In the United Kingdom, there is an urgent need to reshape the National Health Service (NHS) workforce to equip it to meet the changing demands of the population it serves and deliver the vision set out in the Next Steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View (2017) and recently published NHS Plan (2019). One of the key elements to this is the continuing development, support and utilisation of Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) roles.

Advanced Clinical Practitioners are educated to Masters Level in clinical practice and assessed as competent in practice using their expert clinical knowledge and skills. They have the freedom and authority to act, making their own decisions in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Although the level of education and assessment of competence are common for ACPs working in all areas, training and supervision varies between primary and secondary care, specialties and sites.

The proposed research will explore ACP experiences of how they develop clinical competence and their opinions on role identity, specifically:

• Factors that have influenced their clinical competency achievements.
• Training experience (clinical and external education opportunities)
• Experience of educational/ clinical supervision and its benefits.
• Self-identified knowledge gaps, with a focus on mental health.
• Future ACP role identity

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Nurse's Role; ACP; Development, Consensus
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: No intervention

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 32

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Maxine Kuczawski, MSc; Phone Number: 01142222981; Email: m.kuczawski@sheffield.ac.uk

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Sheffield, United Kingdom, S1 4DA
    • University of Sheffield
    • Contact: Maxine Kuczawski
    • Principal Investigator: Susan Croft
    • Principal Investigator: Julie Perrin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The participants will be NHS staff working in the Yorkshire and Bassetlaw region as ACPs (qualified or in training).

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Qualified ACP or trainee ACP who has completed at least 1 years (FTE) of ACP clinical training
• Currently working in this role within either Primary or Secondary Care and based in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to communicate in English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Other
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

ACP; ACPs, either qualified or in training, working in the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw area.

Other: No intervention; ACPs, qualified or in training, will be invited to participate by email. Interested participants will be provided with study materials and asked to complete an online eligibility questionnaire; if eligible, contact details will also be recorded. Participants will be invited to take part in a focus group about their experience in developing clinical competence and their opinions on role identity. Data collection will consist of focus groups.; Other Names: Focus Groups

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Experiences and views of ACPs regarding their experience of developing clinical competence and opinions on role identity [Time frame: 120 minutes]	Focus groups will follow a topic guide to explore the factors which influence participants experience of clinical competence, training experience and supervision. The focus groups will also discuss participants feelings in relation to self-identified knowledge gaps (focusing on mental health) and the future ACP role identity.	Jan-Dec 2020

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Sheffield
• Collaborators: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Faculty of Advanced Clinical Practice

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): January 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): July 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 22, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 3, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 3, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2019
• Last Verified: November 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: ACP; Competence; Role identity
• Other Study ID Numbers: CHC-ACP2019

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No