Policy win for SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Implementation Science Academy

The SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Implementation Science Academy in conjunction with the Australasian Nursing and Midwifery Clinical Trials Network has successfully lobbied the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to insert questions into the workforce survey (the National Health Workforce Dataset) undertaken by clinicians when they renew their annual registration. Supported by medical and allied health representatives on the Clinician Researcher Committee from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, these new questions will ask those seeking nursing, midwifery, allied health and medical (re)registration for their highest academic qualification.

In addition to providing a robust baseline, these data will enable the health sector to determine if the number of health practitioners with research masters and PhDs increases over time as a result of varied state and national efforts to foster research, such as clinician researcher pathways. The group also requested a new additional title of ‘clinician researcher’ be added as a response option to describe people’s ‘principal role’.