Intended for healthcare professionals

Careers

Few paediatricians have time for research, survey finds

BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h5795 (Published 28 October 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h5795
  1. Abi Rimmer
  1. 1BMJ Careers
  1. arimmer{at}bmj.com

Over 80% of paediatricians have no time for research work, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has found.

The college surveyed paediatric consultants and staff grade doctors, from whom it received 1924 responses. Of the respondents, 82% (1311) said that they did not have any time in their job plan that was allocated to research.

Four fifths (1149) of the consultants who responded said they didn’t have allocated research time in their job plan, and half (728) said that they undertook no research at all.

Anne Greenough, the college’s vice president for research, warned that the decline in research presented a risk to the health of current and future generations. She said, “We know that there are huge pressures on the paediatric workforce, but without time allocated to generating evidence to advance treatment and care we risk not giving children and young people the level of healthcare they deserve.”

The survey found that the average number of programmed activities (PAs, the four hour blocks of weekly work) for research in consultant job plans was 0.39, while the average number of research PAs actually worked was 0.71. It also found that male consultants authored twice as many publications as female consultants. The college said that the number of women authoring publications was “worryingly low.”

In response to the survey findings, the college said that it would explore ways to increase paediatricians’ involvement in research. This included ensuring that research training was delivered in undergraduate and postgraduate curriculums so that paediatricians had the opportunity to get involved in research.

The college said that successful research by paediatricians should be highlighted and promoted, particularly when research had produced better outcomes for children. It also said that paediatricians could learn from research models used abroad and could replicate the best practices in the UK and that communication about research funding should be improved.