Healthcare Professionals
Explore the opportunities open to you as a Network Investigator
Are you a GP or other healthcare professional interested in getting involved in research studies? We want to improve individual patient health and healthcare by conducting clinical trials in Irish primary care: but we cannot do it without you. Primary care research depends on researchers, general practitioners, practice nurses, pharmaceutical scientists, members of the public and decision/policy makers combining forces to improve individual patient health and healthcare.
Many GPs and practice nurses have already participated in research studies: we now extend that opportunity to all practices and all healthcare professionals working in primary care in Ireland. To become a Network Investigator, register with us!
Why get involved?
Becoming a Network
Investigator will allow you to:
- Participate in clinical research that aims to answer important questions in primary care
- Share your clinical insights to shape trial protocols or new treatment pathways
- Provide your patients the opportunity to take part in clinical trials and to support the development of new treatments and approaches to care delivery
- Collaborate with leading academics and clinicians to bring about change
- You may also have your own research idea – read about how we will support you to become a Network researcher
Benefits from taking part in a research study
varies from study to study, but can include:
- Provides you a simple way to complete your annual CPD audit
- Generates a new revenue stream for your practice
Related meetings and activities can be used towards your CPD points - Makes connections with other general practitioners with similar interests
- Keeps you up-to-date with the latest leading-edge therapeutics and emerging behavioural interventions
- Gives you access to behavioural interventions that you can share with your patients after the study ends
Our promise to
Network Investigators
Our promise: We will support you throughout each research study, minimising the practice resources and time required to participate.
We are acutely aware of the time and resource pressures in primary care today. We will review all requests from study sponsors to conduct studies through our Network and will only adopt studies and contact you about studies that are high quality, address imporant questions in primary care, and are led by reputable research organisations.
In addition, we will:
- Work with study sponsors to ensure that practices are compensated for the resources invested in a study
- Deliver Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training, which will contribute to your CPD points
- Provide you access to other training and support as required
- Not overload you with communications or requests
- Not share your contact details beyond the Network without your permission
How the Network operates
Some Network studies are led by academic GPs from the Network (see Our partners) and some are led by other academics, either in Ireland or abroad. Other studies are initiated by industry, either directly or through a contract research organisation (CRO), who invite the Network to help them recruit practices.
We will contact you when a study opens for recruitment and invite your practice to take part. We will provide you with sufficient detail about the study to allow you to assess your ability to recuit suitable patients and to conduct the study activities according to the protocol.
If you are interested in participating, we will deliver training as required, which will prepare you to conduct a study according to the protocol. We will support you as you begin to recruit patients and keep in touch with you during the study, helping you to resolve any issues that arise. When the study finishes, we will share study results with you as they become available and will work on behalf of the study team to ensure that the research outcome influences healthcare practice and policy as appropriate.
For each study, we work with the study team to cost the practice time involved in taking part in the study and we endeavour to ensure that each study provides appropriate compensation to participating pratices. We will organise all contracts and payments to practices.