Survey of Medical Personnel's Interest in Performing Clinical Research and in Educational Programs for Clinical Research

Abstract

Clinical research is a critical component of evidence-based medicine and is essential for improving the quality of healthcare. However, the shortage of research supervisors and the lack of personnel with sufficient knowledge of research methodology and statistical analysis are obstacles to carrying out research in the clinical setting. Although we have been providing clinical research training for personnel at our hospital, it is not clear whether they are interested in actually conducting clinical research and participating in related educational programs. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey to gauge their interest in these two areas. Questionnaires were completed by 718 of the 813 the medical personnel who attended our training sessions (88.3% response rate). Fifty-five percent expressed an interest in performing clinical research and data analysis. Among those who were interested in clinical research and data analysis, 75.8% were male, 58.9% were married, and 60.8% had children. Notably, 90.7% of pharmacists and 69.1% of physicians were particularly interested in performing clinical research and data analysis. In addition, medical personnel in their 30s and 40s were more interested in clinical research and data analysis. Among several factors, gender (male) and job title (pharmacist and physician) were strongly associated with interest in clinical research and data analysis. Medical personnel interested in clinical research and data analysis wanted to participate in educational programs on statistical processing, writing papers, and finding research subjects. Medical personnel not interested in clinical research and data analysis wanted to participate in educational programs on searching for articles, evaluating articles, and interpreting data. To address the shortage of research leaders, we believe that education related to clinical research should be provided to personnel interested in conducting clinical research and data analysis. Furthermore, we found that even staff not interested in conducting clinical research and data analysis are interested in educational programs related to clinical research.