Clinical Research
The best reason to engage in clinical research is because it helps us along the path to clinical mastery. Conditions to begin this journey will never be just right; instead, we leap first, then make it work along the way.
This 17th century quote is fitting to what we are doing:
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Start where you stand and work with whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”
[George Herbert]
A new model for clinical research is for it to be a routine part of the daily multi-disciplinary huddle, where all clinicians helping care for a patient are also involved in clinical research to inform and improve future care; to understand more deeply the underlying pathophysiological basis of disease; to clarify medication safety; to highlight areas needing efficiency; and to understand more deeply the patient experience. At the centre of all we do is a person in need of medical attention. We endeavour to use all our creative powers, intellectual and emotional, applied to the clinical challenges we see.
Also, we believe one of the best ways to get better at anything is to do it, even if done imperfectly in the beginning, whether it’s sailing a boat, learning a language, or reading a CXR. Just get started doing it and improve along the way. Clinical research can be like this and is an opportunity for professional development at its best, for as we move to the edge of what is understood about a clinical problem, we will begin to recognise the ‘adjacent possible’ (https://adjacentpossible.substack.com/about). This is where breakthroughs occur and where clinical improvements are made.
Clinical research is a team sport. Individually, it is an uphill slog. Combining resources, though, can make it easier. Not easy, but easier.
To that end, we have built a better opportunity for clinicians to combine resources and facilitate clinical research.