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research proposal
publication

Carrying out research, critical appraisal, ethics and stakeholder involvement

02 November 2023
Opinion
02 November 2023
Volume 15 · Issue 11

Abstract

Research skills are a requirement under the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards for paramedic registration. Paramedics must ‘recognise the value of research to the critical evaluation of practice’. Research in the medical field is important in order to improve the knowledge of clinicians and inform evidence-based practice. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the key components of the research process, use of a PICO [population, intervention, comparison, outcome] tool to search relevant databases and explain the critical appraisal of research in order to establish if research is valid before implementing results into paramedic practice.

The aim of this article is to describe the research methods process by explaining how to develop a research question, how to search recognised databases for relevant literature and what is involved in critically appraising an article.

Research skills are a requirement under the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) (2023) standards for paramedic registration; paramedics must ‘recognise the value of research to the critical evaluation of practice’.

Research in medicine is important to improve clinician knowledge by sharing data across the globe (Bhat, 2020). Because of their rapidly changing roles (Eaton et al, 2018), paramedics are required to critically analyse research to develop both clinically and professionally. Ellis (2022) expands on this, adding clinical governance; a crucial component of contemporary healthcare is understanding what you are doing and why you are doing it.

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