Developing an infrastructure to support clinical academic careers

Research and evidence-based practice underpins the delivery of high-quality patient care. Developing the research capacity and capability of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals requires a robust emphasis and the necessary support infrastructure to encourage and develop practitioners to follow a clinical academic career pathway. Clinical academic partnerships between higher education and healthcare institutions can offer a blend of required expertise with mutual benefits. This article reports on a recent Florence Nightingale Foundation and Council of Deans of Health Leadership Scholarship improvement project to establish an infrastructure to support the development of clinical academic roles to enhance the provision of evidence-based patient care in the North East of Scotland.