Payne, R. orcid.org/0000-0002-8490-671X, Frejah, I., Abbey, E. et al. (3 more authors) (2025) Transitioning between clinical and academic practice from the perspectives of clinical academic trainees, academic training programme directors and academic supervisors: a mixed methods study. BMC Medical Education, 25 (1). 236. ISSN 1472-6920
Abstract
Background
The career pathway of clinical academics in the UK is challenging. To pursue academic endeavors, trainees often undertake approved time ‘Out of Programme for Research’ (OOPR), a standalone research fellow post or join an ‘Integrated Academic Training’ pathway. Time out of training may impact their clinical skills, confidence and competency. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the challenges associated with returning to clinical training after prolonged leave for academic trainees.
Methods
Stakeholders were clinical academic trainees and supervisors within the Yorkshire and Humber region of England, and training programme academic leads from universities across England. Qualitative data-analyses of verbatim recorded data from three focus groups and 12 individual telephone interviews were conducted within an a priori framework.
Results
Returning to a high-stress environment with a perceived lack of specialty-level advocacy and support, feeling isolated from peers, struggling to balance competing demands, meet clinical and academic expectations and managing clinical deskilling in a trainee’s return to clinical training were common experiences described by stakeholders. There was a lack of recognition from academic leads, however, on the impact of such challenges on the trainees’ subsequent ability to successfully integrate their clinical and academic careers. Various solutions were identified by stakeholders to overcome such barriers, including a normalised, phased, individualised supported return to work and capacity building for supervisors.
Conclusions
There is an apparent disconnect between the clinical and academic world, with clinical academic trainees stuck between the two, being pulled by each, feeling like they are not quite meeting the expectations of either. Time away from training for trainees on OOPR is often longer than for other reasons for time out of programme (typically 3–4 years if completing a doctoral degree). Given the importance of clinical academics in bridging clinical research and practice, and the concerns recently raised about the rate of attrition of clinician scientists within the NHS, it is of the utmost importance that clinical academic trainees are supported throughout all stages of their careers.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Out of Programme for Research (OOPR); Supported Return to Training (SuppoRTT); Integrated Academic Training (IAT) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Feb 2025 16:12 |
Last Modified: | 19 Feb 2025 16:12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12909-025-06803-w |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:223454 |