Supporting life-changing research at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust has a world-leading reputation for research which improves patient care and develops new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases.

So we were thrilled to be asked to collaborate on an online induction course for their clinical research delivery staff.

A still from an animation in which a nurse is talking on the phone, explaining that the patient must not eat before a blood test.
A still from a video in which a healthcare professional is being interviewed.
A set of six flashcards with colourful illustrations: a boy with an IV drip, a chart with a magnifying glass, an organigram, a calendar with a person next to it, a document in an envelope, and a calendar with a big tick.

Background

A skilled workforce is crucial to research delivery, but providing in-person training was a challenge in terms of resourcing, availability, and the difficulty of ensuring accuracy and consistency across multiple sites.

Staff need to be familiar research processes, Trust-specific guidelines and also external stakeholder requirements, so there was a lot of ground to cover!

Our aim was to create an online self-stufy course that would equip staff with the practical knowledge they needed to initiate, plan, conduct and close a clinical trial, all contextualised within the broader clinical research landscape.

Project details

We opted for an online format with open navigation so staff could choose to work through the whole course for a comprehensive overview of the research process or to use the course like a manual, dipping in and out to refresh their knowledge at a particular point of need.

Videos were a really important element - we embedded interviews with staff from GSTT and King's Health Partners sharing expert insights and also created animations to make key points more memorable.

We added a glossary of key terms and acronyms that learners could refer to as needed, and provided frequent opportunities for learners to check their understanding through interactive activities.

Impact

In the 10 months following its launch, the course was accessed by almost 100 staff. Of those that completed the end-of-course evaluation, 94% found the online format to be an effective and enjoyable way to learn, and the average rating for achieving learning objectives was 4 out of 5.

White Bicycle continued to provide support after the completion of the project, with Leah presenting and giving a demo of the course to interested staff at an online launch event.