Network welcomes its first student nurse placement in research

A West Midlands first has been achieved with the region’s first student nurse placement in its Research Delivery Network.

Pascar Mholi with Andrea Isaew, Research Nurse (right)

Pascar Mholi, 42, joined the Agile Nursing Team for a week-long pilot placement in the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) West Midlands Regional Research Delivery Network (WM RRDN), which is hosted by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT).

Rob Chadwick, Research Matron at the WM RRDN, led the project to host students in the Network, with the intention of extending their exposure to research beyond a single experience day, to bring the sector to the next generation of nurses.

The Network’s nursing team established the opportunity in collaboration with the Pre-Registration Education Team at RWT. Pascar, a third-year student at the University of Wolverhampton, was first to benefit.

Now the immediate aim is to create further placements for second and third-year students in 2025-26, then expand if required.

Pascar experienced research in primary and secondary care, recruiting and reviewing participants across different studies. She sampled research in an office, surgery, general practice, and hospital.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the staff who contributed to my learning during the placement,” said Pascar.

“I met many inspirational people, and each took the time to explain the processes and share their expertise.

“I truly appreciated how everyone made everything simple and easy, even accommodating me in their cars and small clinic spaces. This made me feel like a valued member of the team.”

Rob said: “Thank you to Julie Timmins, Senior Research Nurse, who led the development of Pascar’s placement, and to all those who supported.

Pascar Mholi at her desk on her placement

“As we build towards the next placements, we look forward to working with the teams to establish the WM RRDN as a unique and exciting placement for the future workforce.”

For Julie, the student placement has been ten years in the making.

She said: “I’m delighted to get this off the ground. Student nurses can sometimes think that research is all about writing academic papers, but we need staff to collate evidence for the studies. The research nurse role is relatively new so it’s important to raise awareness of it.”

Julie spent Pascar’s first day with her and added: “Pascar absorbed all the information on research and was engaged and enthusiastic, asking questions. It was brilliant having someone so interested in research.”

Lisa Lawton, Matron for Pre-Registration Education at RWT, and Karen Meredith, Senior Practice Education Facilitator for Pre-Registration at RWT, placed Pascar.

“Rob has a real passion for research – he wanted to become a voice for it and shout far and wide that research can be exciting,” said Lisa.

“We hope this inspires students into thinking research can be a more practicable option.

“Research was always seen as something that some nurses do, rather than something all nurses should do, to provide the best care for patients.

“If we can get students to understand that research is a place for them to work, we can create that future workforce pipeline.”