Research project: MSKInterns: Graduate Rheumatology Research Internships for Nurses and Allied Health Professionals.
The assembled consortium has a demonstrable track record of managing rheumatology Allied Health Profession (AHP) and nurse research internships. The original Arthritis Research UK graduate internship programme was conceived in 2005 in response to the increasing clinical burden of musculoskeletal (MSK) disease, the need for advances in practice and the limited number of active AHP investigators within rheumatology. This original five year programme (grant ref: 16177), plus a two year continuation (grant ref: 18932), was run by a collaboration of three Higher Education Institutes (HEIs); Leeds (Redmond), Southampton (Bowen), and Oxford (Arden). During the period 2006-2013 ten podiatry graduates were engaged as research interns. The programme proved to be highly successful and influential; the graduates cite their experiences as a major influence on subsequent career progress and have notably provided a step change in the research capacity of the profession (Naidoo et al 2013).
