Clinical research in allied health

Abstract

Allied health professionals in nutrition and medical dietetics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology and audiology play both unique and key cross-cutting roles in the furtherance of clinical research. Clinical research in nutrition and medical dietetics uniquely focuses on food nutrient intake and the metabolic utilization of nutrients. Clinical research in occupational therapy has a special focus on the relationship of impairment to disability, the adaptation to disability and the maximization of function. Physical therapy clinical research uniquely targets movement dysfunction and its evaluation and treatment within the context of quality and effective care. Clinical research in speech-language pathology and audiology is singular in its focus on deafness and hearing disorders, voice, speech, language and related disorders, and intersections among these and other neurological and physical conditions. Thus, all of these disciplines are making unique contributions to clinical research. Clinical research in these allied health professions is much more than the above specific foci. Inasmuch as these disciplines are rooted in practice, their contributions to research are inherently clinical. Many, if not most, of these contributions represent further validations of clinical practice or its underlying knowledge base. This means that, at a macro level, clinical research in allied health is very much "applied" research. Within allied health clinical research, this emphasis is redoubled at the "person," or individual level, where considerable attention is given to concepts of function and effectiveness. Clinical research in allied health has played a key cross-cutting role through its emphasis on collaboration. Possibly due to their professional maturation within multidisciplinary academic units, allied health professionals have demonstrated a level of comfort with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations unique within many academic health science centers. While the above contributions are considerable, much more could be accomplished if identified barriers to career progression could be addressed. Principal barriers to the development of clinical research careers in allied health lie in the areas of training, mentoring, and funding. The lack of financial support for clinical research training is the major impediment. Progress in these areas, although valuable in itself, could also lead to more dedicated release time in clinical and academic settings, improved predoctoral and postdoctoral research training mechanisms, and better alignment of institutional and system reward structures with the clinical research mission. Within the existing constraints, allied health professionals have performed remarkably well in tapping into funding streams created for other disciplines and in establishing research traditions within relatively young health professions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)