The research capacity and culture of Australian podiatrists

• Published in: Journal of foot and ankle research 2015-03, Vol.8 (1), p.11-n/a
• Main Authors: Williams, Cylie M, Lazzarini, Peter A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Australia; Capacity; Culture; Evidence-based medicine; Podiatrists; Podiatry; Public health; Social aspects
• ISSN: 1757-1146; 1757-1146
• DOI: 10.1186/s13047-015-0066-9

Background Best practice clinical health care is widely recognised to be founded on evidence based practice. Enhancing evidence based practice via the rapid translation of new evidence into every day clinical practice is fundamental to the success of health care and in turn health care professions. There is little known about the collective research capacity and culture of the podiatry profession across Australia. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the research capacity and culture of the podiatry profession within Australia and determine if there were any differences between podiatrists working in different health sectors and workplaces. Method All registered podiatrists were eligible to participate in a cross‐sectional online survey. The Australian Podiatry Associations disseminated the survey and all podiatrists were encouraged to distribute it to colleagues. The Research Capacity and Culture (RCC) tool was used to collect all research capacity and culture item variables using a 10‐point scale (1 = lowest; 10 = highest). Additional demographic, workplace and health sector data variables were also collected. Mann–Whitney‐U, Kruskal–Wallis and logistic regression analyses were used to determine any difference between health sectors and workplaces. Word cloud analysis was used for qualitative responses of individual motivators and barriers to research culture. Results There were 232 fully completed surveys (6% of Australian registered podiatrists). Overall respondents reported low success or skills (Median rating