Officials at all VA medical centers we interviewed said research time helps attract top talent, and clinician-scientists from several medical centers told us the opportunity to conduct research is an important reason clinicians join the VA. Image: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffSetting aside time for VA clinicians to perform research requires facilities to strike a balance between that time and direct patient care but helps the department recruit and retain clinician-scientists and contributes to medical advances that benefit not only veterans but the general public, the GAO has said.
“The overarching goal of VA research is to achieve broad and meaningful positive outcomes on the health of veterans,” it said. Such research has “been foundational” for example toward the first implantable pacemaker, the first liver transplant, the clinical trial that led to FDA approval of the shingles vaccine, and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, it said.
GAO said that “protected research time” can vary from a few hours a week to full-time, depending on patient-care needs, leadership priorities, the nature of the research and more. In response to a congressional request for an assessment, the GAO said that the department does have recommended amounts for various purposes, does keep records on how much is used at the facility level, and generally hasn’t seen much impact on use of resources such as equipment and laboratory space.
“Officials and clinician-scientists at several VA medical centers said that more time to devote to research enables greater research productivity—i.e., progress toward developing research products and making discoveries to inform clinical practice,” it said. Officials told GAO that productivity is higher where blocks of time are set aside for those purposes and lower where they are not.
It added: “Officials at all VA medical centers we interviewed said research time helps attract top talent, and clinician-scientists from several medical centers told us the opportunity to conduct research is an important reason clinicians join the VA. Officials at most VA medical centers we interviewed said research time also helps with retention, and clinician-scientists at several medical centers said research opportunities are an important part of why they have stayed at the VA.”
“However, at some medical centers, clinician-scientists said they either considered leaving the VA or knew of clinician-scientists who left the VA due to a lack of protected research time or support for research at their medical centers. This has led officials at some medical centers to develop strategies to expand research opportunities,” it said.
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