Clinical Research Skills Assessment: An Investigation into the Determinants of Effective Research

Background Developing individual research skills and enhancing the institutional research culture leads to quality research capabilities and research excellence at the national level. We aim to assess the educational needs of healthcare providers regarding research skills at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods From February 2016 to October 2016, we conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire of the healthcare providers at KFMC. The questionnaire targeted staff who have not been involved in research (n=353; “category-1”), staff who received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (n=94; “category-2”), and staff who have completed and published their research (n=53; “category-3”). A descriptive analysis was used to measure the frequency, and the chi-square test was used to test significance when comparing categorical data. Results The final analysis contained 500 questionnaires. The number of women was higher than that of men in “category-2 “and “category-3” (53.2%, 62.3%), respectively. Approximately 62.4% of “category-1” participants reported good, poor, and very poor knowledge of epidemiology. Participants in “category-1” and “category-2” stated poor and very poor levels when writing a manuscript (43%, 23.4%), respectively. Only 37% of participants in “category-3” showed very good to excellent research skills. However, there was a significant correlation between the mean scores of research skill and research stage (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion The results showed a significant variation in research skills needs among research stage categories; therefore, meeting the educational needs of healthcare providers aimed at effective research shall be constructed based on their stage of research.