Ten things I wish I had known about academic primary care

As an academic GP trainee I read this article with interest.¹ I was surprised that there was no mention of the inherent administrative bureaucracy and red tape which is rife within academia, and which I certainly wish I had had a greater understanding of prior to commencing my academic journey. I seem to have had more meetings about future meetings, and spend more time filling out paperwork and amendments, than actually doing any productive research. Brexit appears to have made this worse, particularly for projects which require the use of technology where data controllers exist outside of the UK. Legal requirements differ now that we are no longer part of the European Union; trying to get paperwork filled out which fulfils the requirements of all countries involved whilst satisfying the legal requirements of each is exceptionally difficult. Additionally some research bodies are pushing for paperless projects - arguably a step in the right direction, until, of course, the technology doesn’t work. Cue further amendments which need to be penned, internally approved, signed by multiple staff members, and then submitted for further ethical approval in order to simply allow one to use an emergency scribble pad because HIVE or EMIS is down.

Whilst quality assurance and patient protection is paramount of course, I can’t help but feel that paper (or paperless…) pushing is killing research productivity. There appears to be much duplication of form-filling effort in the name of keeping bureaucrats at the top of a ‘top-down’ system happy. The focus on honest research output and practical, commonsensical patient care is becoming lost; the system itself is too prohibitive so as to be successful - particularly for those with smaller grants and fewer dedicated staff members. I think that this is a really important point to make to new, young, and enthusiastic academics to avoid early disillusion and burn out.

Reference

1. Wanat M, Redmond P, Barry T, et al. Ten things I wish I had known about academic primary care. Br J Gen Pract 2023;73(729):176-177.