Attitude to clinical research among health professionals affiliated with the Italian Federation of Centers for the Diagnosis of Thrombotic Disorders and the Surveillance of the Antithrombotic Therapies (FCSA)

Clinical research is vital in supporting evidence-based practice. However, several barriers make participation in research difficult. We performed a survey to evaluate the attitude to research of the members of the Italian Anticoagulation Clinics. The survey includes 19 closed questions on the perception of participating in research and exploring the benefit that health professionals wish to obtain. A total of 167 questionnaires were returned from 97/220 (44.1%) Centers, of which 89.7% were not academic. Participants (median age 56 years, range 29-75y; 56.3% females) were equally distributed all over the country; 151/167 (90.4%) of respondents believe that participating in research helps to reduce the routine of their work and allows a better quality of work, 72/167 (43.1%) complain heavy workload. More than 74% of respondents would like to participate in scientific meetings, without difference in relation to age. Instead, inclusion in the authorship of a scientific paper is of relevance for 75.6% of respondents ≤50 years and for 65.2% of respondents >50 years. A substantial positive attitude towards research was evident, suggesting that independent scientific societies could be of valuable support for the growth of research culture.