Radical inclusion: a clinician-consumer co-design research internship program at redcliffe hospital

Our kernel idea was to integrate authentic co-design with a research capacity building program. The aim of the Co-design Research InternShip Program (CRISP) was to support and develop a cohort of healthcare professionals, consumers, researchers, and co-design mentors with knowledge and experience in co-designed research. Our purpose was to facilitate research knowledge and skill development for novice consumer and clinician- researchers via a structured program incorporating the completion of small-scale projects and build capacity for future leadership of co-designed projects. Redcliffe Hospital is a 295- bed level 2 hospital located north of Brisbane. Our program was a collaboration between Redcliffe Hospital, Queensland University of Technology, University of the Sunshine Coast and The Art of Hosting community of practitioners. The core research team demonstrated the principles of co-design in action by leading the CRISP project. Workshops were undertaken across both hospital and university sites. People included in the workshops were research interns, peer learners, peer contributors, clinical champions, and invited contributors. Hospital executive and a variety of stakeholders supported the program. Our journey commenced with an open invite to a 3-hour Discovery Workshop to engage with the whole hospital community to shape the internship program. 60 people attended. A synthesis of harvested outcomes were shared with an expression of interest sought for roles as defined by the initial workshop. We received 12 intern acceptances. Following the Discovery Workshop and internship acceptance, four face-to-face eight-hour workshops were undertaken over a 10-month period. The workshops were underpinned by co-design methodology using a social constructivist approach and network relationship building opportunities. They included the Chaordic Stepping Stones, and just in time learning, to support the interns throughout the journey. The research team iteratively harvested and evaluated throughout the journey. These harvests supported our learning, addressed challenges, discussed progress, created space for deeper discussion and reflection.