Quantifying nurse and midwife-led research impact: Retrospective application of the Framework to Assess the Impact from Translational health research (FAIT) model on two exemplar randomised controlled trials

Background: Nurse-and midwife-led clinical trials are underrepresented in Australia and New Zealand, despite their potential to improve health outcomes and deliver economic value.Demonstrating the broader impact of such research is essential to inform policy and funding decisions.Aim: To assess the utility of the Framework to Assess the Impact from Translational health research (FAIT) in capturing the translational impact of nurse-and midwife-led randomised controlled trials through retrospective application to two exemplar studies.Methods: FAIT was retrospectively applied to the RSVP (nurse-led) and DAME (midwife-led) trials using three components: Modified Payback, Economic Analysis, and Narrative.Program Logic Models were developed to map trial activities and impacts.Data were triangulated from public sources and researcher interviews.Findings: Both trials demonstrated significant translational impact.RSVP showed measurable system-level benefits, including policy uptake and estimated cost savings, while DAME influenced clinical guidelines and consumer education.However, the absence of economic evaluation in DAME limited its ability to demonstrate broader system value.Discussion: FAIT enabled comprehensive impact assessment but highlighted challenges in retrospective data collection and the need for discipline-specific metrics.Conclusions: FAIT is a feasible and flexible framework for assessing the impact of nurse-and midwife-led trials.Prospective application and tailored metrics are needed to fully capture the value of research in these disciplines and support equitable investment.