Bonding of Nursing Practice and Education Through Research

Abstract

NURSING EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES Celebrates 25 Years in 2005 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 1984, THIS ARTICLE BY DR. JEANETTE LANCASTER WAS FIRST-PLACE WINNER OF THE THIRD ANNUAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN WRITING, CO-SPONSORED BY HUMANA INC., THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR NURSING, AND NURSING & HEALTH CARE. IT IS THE FOURTH IN A SERIES OF KEY ARTICLES FROM THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF Nursing Education Perspectives REPRINTED TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF PUBLICATION. COMMENTARY IS OFFERED BY DR. MARY TILBURY. Nursing has, for decades, experienced divisiveness between and education. Nurses in clinical settings say that faculty have long since lost the ability to provide competent and innovative care and are not educating students for the real world. Similarly, educators are wont to complain that practicing nurses do not base their actions on an adequate conceptual base. It seems strange that educators seem to be against those in practice, and vice versa, when each group holds as a major goal the ability to influence the quality of patient care. * Research offers a mechanism for enabling nurses in education and to move beyond an if it weren't for you attitude (1). As these groups mutually identify nursing care problems, !develop methodologies for examining alternatives or actions, and carry out and analyze research results, they tend to understand one another's world and one another's problems better and to realize that there is much more to gain by working with, rather than against, each other. We need each other, and when we roll up our sleeves and become involved in the challenges, rigors, joys, disappointments, and excitement of research, we come to know and appreciate one another more fully. Why Is Research Needed? Although more nurses are engaged in research today than ever before, systematic investigation into a wide range of educational, administrative, and issues is still needed. Research efforts in nursing were scanty before 1950 and, according to Notter, nursing had no real tradition of research as a basis for the improvement of nursing practice (2). Historically, nurses have been viewed as doers, not thinkers; hence, early research efforts focused on studying ways to improve procedures and activities more effectively rather than on the quality of nursing care. As graduate education advanced as a viable option for nurses who wished to remain in, and contribute to, the profession, so grew interest in nursing research. Federal support for nursing research and for doctoral preparation became increasingly available in the mid-1950s. As do other disciplines, nursing acknowledges that quality of care will improve as the scientific base for is expanded and strengthened (3). Professionals engaged in a discipline must master both the art and the science of the profession. One way to do so is through systematic inquiry designed to evaluate the extent to which strategies are effective in improving patient care, which will identify deficiencies in knowledge, practice, and technology (4). Practice-based research provides a more sound foundation for making decisions that will improve health care than do speculation, hunches, or personal opinions and beliefs. As funds decrease, and as demands for greater accountability predominate in the health care arena, research provides the hard that are being increasingly requested. Additionally, the use of nursing research data aids in building a power source for the profession. Knowledge is a source of power, and research advances nursing knowledge. Research in nursing is needed for a variety of reasons. First, a discipline such as nursing must continually increase its support of research designed to improve the quality of services delivered by its practitioners. Research efforts must emphasize both the discovery of mechanisms that will promote optimal health and the application of strategies that can help people to attain, maintain, and/or regain their health. …