Availability Of Resources For Research Research Articles

Developing research priorities for palliative care of people with intellectual disabilities in Europe: a consultation process using nominal group technique.

BackgroundEmpirical knowledge around palliative care provision and needs of people with intellectual disabilities is extremely limited, as is the availability of research resources, including expertise and funding. This paper describes a consultation process that sought to develop an agenda for research priorities for palliative care of people with intellectual disabilities in Europe.MethodsA two-day workshop was convened, attended by 16 academics and clinicians in the field of palliative care and intellectual disability from six European countries. The first day consisted of round-table presentations and discussions about the current state of the art, research challenges and knowledge gaps. The second day was focused on developing consensus research priorities with 12 of the workshop participants using nominal group technique, a structured method which involved generating a list of research priorities and ranking them in order of importance.ResultsA total of 40 research priorities were proposed and collapsed into eleven research themes. The four most important research themes were: investigating issues around end of life decision making; mapping the scale and scope of the issue; investigating the quality of palliative care for people with intellectual disabilities, including the challenges in achieving best practice; and developing outcome measures and instruments for palliative care of people with intellectual disabilities.ConclusionsThe proposal of four major priority areas and a range of minor themes for future research in intellectual disability, death, dying and palliative care will help researchers to focus limited resources and research expertise on areas where it is most needed and support the building of collaborations. The next steps are to cross-validate these research priorities with people with intellectual disabilities, carers, clinicians, researchers and other stakeholders across Europe; to validate them with local and national policy makers to determine how they could best be incorporated in policy and programmes; and to translate them into actual research studies by setting up European collaborations for specific studies that require such collaboration, develop research proposals and attract research funding.

Car windshield fragments as cheap alternative glass beads for homogenization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cultures in a resource-limited setting

Tuberculosis is a global health problem which has been compounded by the emergence and rapid spread of drug resistant strains. Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis usually requires homogenization of cultures using 3–5mm glass beads. In resource limited settings, these important material may either not be readily available in the country as in our case requiring that one orders them from abroad or they may be too expensive. In both situations, this would impact on the usually lean budget. In our centre were we recently introduced tuberculosis culture and drug susceptibility testing using the Microscopic Observation Drug Susceptibility (MODS) technique, we successfully used glass fragments from a broken car windshield obtained from a mechanic workshop to homogenize solid cultures to prepare positive controls. All cultures homogenized with these local beads gave consistent MODS results. The challenge of the limited availability of resources for research in resource limited settings can be met by adapting available materials to achieve results.

Ethics issues for HIV/AIDS researchers in international settings — perspectives from the Canadian experience

In recognition of the level of international HIV/AIDS research being conducted by Canadians, the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR), along with its partners, has developed a resource document to assist researchers in identifying and preparing for the unique ethics issues and challenges that may arise during international HIV/AIDS research. Between 2004 and 2007, face-to-face consultations were undertaken with community and government stakeholders, and interviews were conducted with eight prominent HIV/AIDS researchers with international experience to identify key research ethics challenges and structural, cultural, political, social, and economic factors that may impact HIV/AIDS research ethics in resource-limited settings. These challenges and factors served as the basis for the hypothetical ethics issues case scenarios developed for each of the four research tracks. Ethics issues were identified at every stage of the research process. Key contextual issues included: (1) stigma and culturally-embedded conceptualizations of HIV; (2) local and global politics and economics; (3) gender inequities, power dynamics, and sexual roles; and (4) allocation and availability of resources for research and health services. The final document resulting from the consultation process provides a framework for open dialogue on the complex and interconnected ethics issues researchers may experience in the field of international HIV/AIDS research, and contributes to the HIV/AIDS research field by reinforcing the need for high quality and ethically sound research. This document can be found at http://ethics.cahr-acrv.ca/.

Nurses' Perceptions of Research Utilization in a Corporate Health Care System

To explore selected characteristics of nurses based upon educational level (masters, baccalaureate, associate degree/diploma), years of experience, and hospital position (management, advanced practice, staff nurse) that might affect perceived availability of research resources, attitude towards research, support, and research use in practice. A descriptive nonexperimental mailed survey design was used for this study. Nurses in five hospitals within a corporate hospital system were surveyed using the Research Utilization Questionnaire (RUQ). The RUQ was used to measure nurses' perceptions of research utilization in the four dimensions of perceived use of research, attitude toward research, availability of research resources, and perceived support for research activities. ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Statistically significant differences (p<.001) were found in the perceived use of research, attitude toward research, availability of research resources, and perceived support for research activities based on educational level and organizational position. No significant differences were found in the perception of nurses based on years of experience. The results of this study have implications for staff nurses, administrators, advanced practice nurses, and educators working in hospital systems. The different perceptions based upon educational level and hospital position can be integrated and used at all levels of nursing practice to promote research utilization and evidence-based practice initiatives within the organizational structure. The results of this study have nursing implications within administration and for nursing practice. The different perceptions that were found based upon educational level and hospital position can be positively integrated and used by administrators and by nurses all levels of nursing practice to promote research utilization and evidence based practice initiatives within the organizational structure.

Research Education Needs of Pediatric Emergency Nurses

Evidence-based practice in the emergency care of children is critical. The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) was developed to increase pediatric research; however, participation by emergency nurses has been limited. To identify research needs in order to increase research involvement, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) conducted a research needs assessment with nurses in PECARN emergency departments. A self-administered needs assessment questionnaire was completed by 216 ED managers and nurses in 26 PECARN emergency departments between August and November of 2004. The questionnaires included items about research education, knowledge, and experience, as well as barriers to and resources for conducting research. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The primary barriers to nurses' research involvement included limited research knowledge and experience, limited awareness and availability of research resources, lack of dedicated time, and limited recognition for research contributions. However, the nurses reported moderate to extensive interest in research continuing education and desired moderate to extensive involvement in pediatric research. The nurses worked in research institutions with increased access to subjects and collaborative opportunities, indicating strong potential for nurses' research involvement. However, few institutions had practice models that included research recognition and dedicated research time. Furthermore, limited knowledge, experience, and awareness of research resources added to the barriers that reduced research involvement. To begin addressing the barriers, ENA developed a research curriculum based on the continuing education needs and interests identified by the nurses.

Biomedical engineers and scientists: our own worst enemies

It is argued that opportunities to influence public policy affecting the availability of resources for research are being missed every day and will continue to be missed until the members of the research community learn how to influence public decision-making by exploiting political opportunities. Put another way, only when the members of the research community become involved routinely in the political process at all levels will their endeavors become the top national priority. The ways in which researchers can become involved in advocacy processes and concrete measures they can take to become politically active without neglecting their primary responsibilities are discussed. >

A Culprit in Health Care Costs

The present dilemma in medicine is how to continue to improve the quality of health care while maintaining a reasonable expenditure of resources. Although prospective payment legislation seems to be an admirable effort to decrease costs, unfortunate consequences can result under such provisions. For example, there could be health care rationing for the critically ill, a decline in medical education, decreased use of technology, increased litigation, and the development of specialty hospitals emphasizing favorable prospective payment groupings under diagnosis-related groups.^1,2Simultaneously, decreased availability of resources for research may occur, as well as a curb on testing of the risk or benefits of advancing technology. Such a system will inevitably lead to deterioration in the quality of health care. Under the system of diagnosis-related groups, it has been estimated that as many as 20% of the nation's hospitals will be forced to close by 1990, yet the situation before