Research-based Profession Research Articles

Developing a new method to record care at home for children with cancer: an example of research and practice collaboration in a regional paediatric oncology unit.

Academics need to address the facilitation of nurses in practice to research and develop the care given to patients if nursing is to move closer towards a research-based profession. This paper describes a project involving collaboration between an academic department of nursing and nurses working in clinical practice providing care at home for children with cancer. The project involved an audit of the nursing care records for the service, and the development of a new style of record-keeping which described and quantified complex nursing care. The authors discuss the method and results of the project, describing the benefits of research and practice collaboration.

Action research as a professionalizing strategy: issues and dilemmas

This paper identifies the need for a debate about the appropriateness of action research for nursing as it seeks to achieve the status of a research-based profession. It also identifies a related need to inform such a debate by bringing together three sets of writings that are not normally united in the nursing research literature-those of action research, organizational culture and professionalization. In nursing, as in education, action research is being deployed as part of a professionalizing strategy, since amongst other things it seems to offer a means of developing reflective practitioners and of producing knowledge for practice. The increasing popularity of action research amongst nurse researchers suggests that it is seen to reflect the attributes to which nursing aspires as a profession, including a concern to realize humanistic values. Action research was embraced by the teaching profession before nursing, and nurse researchers are increasingly drawing on the ideas of influential educationalists in defining action research as an emancipatory strategy and a form of collaborative enquiry rooted in reflective practice. This paper argues that in the managerialist context of the British National Health Service action research may be reduced from a participatory methodology into a method for getting people to collaborate with managerial goals and internalize the values of the corporate culture. The danger is that in the name of reflective practice nursing work may become increasingly individualized. The challenge for action research in nursing is how to respond to this dilemma, and this may require looking critically at the managerial values underpinning the NHS reforms and at the organizational context in which action research strategies are deployed.

All the fun of the fayre.

Hello there, Health Gire Workers! Isn't it exciting to be in a research-based profession? You will remember that research is being carried out in my Unit at the moment to evaluate the effects of health promotion after major surgery. The study is now in full swing, and there have been some interesting results already.

Nursing as a research-based profession: 22 years after Briggs.

This review examines the growth of nursing research in the UK over the past 22 years and questions nursing's claim to be a research-based profession, as the consensus of opinion is that research findings have generally failed to influence clinical practice.

Role of nurses in promoting complementary therapies.

The decline in the caring aspects of medicine has made technology appear cold and inhuman and has turned medicine into a physical, restorative profession. Because practitioners are disillusioned by the shortcomings of scientific medicine, a desire to explore alternative approaches to health has appeared. Many complementary methods are similar to nursing in that they centre on the concept of holism. The lack of research in complementary methods and the need for legal regulation of their practitioners have a potential to discredit this area of health care. Nurses are among the most suitable professional groups to help complementary health care methods to attain their rightful place. The role of the nursing profession in this process will be seen as an indication of its standing as an independent research-based profession.

So much for common sense

Until recently, there seemed to be a general consensus that obstetric practice was science-based, whereas midwifery practice was seen more as an art or a skill. The trend now is clearly for midwifery to develop as a researchbased profession.

Making research useful to the practising nurse.

This paper examines the problem of developing research in nursing and the challenge of establishing its relevance and usefulness to the practising nurse. It is accepted that considerable progress has been made worldwide in recent years in the development of nursing research but nurses remain generally remote from the intellectual challenge of an evolving research-based profession. The publication of research reports is examined in the light of the acknowledged need for dissemination of research findings and differences in their presentation are noted as evidence of an apparent discouragement of the practising nurse from sharing in the accumulated nursing knowledge through research. It is argued that learning about research should be brought into the centre of basic nursing education and the growth in clinical research should be encouraged as a means of demonstrating the usefulness of research to the practising nurse.

Research literacy: an essential prerequisite for knowledge-led practice.

Fitting to the theme of this first issue of Nurse Researcher, this article examines what the recently published Strategy for Research in Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting ( 1 ) has to say about raising the level of research appreciation in nursing and improving nurses' skills in accessing and reading reports of research. If all of the Strategy's recommendations relevant to this and other areas were to be implemented, then there would be solid grounds for optimism that longstanding notions of nursing as a research-based profession might become, at last, something more concrete than mere rhetoric.

An international approach to master's-level preparation for clinical nurse specialists.

Nursing is seen as being increasingly a research-based profession with a developing knowledge base that demands a continuing programme of education. This is necessary to enable the practitioner to function with the level of expertise and skill required in today's health care systems. There have been repeated calls for and developments in the establishment of a higher-education approach to nursing, with degree courses for the advanced practitioner. It is also argued that in terms of the European perspective there are many commonalities in nursing and health care in Europe, and although cultural and national differences are important there can be advantages to nurses from different countries studying together. An example of a course which offers this European approach to higher education for nurses is described.

Can nurses take an accurate blood pressure?

It is over 20 years since the Briggs (1971) report extolled the virtues of nursing becoming a research-based profession. However, despite progress having been made towards achieving a research base, studies all too rarely inform nursing practice. This article offers a number of explanations for this failure and demonstrates the benefits of research by examining nurses' knowledge of the factors that are important in taking an accurate blood pressure reading.

Teaching research to nurses: issues for tutor training

Research is unknown territory, in too many ways, for many nurses and nurse tutors. It is seen as the province of an elite, using obscure language and esoteric skills with no obvious connection with the world of nursing; in particular, it involves statistics. Pressure for nursing to become a research-based profession can make the fear worse; the gap between research and practice generates blame and guilt in addition to fear. It is not surprising that learning and teaching about research can be very difficult for nurses. This article explores sources of bad feelings about research and suggests ways forward in the training of nurse and midwifery tutors, considering course planning and teaching methods, and peer support in and out of the classroom. It also argues for expanding the range of nursing research used to teach about research, incorporating more qualitative methods and drawing more fully on the social science traditions.

Research in practice: rhetoric or reality?

'Research' has become a fashionable word in nursing circles, but doubts remain about whether nursing is justified in calling itself a research-based profession. The author examines the rhetoric surrounding the word, before citing examples of how research is affecting nursing practice. More work is needed to ensure the gap is closed between talking about research and using it, but nurses should not lose sight of the ultimate aim of research--to enhance the primary vocation of caring.

P2000 - read all about it

‘Nursing is a research-based profession,' we are told.Yet when we look at the evidence from Project 2000, the opportunity to exercise research skills is almost non-existent in many colleges.

See how they learn: experience as the basis of practice

Personal accounts of nurses' and midwives' experiences of health problems feature not infrequently in the nursing press, with different points being made. The contribution of experience to learning is examined in relation to data collected during a study of midwives' care of relinquishing mothers. The extent to which there is a conflict between experiential learning, valued as a component of andragogy, and aspirations to being a research-based profession is examined.

Research for a star?

Research must now be accepted as the cornerstone of nursing practice. In response to the call of the Briggs Committee ( 1 ) that 'nursing should be a research-based profession', nurses have sought to justify both their own existence and to raise the status of the profession by scientific study.

Nursing practice research and the advancement of nursing

In this paper, the changing nature of nursing research is explored. Examples from nursing research in the field of cancer nursing are used to explore the notion of nursing being a research-based profession. It is argued that there are valid reasons for nurses to be interested not only in the findings of work done by others, but also in being directly involved in the research enterprise.

Community psychiatric nursing--a research-based profession?

This paper examines the relationship between research and professionalism, and considers the question of why research is necessary for the development of nursing. Suggestions which have been made for areas suitable for community psychiatric nursing research are looked at, and comments from various authors regarding the lack of evaluative (as opposed to descriptive or prescriptive) studies are noted. The paper goes on to look at recent CPN research, and finds mainly small-scale and locally-oriented studies. Three studies which look at the work of community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) in detail are examined; two of these found CPN practice to be lacking in any research or theory base, and in effect suggested therapeutic incompetence in dealing with neurotic clients. The third concluded the opposite, but suggested a need for more specialized training. The paper, which includes an appendix an overview of 36 recent (1983-1988) research studies of interest to CPNs, concludes that, if research is necessary precursor to autonomous professional development, such research into CPN practice has yet to be done.

Nursing research — a demystifying process

Projects have been used in nursing education for many years as a means of encouraging learners to find out information about issues affecting their professional training. In general, such projects have been concerned with pathophysiological and psycho-social topics related to nursing. Students are encouraged to carry out varying levels of information gathering and to produce individual or group reports. Over a period of 14 years, attempts have been made to introduce nurses to the research process in schools of nursing and institutions of higher education. This paper summarises the use of this method with learners in second and third years of basic nurse training and those undertaking the Diploma in Nursing course. The approach involves learners in following through the research process in nursing to the publication and dissemination stages. It is argued that if nursing is to be a research-based profession, tutors in all settings must bring research to the centre of all learning activities in nursing.

Cap in hand.

How good to read in your Diary column that Nurse Managers are at last listening to nurses. I refer to the Hartlepool decision to restore the use of nurses' caps. We younger nurses not only want a challenging i research-based profession respected by our colleagues, but we also want to keep the traditional aspects of nursing. To most of us that tradition is found not only in providing the highest standards of care but also in the appearance of uniforms.

Writing a research article

In order for nursing to develop as a research-based profession, research into nursing must be undertaken and the results made widely available. One means of disseminating research-based nursing knowledge is by publishing articles in journals such as Nurse Education Today. This paper describes the means by which a research report can be adapted for publication, and discusses some of the main issues involved in preparing the structure and content of such an article. Decisions regarding what and where to publish are considered. This discussion includes information about obtaining permission and issues relating to anonymity and confidentiality. A possible structure of a research-based paper is presented with suggested guidelines for the length of each of its parts. There are general hints on preparing an article for publication and some discussion of how to develop a writing style. The aim of the paper is to encourage all those who have undertaken a large or small research study to publish the findings in an appropriate journal.