Nurse Researcher最新文献

Background: Doctor of philosophy (PhD)-prepared nurses are positioned to lead policy change, reform nursing education and integrate research into clinical practice. To prepare future nurse leaders for this role, doctoral programmes must include opportunities to build knowledge translation (KT) capacity.

Aim: This article presents a student-led initiative that explored the context of KT capacity development in Canadian PhD nursing programmes.

Discussion: The project involved an environmental scan of doctoral nursing curricula and a roundtable discussion with 15 doctoral students at a nursing school in Quebec, Canada. The scan revealed that formal KT training primarily focused on research skills, while informal activities centred on social networking.

Conclusion: The roundtable discussion highlighted students' limited exposure to KT as well as their interest in greater access to informal training and collaborative opportunities with researchers and knowledge users.

Implications for practice: These findings underscore the need to integrate KT capacity development into doctoral training to support future nurse leaders in bridging the gap between research and practice.

Background: Although evidence-based practice reduces patient mortality, improves clinical outcomes and increases patient satisfaction with care, research is still not an integral part of a nurse's role. Having three nurses with National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) senior research leadership (SRL) awards has provided the catalyst to support nurses to use, deliver and participate in evidence-based practice through the development of a clinical academic research academy (CARA) within Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT).

Aim: To share the experience of developing CARA to provide nurses with the knowledge, skills, support and confidence to participate in evidence-based practice, innovation and research.

Discussion: The absence of organisational support for clinical nurses to engage in research-related activities is a recurring research finding and a major obstacle to promoting an effective research culture. In conjunction with other barriers, including insufficient time, lack of knowledge and skills, and limited authority, it can be difficult for nurses to become actively involved in research. Balancing clinical responsibilities, workload and research is challenging, and targeted strategies are required to address this. This article discusses how the development of CARA is supporting nurses to engage in research-based activities.

Conclusion: The creation of CARA has provided a focal point for nurses to engage with and develop their research knowledge, skills and confidence. Maintaining nurse managerial support will be essential for the growth and effectiveness of this initiative.

Implications for practice: Providing nurses with access to research support through an identified forum may increase engagement in academic activities and improve patient outcomes.

Background: Deciding when and where to stop gathering data is a significant challenge for novice and even seasoned qualitative researchers. Qualitative data saturation (QDS) is a well-known concept, but some researchers may struggle to identify explicit indications and stages of saturation.

Aim: To use the literature and the author's experiences to discuss possible benchmarks that researchers may find helpful when collecting qualitative data.

Discussion: This article considers how to operationalise data saturation, data saturation points, and quality and quantity of data in saturation, as well as some possible pitfalls.

Conclusion: The concept of saturation is most effectively contextualised within a study design when inductive reasoning is employed. Deductive reasoning may prove beneficial to qualitative researchers when predetermined averages of previous study samples in a similar context are used as a guide.

Implications for practice: The author proposes effective approaches to QDS as a guide for future qualitative research.

Background: Researchers often use pilot work (PW) to address potential problems that may affect the progress of their main study. However, the methodology of PW is not well documented for novice nurse researchers. This can be challenging for those who need to make decisions based on a range of opinions.

Aim: To provide an overview of using 'integrated pilot work' (IPW) as a reflexive tool to enhance qualitative nursing research.

Discussion: This article discusses the role of PW in qualitative research, its added value and the debate surrounding it. It also introduces IPW - a new type of PW intended to be an integral part of a qualitative study's design and conduct, rather than preliminary work conducted before the study. The author describes how she used IPW in her doctoral study and presents four significant contributions to the study that highlight its effectiveness: it challenged the author's sampling and recruitment strategies; delimited the object she was studying; helped her to engage in conceptual reflection; and led her to understand better the research process in a doctoral study.

Conclusion: IPW is an innovative approach that can make a valuable contribution to the rigour of qualitative research.

Implications for practice: Qualitative researchers need to consider whether to use IPW, when they are planning and conducting a study.

Background: Research is one of the four pillars of nursing, with a research-positive culture in healthcare organisations being associated with higher-quality care. However, challenges in recruiting nurses to participate in research studies have been identified.

Aim: This article describes the strategies used to recruit nurses to a convergent mixed methods study. The study (Think Quit) explored the barriers and facilitators to discussing and making referrals to smoking cessation with patients in hospital settings. We discuss persisting recruitment challenges and provide recommendations for recruiting nurses to future research.

Discussion: This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of a range of recruitment strategies, encompassing digital (intranet, email), in-person (ward visits, recruitment stalls, word-of-mouth, research champions) and visual (posters) methods. Challenges to nurse recruitment in a smoking cessation study included time, opportunity and motivation.

Conclusion: Collective action from nursing staff, leaders and health policymakers is needed to establish how to overcome recruitment challenges and increase opportunities to involve and engage nurses in research.

Implications for practice: Addressing barriers to nurse participation in research is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality research and evidence-based practice, and the further integration of research as a pillar of nursing practice.

Background: Early career nursing academics (ECNAs) often encounter challenges within the complex academic environment. Transitioning from clinical practice to academia comes with challenges because of the competitive nature of academia and the need to acquire new skills. Therefore, ECNAs require substantial support and guidance within this niche environment.

Aim: To analyse ECNAs' reflections on their experiences of engaging in informal research mentorship. A descriptive case study method was used in which two ECNAs and their mentor provided a written reflection on their mentorship experience guided by the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. The written reflections were then thematically analysed.

Discussion: Three themes emerged from the research: 'the team', 'the feels' and 'our purpose'. These themes describe who makes up the mentor-mentee relationship, the 'right fit' of personalities, and the need for clear direction and expectations. The research highlighted that feelings of 'impostor syndrome' remain pervasive in both experienced and early career academics.

Conclusion: This research adds weight to other literature supporting mentoring relationships in academia and research, and specifically within nursing. Mentorship was shown to nurture ECNAs and provide the guidance they sought. It is important that goals and expectations are discussed at the start of the mentorship to ensure the success of these relationships.

Implications for practice: Academic environments need to actively work to reduce impostor syndrome and foster collaborative as opposed to competitive research cultures. Mentorship programmes may facilitate a supportive transition from clinical to academic roles through validation, inclusivity and reflective practices.

Background: Literature reviews evaluate the evidence currently available concerning a particular phenomenon of interest. They are essential tools that offer healthcare professionals insights into existing knowledge, identify gaps and guide future studies. There are different types of literature review, each of which has unique purposes, methodologies, strengths and limitations, and researchers must select the type most appropriate to their needs.

Aim: To discuss the main features of common types of literature review, clarify their characteristics and guide healthcare professionals and researchers in making informed decisions.

Discussion: It can be challenging to choose a type of literature review as it must align with the focus of your research. The type you choose will influence the depth of your analysis and the applicability of your findings to clinical practice. It is therefore crucial to understand the different types and their applications, so you can select the type most appropriate to your research, ensure it effectively addresses your research questions and contributes insights.

Conclusion: Choosing the right type of literature review is crucial for effectively addressing research questions and advancing knowledge in healthcare. Understanding the distinct purposes and methodologies of different types of review will help you to make an informed choice that enhances the relevance and impact of your research, leading to stronger evidence and better outcomes.

Implications for practice: Healthcare professionals will be able to ensure their research is methodologically sound and relevant in practice. This will ultimately lead to better-informed decisions and improved outcomes for patients.

Background: Clinical research practitioners, nurses, allied healthcare professionals, doctors and any other healthcare professionals delivering clinical research have seen firsthand the under-representation of ethnic minorities as participants in research. This means that people who take part in research often do not reflect the target disease population. This can lead to health inequalities and disparities in treatment outcomes.

Aim: To explore ethnic minority communities' perspectives of clinical research and identify areas of research that may interest them.

Discussion: The authors had exploratory conversations between October 2022 and March 2023 through patient and public involvement and engagement (PPI/E) consultations with Caribbean groups and Asian groups in their community centres and research delivery staff in Nottinghamshire. They found during these conversations that the community groups could benefit from a deeper understanding of clinical research, including its procedures and common misconceptions. They conceptualised the potential impacts of negative and positive research experiences.

Conclusion: Researchers, funders and stakeholders can facilitate participation in research. Researchers must focus on addressing barriers to participation by fostering continuous collaboration, offering research education, feeding back on the progress of research, building trustworthy relationships and addressing concerns that people might have about research or their immediate health.

Implications for practice: This exploratory conversation demonstrates that researchers could provide meaningful research experience that would facilitate research participation by involving people from diverse backgrounds to influence the research question, methodology and every aspect of the research process through coproduction, codesign and PPI activities.

Background: The suicide process is a complex and uniquely individual phenomenon. The need to understand and bring meaning to individual experiences of suicide is burgeoning amidst the growing global impacts of suicide. Qualitative case-study research uses multiple forms of evidence to investigate a phenomenon in a certain context.

Aim: To present critical reflections on the lead author's doctoral project, which uses a case-study design to investigate people who have experience of suicide and are educating preregistration nurses on clinical placement.

Discussion: The lead author reflects critically on, and provides insights into, adopting the qualitative case-study methodology for suicide research, including: defining the role of the researcher; the appropriate use of methods of collecting data; and ensuring participants are safe. Reflexivity played an important role in ensuring the participants' and the lead author's well-being throughout the project, and the authors posit it as a central strategy in future research.

Conclusion: Qualitative case-study research is a novel approach to suicide research that aligns with global suicide prevention frameworks and includes people's experiences in the formation of policies, design of interventions and education. Reflection should be a central strategy in such research.

Implications for practice: Suicide research requires careful consideration and planning at every stage. Researchers must plan and evaluate participants' safety, the role of the researcher and data collection methods before, during and after the research.

Background: Academic writing retreats offer nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) opportunities to engage in research, enhance their research capabilities and produce publishable outputs. However, there are deterrents to running retreats, including time-consuming administrative loads. A toolkit to facilitate the organisation of retreats may therefore increase their number and quality by reducing administrative burdens.

Aim: To report on the development and piloting of the Oxford Writing Retreat Implementation Tools for Excellence (WRITE) toolkit.

Discussion: The authors created a toolkit to facilitate the organisation of high-quality writing retreats for NMAHPs. They evaluated WRITE using a pilot and interviews with the pilot retreat's organisers. Their findings indicate the toolkit is comprehensive, user-friendly and adaptable to local contexts. It also reduces the time and resources required to organise writing retreats, which gives NMAHPs more frequent writing opportunities. They also found toolkit components needed clearer labelling and application forms for attendees should be more detailed.

Conclusion: WRITE is a valuable resource for organising high-quality, reproducible, writing retreats for NMAHPs. Its availability and adaptability make it suitable for widespread implementation internationally.

Implications for practice: WRITE facilitates the efficient organisation of writing retreats, potentially increasing their frequency and accessibility. Its user-friendliness may lower barriers to retreat organisation, expanding opportunities for NMAHPs to engage in academic writing activities. This may lead to increased research outputs and scholarly contributions from this healthcare demographic.