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By continually refreshing their knowledge through research, nurses and carers can enhance patient outcomes
Research is a systematic and rigorous way of collecting and analysing data, and presenting the process and its outcomes to others. This is in contrast to nursing’s tradition of using intuition and reflective practice. Traditional knowledge, although an important source of information, must be kept up to date. What was relevant a decade ago may not be now (Parahoo 2014).
Nursing Older People. 34, 1, 13-13. doi: 10.7748/nop.34.1.13.s5
Published: 01 February 2022
Patients admitted to research-active organisations have more confidence in staff and are better informed about their conditions. These organisations also tend to perform better than others (Boaz et al 2015, Jonker et al 2020).
Nurses have a professional duty to practise effectively. The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Code (NMC 2018) states that registrants must ‘always practise in line with the best available evidence’. Therefore nursing and care staff must continually refresh their knowledge to enhance outcomes for patients.
It may be argued that all nurses have a professional responsibility to be research implementers, for example by using evidence for best care and participating in journal clubs.
Some nurses may wish to become research facilitators by promoting study participation and supporting social media dissemination, for example by ‘retweeting’.
Nurses in leadership positions may play a further role by supporting talented nurses in their teams.
A smaller percentage of nurses will aspire to be research-active and they may develop to undertake a PhD or master’s in research, write for publication or co-produce research.
It is estimated that research leaders – who may be in clinical academic roles and engaged in postdoctoral studies and grant-writing – form less than 0.1% of nurses (McCormack 2018).
Chief nursing officer for England Ruth May made clear in Leading the Acceleration of Evidence into Practice: A Guide for Executive Nurses (NHS England and NHS Improvement 2020) that nurses and midwives are at the heart of transformational change. Central to this change is demonstrating the use of evidence-based practice.
Several free training opportunities are offered by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Good Clinical Practice and Receiving Informed Consent are free courses that are delivered across England by the NIHR, which also provides a free Nursing and Midwifery Incubator programme (NIHR 2019) to accelerate capacity-building, and support the development of a skilled clinical academic research workforce across nursing and midwifery.
For nurses who do not work in the NHS there are links to other resources, such as the British Geriatrics Society Care Homes Group and the Nurses and Allied Health Professions Council, which welcomes membership from all staff with an interest in older people. There is a research community of practice hosted by research-active nurses and AHPs who can give advice on how to engage with research on a practical level.
Another helpful site for those interested in becoming research-active is the Scottish Research Nurse, Midwife and Coordinators’ Network, which has several useful links.
The RCN (2022) provides information and resources on using and developing research to enhance practice.
Claire Armitage is a National Institute for Health Research senior nurse and midwife research leader. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health and Social Care