In 1998, in the first published paper in the first published edition of Evidence-Based Nursing, Anne Mulhall began her article by asking the question ‘Why has research-based practice become so important and why is everyone talking about evidence based health care? But most importantly, how is nursing best placed to maximise the benefits which evidence-based […]
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Nurses Against Nurses
I just finished reading and marking some papers from a nursing course. The assignment included interviewing an advanced practice nurse and discussing her scope of practice, workplace, collaborative network and any barriers to practice. It was an interesting assignment. However, one thing that struck me was the term horizontal violence. It is a term that […]
The Leap from Nurse to Nurse Researcher
My PhD research aimed to explore the palliative care provision experienced by patients with non-malignant respiratory disease and their caregivers throughout rural and urban areas in the North and South of Ireland. In order to achieve this I interviewed bereaved caregivers and conducted focus groups with healthcare professionals involved in the care of this client […]
A Call to Nursing Leadership and Service
Earlier this week I attended the 42nd Biennial Convention of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) in Indianapolis, USA. Once I had successfully dodged the tornadoes and arrived in Indiana, I settled down to absorb the positive energy that emanates from a large gathering of dedicated nurse leaders, keen to shape the future of nursing around the […]
Preparedness for Practice
I’m involved in a research project investigating newly graduated nurse practitioner’s perceptions of their preparedness to practice. Participants will be asked to give their thoughts about how well the education program prepared them to work as an NP. There have been many changes in NP legislation and to models of primary health care in our […]
Producing evidence with a little help from a grant.
Maybe you have a really interesting clinical question which puzzles you and which requires answering or you have decided on a project idea that really excites you and your team. Your supervisor/mentor may think it has potential but you realise its going to be costly to do this right. You will need help, for example […]
A growing need for patient voices in research
My personal research agenda is about helping pregnant women to make decisions based on the best available evidence about their options for pregnancy and childbirth. It is also about giving women the opportunity to communicate what is important to them in making decisions about birth. I am currently immersed in a new research project in […]
‘15-minute care visits’
This week in England there has been high profile media reports, both nationally and within the nursing press, about ‘15-minute care’ visits for individuals requiring social and healthcare in the community. Headlines such ‘councils ordered care agencies to complete vital home visits in 15-minute time-slots to save money’ sparked the media ‘frenzy’. The backdrop was […]
Evidence Based Practice…Roadblocks and Detours
I recently taught a health promotion course to graduate nursing students. We reviewed many issues including the implementation of evidence in practice. We were reminded that evidence based practice includes the use of data from well conducted research studies, but also includes the clinical experience of the practitioner and, most importantly, input from the patient. […]
When is the evidence too old?
A few weeks ago, when submitting an abstract to a nursing conference, I was suddenly faced with a dilemma about age. Not my own age, but the age of evidence I was using to support my work. One key element of the submission criteria was to provide five research citations to support the abstract, and […]