Nursing research is a professional responsibility, not a necessary evil

AORN Journal, Sept, 1996 by Beverly P. Giordano

* Conduct research that is meaningful (ie, that has meaning for patients and for providers).

One of die researchers commented that nurses in clinical settings have many ideas worthy of being studied but often cannot get administrative support to design studies carefully, conduct research, or publish the results and that academicians often cannot get support to get into clinical settings to work with clinicians on questions that are important to nursing practice. She commented that this lack of colleagiality often results in "clinical research that is not well grounded in theory and academic research that is not well grounded in clinical reality."(2)

MEANINGFUL RESEARCH

The research article in this issue of the Journal is an example of meaningful clinical research that is well grounded in theory. Dr Jane S. Leske's well-designed study documents the positive effects of in-person intraoperative progress reports on reducing family members' anxiety during their relatives' elective surgical procedures. It also demonstrates that the presence of the nurse providing the report -- not the actual information provided -- is the significant factor in alleviating this anxiety.(3) Sophisticated studies of this type build a theoretical base for nursing practice. They also provide the data we need to convince administrators and policymakers that nurses make a difference in patient outcomes.

Not all of us are capable of conducting quasi-experimental or experimental studies, but we can facilitate such research by being data collectors. For example, five staff nurses helped Dr Leske conduct the intraoperative progress report study.

We can conduct meaningful research that describes patient outcomes, such as the excellent study reported in the June issue of the Journal.(4) We can be good nursing research consumers by reading research articles and reviews and applying the findings in our practice settings.

DECIDING FACTOR

It took a broken fuel pump to convince me that nursing research was an important professional responsibility, not a necessary evil. If you have not yet embraced the importance of nursing research, what will your deciding factor be?

NOTES

(1.) Pew Health Professions Commission, Critical Challenges: Revitalizing the Health Professions for the Twenty-first Century (San Francisco: Pew Health Professions Commission, 1995) iii.

(2.) M M Byrne, S K Kangas, M Warren, "Advice for beginning nurse researchers," IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship 28 Summer 1996) 165-167.

(3.) J S Leske, "In-person intraoperative progress reports reduce family members' anxiety," AORN Journal 64 (September 1996) 424.

(4.) C L Cason, S L Seidel, M Bushmiaer, "Recovery from laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures," AORN Journal 63 (June 1996) 1099-1112.