Sustaining a Global Social Network: a quasi-experimental study

Focus and trends in nurse advocacy in the Pan American Health Region: a bibliometric analysis

Objective:

this study examined scholarly output relating to nursing advocacy contributions toward influencing policy by authors in countries of the Pan American Health Organization.

Method:

the study utilizes a bibliographic analysis of papers indexed in Scopus authored by PAHO member state scholars. VOSviewer conducted coauthor and cooccurrence analysis to generate visualizations of the relationships between authors, countries of origin and keywords.

Results:

7,773 papers with 21,523 authors met the inclusion criteria. An increase of publications on policy starting in 1962 was found. Co-authorship identified a fragile relationships structure with few authors bridging networks of collaboration. By country of origin, 22 of 35 member states contributed to policy literature; 17 in a connected network and 5 contributing but neither connected to peers nor other member states. Keyword analysis identified 20 specific data clusters.

Conclusion:

our findings are aligned with the Nursing Now Campaign. This bibliographic analysis provides an important benchmark into current policy advocacy activity in PAHO against which future progress in the region can be assessed. There is scope for greater collaboration amongst authors and this could be targeted toward engagement of nurses in member states not-yet or only partially active in this space.

Evidence-based policy: nursing now and the importance of research synthesis

AIM

This study explores how scholarship relating to meta-analytical studies and systematic and integrative reviews can inform nursing's contribution to universal health coverage.

INTRODUCTION

As nursing globally embraces the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the Nursing Now social movement has called for the profession to improve universal health coverage through increasing nursing's policy voice.

METHODS

In determining how the Nursing Now social movement could pursue the aim of this study, researchers undertook a comparative bibliometric analysis of scholarship relating to the systematic curation of evidence. This study uses a mixed-method analysis of the bibliometric data available through extracting and synthesizing information from one of the commercially produced indexing and citation databases.

RESULTS

Generally, medicine has contributed far more synthesized contributions than nursing, except in the case of integrative reviews. Co-occurrence analysis of nursing literature through examination of key terms yielded a complex visualization of 11 specific clusters of scholarship (Care of the Older Person, Nurse Education, Emergency and Critical Care, Occupational Health and Safety, Rural Services, Anxiety and Depression, Measurement, Newborn and Post-natal Health, Cardiovascular Disease, Preventative Health and Cancer Care).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Bibliometric analysis of curated evidence demonstrates that there is ample nursing-relevant material to inform evidence-based policy change directed towards the attainment of universal health coverage and several of the Sustainable Development Goals.

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY

Nursing literature is available to support policy change directed towards the pursuit of universal health coverage and sustainable development goals. Leveraging existing networks of research collaboration to increase research capacity through communities of scholarship or by twinning experienced and neophyte contributors is possible. Further work is needed to equip nurses with the competencies to navigate the policy environment and develop and deliver impactful policy messaging.

Beyond a Single Country's Borders: Trade in Services Uncovered Through Bibliometrics

We live and work in an increasingly connected global environment where actions in one part of the world can have consequences for all of us. This article examines, through the use of bibliometric analysis, the extent to which nursing scholars are engaged in the policy debate surrounding trade in services. Results demonstrate that, in comparison to medical colleagues, the nursing profession is more regionally orientated, focused on more operational-based themes and orientated to Mode 4: Mobility of the Profession. However, with the impetus of initiatives such as Nursing Now, opportunities exist to increase nurses' contribution to policy in today's ever more connected supranational environment. To be effective, and if quantum rather than incremental progress is to be made, more scholarship on policy-oriented topics is needed. An increased output of PhD-prepared nurses is essential. Collaborative working in multidisciplinary policy teams must become the norm, so nurses can demonstrate their unique and essential contribution to addressing the many and complex challenges that health systems now face. This is what is required if nurses are to be equipped to make robust evidence-based arguments at national and supranational levels.