Making research real: Innovative approaches for graduate level nursing research

BACKGROUND

Engaging graduate students in the research process is often challenging. Making research real requires more innovation than lecture alone.

PURPOSE

This project is a new curricular approach to Nursing Research, where graduate students collectively engage in the entire research process, from project conception through dissemination.

METHODS

The Seven Principles of Good Practice framework was utilized to structure this innovative teaching strategy. Graduate students work together over the course of four semesters with the same faculty member guiding their research study. There are six major components to this innovative curriculum approach: student driven research idea, proposal writing, IRB application process, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination.

RESULTS

Student enthusiasm was consistent across all five research projects to date. Students report they have been challenged by the experience but also enjoyed it. The group research project turned something that seemed intimidating into something accomplishable. Students spoke to the idea that through the process of mentoring and collaboration, they gained the needed skills and confidence to embrace their own research agendas.

CONCLUSION

Developing and maintaining a student research innovation creates an enriched environment for instilling the passion and practical experience of being a nurse researcher.

Making Research Delicious: An Evaluation of Nurses' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice Using the Great American Cookie Experiment With Mobile Device Gaming

In the current healthcare environment, nurses must have a basic understanding of research to lead change and implement evidence-based practice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention formulated on the framework of the Great American Cookie Experiment measuring nurses' research knowledge, attitudes, and practice using mobile device gaming. This multisite quantitative study provides insight into promotion of research and information about best practices on innovative teaching strategies for nurses.

Development and Evaluation of the Barriers to Nurses’ Participation in Research Questionnaire at a Large Academic Pediatric Hospital

The purposes of this study were to survey nurses at a large pediatric hospital to examine barriers to nursing research and to develop the Barriers to Nurses’ Participation in Research Questionnaire (BNPRQ) in preparation for its use at other institutions. The BNPRQ was created and refined through iterative pilot testing. Exploratory factor analysis was applied, and composite scores were computed for the identified factors. The two latent factors “Research Resources” and “Personal Relevance of Research” were extracted. The independent item “lack of time to do research” represented the largest barrier to research. Factor and item scores differed according to subject characteristics. Findings from this study will be used to create targeted interventions to reduce barriers to research participation prevalent in specific groups of nurses. By using the BNPRQ developed in this study, researchers and administrators at other institutions can identify and address barriers to research among their nurses.

The great American cookie experiment: engaging staff nurses in research

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to engage staff nurses in research in an informative and fun way by determining nurses' preference for sugar-free chocolate chip cookies versus regular chocolate chip cookies.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A descriptive, crossover, double-blinded study was performed using a convenience sample of 300 staff nurses.

RESULTS

Nurses preferred the texture, flavor, and overall preference of the regular chocolate chip cookie as compared with the sugar-free chocolate chip cookie (p<0.001).

IMPLICATIONS

The Great American Cookie Experiment remains a creative teaching strategy to enhance knowledge and engage nurses in the research process.

Importance of nursing leadership in advancing evidence-based nursing practice

Our patients depend on us to do the best on their behalf. If we do not take accountability for our practice, continually examining what is the best way to deliver care, we are limiting our role to technical skills and not fully actualizing our professional role. [Evidence-based practice] is essential to practicing safely as nurses (p. 53).1.

Research odyssey: the evolution of a research partnership between baccalaureate nursing students and practicing nurses

This longitudinal descriptive study evaluates the implementation of an innovative teaching strategy: a research partnership between baccalaureate nursing students and nurses in two acute care hospitals. The impetus for this partnership was to introduce a concrete, clinical dimension to a junior level introductory nursing research course. Formative analysis was used to evaluate the success and weaknesses of this innovative strategy over 3 years. Following each year, an evaluation by students and nursing unit managers led to refinement of the partnership goals and logistics for the following year. The third year culminates in a comparison between student responses to the partnership in the small community hospital and those assigned to a larger magnet status hospital. Conclusions, based on content and descriptive analysis indicate the partnership's educational benefits for students and a few logistical concerns. Future directions for this educational strategy are presented.