Review Bringing Science to Life: The Interdisciplinary Advantage (NINR, 2011).
After reviewing, please address the following:
Compare and contrast nursing research to that of other fields of study.
Appraise the role of the NP in the process of collaboration with researchers in other
fields.
Distinguish the role of the NP in clinical trials.
As compared with other professions, nurses do numerous kinds of duty. They make
observations and adjust treatments, patient habits, and medications. Nurses not only observe
medical and scientific outcomes, but also human treatment results and emotional behavior that
influence treatments. As a result, nursing research is developed to cover all these areas, which
other forms of researches easily neglect.
Nursing research is developed on a rigorous scientific inquiry with a significant body of
knowledge with the goal of advancing the field of nursing practice, creating positive health
impact across the world, and shaping healthcare policy. Nursing practice is structured to meet the
goals of optimizing population health and societal well-being (Potempa & Tilden, 2004). The
research is coined on holistic study of individuals, their families, communities, and society in
general. Unlike most studies, nursing practice encompasses a wide discipline including
biobehavioral, translational scientifically approach, and interdisciplinary. A significant
development in nursing research is the emphasis on evidence-based practices (Squires, Adachi &
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Estabrooks, 2008).
Nursing research has a wider scope than other researches. Most researches are developed
for a specific outcome, however, any single nursing research is aimed at coming out with diverse
outcome. Nursing researches revolves around clinical research, health outcomes research, health
systems, and nursing education research. Clinical research is aimed at unearthing behavioral,
biological, and other forms of investigations. They are undertaken in any setting where nursing
practice takes place (Berlin, Wilsey & Bednash, 2005). Health systems and outcomes research
are aimed at examining the quality, availability, and costs of health care services. In addition, the
research is aimed at finding ways improving the effectiveness and appropriateness of all clinical
practices. Nursing education practice is aimed at empowering young learner and equipping them
with necessary skills needed in practice, scientific, and clinical development.
With new developments in nursing practice, such as evidenced based studies, researchers
are obliged to collaborate with other parties. Nurses likewise are interested in solving diverse
problems away from individual patient. They prefer observing clients in their traditional setting
rather the hospital cases alone (Ploeg, Davies, Edwards, Gifford & Elliott, 2007). Usually,
gaining access of clients in their natural setting presents numerous challenges. In independent
research, nurses rely on diagnosis chain such as public health assistants, physicians, laboratories,
and doctors to vital information. Nursing researches cannot be undertaken successfully without
legal interventions, which consent and facilitate acquisition of information in their natural
setting. Nurses rely on various researches to gather information basic information such as
population statistics from statistical departments, geographical maps from the relevant
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departments, they rely on climatic and whether information to relate their health impact on the
population. Additionally, nurses collaborate with educators to promote their values, and
technological researches for their research instrumentation and validity (Ploeg, Davies, Edwards,
Gifford & Elliott, 2007).
Nurses have a unique practices in clinical domain. The activities are diverse and span
over specializations such as medical surgical, neurology, oncology, and mental health. Most of
the activities undertaken by nurses are service driven (Schramp, Holtcamp, Phillips, Johnson,
Hoff, 2010). There are two distinct nursing roles; CRN and RNC. CRN role is integration of
specialized knowledge and skills to collaborate with patients for better outcome. RNC is focused
on study management, continuity and care coordination. Some of the work conducted in clinical
trials overlaps nursing research practices (Nagel, Gender, Bonner, 2010). In essences, nursing
research is a holistic study approach with diverse perspectives.
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References
Berlin, L.E, Wilsey, S.J., & Bednash, G.D. (2005). 2004-2005 enrollment and
graduations in baccalaureate and graduate programs in nursing. Washington, DC:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Nagel, K., Gender, J., Bonner, A. (2010). Delineating the role of a cohort of clinical
research nurses in a pediatric cooperative clinical trials group. Oncol Nurs Forum.
37(3):E180– 185
Ploeg, J., Davies, B., Edwards, N., Gifford, W. & Elliott M., (2007). Factors influencing best-
practice guideline implementation: Lessons learned from administrators, nursing staff
and project leaders. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. Vol 4(4):210-219.
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Potempa, K.M., & Tilden, V. (2004). Building high-impact science: The dean as
innovator. Nursing Education, 43, 502-505.
Squires J, Adachi A, Estabrooks C: (2008). Developing a Valid and Reliable Measure of
Research Utilization Technical Report. Edmonton, AB: Faculty of Nursing, University of
Alberta.
Schramp LC., Holtcamp M., Phillips SA., Johnson, TP., Hoff J. (2010). Advanced
practice nurses facilitating clinical translational research. Clin Med Res.
8(3–4):131–134.