Building and Sustaining a Hospital-Based Nursing Research Program

by Nancy Albert (Author)

This text provides a roadmap for developing and nurturing nursing research programs in complex hospital environments. Written by experienced clinical researchers who have successfully implemented these techniques in the Cleveland Clinic, the handbook shows nurses how to build and sustain a research program, a fundamental requirement for transforming patient care and administrative practices and obtaining and sustaining American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet program recognition. The book demonstrates, step by step, how leaders and staff can integrate nursing research into the workflow of complex health care environments. It provides a framework for developing horizontal and vertical structures that promote the creation of new knowledge and for enhancing the scientific foundation of nursing evidence. With a focus on practical applications, the book addresses the structures, systems, processes, and resources required for creating and maintaining a research program, along with methods for its evaluation.

The handbook describes foundational principles that apply to hospitals of all sizes (including ambulatory centers and hospitals without extensive resources), and provides concrete guidance for adapting structures and processes to fit the needs of hospitals with varied nursing staff sizes and program goals. Replete with a wealth of ideas and strategies, it provides detailed templates that will assist novice and more experienced researchers, offers guidelines for committees to support nursing research within a hospital, and discusses the "who," "what," and "why" of systems that enhance workflow. Chapters offer experiential stories written by nurses who describe the "real world" experiences of implementing clinical research in their practice. Tables and figures further illuminate information.

KEY FEATURES:

Written by experienced researchers who have implemented the techniques used in this book
Provides a framework adaptable for use with hospitals of all sizes
Includes guidelines for committees/councils to support nursing research within the organization
Discusses processes and systems that enhance collaboration and workflow
Offers stories from the field by nurses about lessons learned from their research experiences