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The UVAHS Professional Nursing Staff Organization The PNSO Nursing Research Program |
About the Nursing Research Program:
Further Information:
In 2004, the PNSO prioritized the goal to develop and evaluate new models of professional development and continuing education to advance nursing knowledge. One strategy was to design and operationalize a Nursing Research Program to enrich nursing knowledge and streamline the research process. The goal of the Research Program is to create an institutional milieu that encourages and supports clinical inquiry and evidence-based nursing practice.
The PNSO Nursing Research Program was launched under the direction of Suzanne Burns, MSN, RN, RRT, ACNP, CCRN, FAAN, FCCM, FAANP, APN II. Ms Burns, an Advanced Practice Nurse and Professor of Nursing, had a 14-year history of leading and supporting clinical research in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. Marianne Chulay, DNSc, RN, DNSc, FAAN, was engaged as a Consultant to assist with the early stages of the program.
Both Dr. Chulay and Ms Burns use similar methods to teach clinical research that would enhance program development. The critical elements of their unit-based clinical research model are:
- active clinician involvement and ownership of the research projects;
- team projects;
- research mentors to guide unit-based research teams through the research process; and
- research projects that focus on clinical practice issues or problems of interest to direct care nurses.
Goals
The PNSO Nursing Research Program is unparalleled in its development, leadership, and promotion of direct care nurses. Its purpose is to develop basic research skills in staff nurses while, at the same time, generating new knowledge for the profession. The goals of the Nursing Research Program are to:
- develop a research-based nursing culture by training selected clinicians as research mentors;
- develop an infrastructure that supports the evolution and growth of a nursing research program and nurses who do clinical research;
- improve nursing practice by disseminating the results of the studies; and
- recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of nurse researchers.
Outcomes
Outcomes of unit-based research programs go well beyond the expansion of the number of research projects being conducted within the nursing department. Clinicians who are involved in a unit-based research project:
- expand their skills in clinical inquiry, writing, communication, and formal presentations;
- increase their clinical knowledge and move beyond competence in their specialty area of practice;
- experience what it means to be a professional nurse and to take responsibility for their nursing practice; and
- gain a high level of recognition for their research efforts.
Managerial and administrative outcomes associated with the unit-based research model include:
- improved patient outcomes and cost savings;
- a high level of research productivity, ensuring compliance with research standards of nursing organizations;
- increased regional and national visibility of the practice area and the Health System, leading to increased recruitment of nurses to the facility; and
- reductions in staff turnover.
The PNSO tracks and applauds outcomes of the Nursing Research Program which influence practice changes at UVAHS. We also celebrate the many contributions to national and international nursing practice achieved by publication of our clinicians' findings.
