Providing Hands-on Experiences in Health Care Research to Mentor New Research Scholars

Is health professional education making the most of the idea of 'students as partners'? Insights from a qualitative research synthesis

Students as partners is a movement which is gaining momentum in higher education, yet disciplinary perspectives are underexplored. Using a qualitative synthesis approach informed by Major and Savin-Baden (2010), we systematically investigated how health professional education has taken up the practice of working in partnership with students. Fifty-five publications were identified in our search from 2011 to -mid 2018. The majority of literature came from North America and medicine was the most frequently represented health profession. Our three stage analysis identified five key themes: (1) framing (i.e. ethos) of the partnership; (2) drivers for partnership; (3) sustainability; (4) inclusion of student voice; and (5) understanding of partnership and its benefits and challenges. Health professional educators are well equipped to enact partnership opportunities due to their clinical skills in person-centred care. However to gain the most from student-staff partnerships, health professional education would benefit from greater awareness of the field's theoretical understandings of partnership and its key principles of reciprocity, respect and responsibility.

Preparing direct care nurses to function as research coordinators in a heart failure study

BACKGROUND

Nurses interviewed heart failure patients admitted to two rural hospitals, to learn what was important to them concerning their disease. Data from this study would inform a subsequent heart failure intervention study. The researchers gained a better appreciation of the role of direct care nurses in research coordination, recruitment and data collection.

AIM

To describe lessons learned during this research about using direct care nurses as research coordinators.

DISCUSSION

The direct care nurses were highly motivated and engaged in the research, identifying barriers and solutions to enrolling heart failure patients in the hospital. The researchers developed customised educational materials and data management documents to address the nurses' learning needs, ensuring compliance with protocol and the safety of participants.

CONCLUSION

Nurse researchers can establish an effective partnership with direct care nurses when conducting research studies. To accommodate learning needs and workplace demands, securing protected time for nurses to complete training, budgeting for administrative support and monitoring recruitment data weekly, as opposed to monthly, may be considered.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Direct care nurses can inform the design and conduct of research conducted in a hospital.