Research priorities for specialized nursing practice in the United Arab Emirates

Research priorities for maternal and perinatal health clinical trials and methods used to identify them: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Research prioritisation helps to target research resources to the most pressing health and healthcare needs of a population. This systematic review aimed to report research priorities in maternal and perinatal health and to assess the methods that were used to identify them.

METHODS

A systematic review was undertaken. Projects that aimed to identify research priorities that were considered to be amenable to clinical trials research were eligible for inclusion. The search, limited to the last decade and publications in English, included MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINHAL, relevant Cochrane priority lists, Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group homepage, James Lind Alliance homepage, Joanna Brigg's register, PROSPERO register, reference lists of all included articles, grey literature, and the websites of relevant professional bodies, until 13 October 2020. The methods used for prioritisation were appraised using the Reporting Guideline for Priority Setting of Health Research (REPRISE).

FINDINGS

From the 62 included projects, 757 research priorities of relevance to maternal and perinatal health were identified. The most common priorities related to healthcare systems and services, pregnancy care and complications, and newborn care and complications. The least common priorities related to preconception and postpartum health, maternal mental health, contraception and pregnancy termination, and fetal medicine and surveillance. The most commonly used prioritisation methods were Delphi (20, 32%), Child Health Nutrition Research Initiative (17, 27%) and the James Lind Alliance (10, 16%). The fourteen projects (23%) that reported on at least 80% of the items included in the REPRISE guideline all used an established research prioritisation method.

CONCLUSIONS

There are a large number of diverse research priorities in maternal and perinatal health that are amenable to future clinical trials research. These have been identified by a variety of research prioritisation methods.

Research priority setting in emergency care: A scoping review

Objective

Priority areas for emergency care research are emerging and becoming ever more important. The objectives of this scoping review were to (1) provide a comprehensive overview of published emergency care priority-setting studies by collating and comparing priority-setting methodology and (2) describe the resulting research priorities identified.

Methods

The Joanna Briggs Institute methodological framework was used. Inclusion criteria were peer-review articles available in English, published between January 1, 2008 and March 31, 2019 and used 2 or more search terms. Five databases (Scopus, AustHealth, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Ovid MEDLINE) were searched. REporting guideline for PRIority SEtting of health research (REPRISE) criteria were used to assess the quality of evidence of included articles.

Results

Forty-five studies were included. Fourteen themes for emergency care research were considered within 3 overarching research domains: emergency populations (pediatrics, geriatrics), emergency care workforce and processes (nursing, shared decision making, general workforce, and process), and emergency care clinical areas (imaging, falls, pain management, trauma care, substance misuse, infectious diseases, mental health, cardiology, general clinical care). Variation in the reporting of research priority areas was evident. Priority areas to drive the global agenda for emergency care research are limited given the country and professional group-specific context of existing studies.

Conclusion

This comprehensive summary of generated research priorities across emergency care provides insight into current and future research agendas. With the nature of emergency care being inherently broad, future priorities may warrant population (eg, children, geriatrics) or subspecialty (eg, trauma, toxicology, mental health) focus and be derived using a rigorous framework and patient engagement.

Clinical Nurses Research Priorities in Hospital Settings: A Delphi Survey

This study aimed to identify the research priorities of clinical nurses to develop a research program at a health care services system that includes three hospitals. A Delphi survey was emailed to all clinical nurses in two rounds. The Delphi method was used to collect data from the nurses in regards to their priority research themes, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and comparative statistics. A total of 933 clinical nurses returned the first round of the Delphi survey and 543 nurses answered the second round. Clinical nurses identified 89 potential research themes. Patient safety and ethical challenges were the two highest ranked research priorities. The 40 highest ranked priority research themes were closely associated with issues concerning patient care and ethics. However, the nurses also gave high ratings to issues relating to the work environment, questions about technology implementation, and patient involvement in clinical care decisions.

A National Scoping Study on Barriers to Conducting and Using Research Among Nurses in the United Arab Emirates

It is important that nurses fully engage with the development and use of evidence-based practice so they can influence policy and improve patient care. There are significant challenges in developing nursing research and evidence-based practice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, the UAE Nursing and Midwifery Council formed a Scientific Research Subcommittee to lead the development of nursing research. Following a literature review to assess the status of nursing research in the UAE, the Subcommittee initiated a study to clarify UAE nurses' perceptions of barriers to implementing research. The results were expected to enable comparisons with other countries and establish a baseline on which to build and prioritize initiatives to address identified barriers. A cross-sectional design with convenience sampling was used to survey 606 nurses from across the UAE. The survey included the BARRIERS questionnaire and was administered online and in paper-based formats. The top three nurse-perceived barriers that affected nurses' use of research in the UAE (in descending order) were as follows: lack of authority to change patient care procedures, insufficient time to read research, and insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas. The highest ranked barriers to nurses conducting research in the UAE were lack of time and competing demands for time. The findings of this survey and a published literature review informed development of a strategy to address identified barriers to nurses in the UAE using and conducting research. This multifaceted strategy includes initiatives to reform policy and practice at local and national levels.

Nurse-identified patient care and health services research priorities in the United Arab Emirates: a Delphi study

BACKGROUND

The need for improved research on ill health has been recognized internationally and locally in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE Nursing and Midwifery Council recently committed to enhancing the status and contributions of nursing in healthcare research across the UAE by establishing a National Committee for Research Development. This study using a Delphi method to identify research priorities from the perspective of nurses delivering frontline healthcare.

METHODS

A two-phase Delphi design was implemented with 1032 nurses participating in phase one of the study and 1339 in phase two.

RESULTS

The most important priority was patient safety and healthcare professionals' awareness of international patient safety goals (including staffing levels and shift length) and potential effects on patient safety. Other important priorities were infection control practices and management of communicable diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

These priorities may inform nursing research programs to improve patient care and health outcomes in the UAE and similar contexts worldwide.