What it takes: perspectives from developing nurse scientists

A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis exploring the impacts of clinical academic activity by healthcare professionals outside medicine

BACKGROUND

There are increasing opportunities for healthcare professionals outside medicine to be involved in and lead clinical research. However, there are few roles within these professions that include time for research. In order to develop such roles, and evaluate effective use of this time, the range of impacts of this clinical academic activity need to be valued and understood by healthcare leaders and managers. To date, these impacts have not been comprehensively explored, but are suggested to extend beyond traditional quantitative impact metrics, such as publications, citations and funding awards.

METHODS

Ten databases, four grey literature repositories and a naïve web search engine were systematically searched for articles reporting impacts of clinical academic activity by healthcare professionals outside medicine. Specifically, this did not include the direct impacts of the research findings, rather the impacts of the research activity. All stages of the review were performed by a minimum of two reviewers and reported impacts were categorised qualitatively according to a modified VICTOR (making Visible the ImpaCT Of Research) framework.

RESULTS

Of the initial 2704 identified articles, 20 were eligible for inclusion. Identified impacts were mapped to seven themes: impacts for patients; impacts for the service provision and workforce; impacts to research profile, culture and capacity; economic impacts; impacts on staff recruitment and retention; impacts to knowledge exchange; and impacts to the clinical academic.

CONCLUSIONS

Several overlapping sub-themes were identified across the main themes. These included the challenges and benefits of balancing clinical and academic roles, the creation and implementation of new evidence, and the development of collaborations and networks. These may be key areas for organisations to explore when looking to support and increase academic activity among healthcare professionals outside medicine. The modified VICTOR tool is a useful starting point for individuals and organisations to record the impact of their research activity. Further work is needed to explore standardised methods of capturing research impact that address the full range of impacts identified in this systematic review and are specific to the context of clinical academics outside medicine.

What is a clinical academic? Qualitative interviews with healthcare managers, research-active nurses and other research-active healthcare professionals outside medicine

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the concept of "clinical academic" from the perspectives of healthcare managers and research-active healthcare professionals outside medicine.

BACKGROUND

Clinical academics are understood to be healthcare professionals who combine clinical and research responsibilities within their role. However, there is no agreed definition for this term either within or across nursing, midwifery and the other healthcare professions outside medicine.

DESIGN

Qualitative service evaluation, reported using the COREQ checklist.

METHODS

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight healthcare managers and 12 research-active clinicians within a UK hospital group. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the Framework method.

RESULTS

Clinical academics were described in four themes. Two themes explored the components of the role and the contribution of these individuals to their profession: combining clinical practice, research and education; and pushing boundaries. The third theme identified the clinical academic label as: a title that doesn't fit. The final theme examined a characteristic mindset of research-active clinicians. There were no clear differences in the perceptions of managers and research-active clinicians.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical academics were perceived as valuable members of their team and were able to push the boundaries to move their profession forward. Some research-active clinicians did not identify with the term "clinical academic" and for some managers and research-active clinicians, the term was viewed as jargonistic. A clear and accepted definition would aid development of clinical academic career pathways and identities. It would also assist in evaluating the impact of these roles.

RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE

As clinical academic roles and opportunities are being developed across the professions outside medicine, it is important to have a shared common understanding of "clinical academic" to support the creation of career pathways and curricula, and to enable the evaluation of these roles.

Description of Nurse Scientists in a Large Health Care System

Replicating a research study that described the work of nurse scientists in children's hospitals, the purpose of the study was to describe the role, activities, and outcomes of nurse scientists employed in a national health care organization. The characteristics of nurses filling the nurse scientist role in clinical settings and outcomes associated with the role have not been extensively described. The setting of this study is ideal since the organization includes facilities of various sizes located in rural, urban, and suburban areas in 18 states. Names and contact information of nurse scientists were obtained from nurse executives at each of the 110 affiliated organizations. Nurse scientists completed an anonymous survey. The primary role of the nurse scientists is to facilitate the work of others. Recommendations to strengthen the research infrastructure are provided.

Transforming Nursing Education and the Formation of Students

Transforming nursing education is a current focus across the country, the result of recent national reports that have made significant contributions for evaluating and changing curricula and ways students are taught. However, the need to ground these strategies for change within our discipline’s ontological foundation through nursing theory must be addressed. The purpose of this article is to use Parse’s Humanbecoming Paradigm to provide educators with exemplars of discipline-specific theory-based changes across educational levels. The exemplars are situated within the important tensions that educators face today in undergraduate, advanced practice, and doctoral programs. Conclusions are drawn regarding continuing efforts to ensure that nurse educators incorporate discipline-relevant theories when transforming nursing education.

Transformational Leadership in Nursing Education

Transformational leadership is a trending style and competency that has been embraced by many industries and nursing practice settings. Similar positive influence on follower engagement, teamwork, and solidarity might be experienced if transformational leadership is employed by administration and faculty as a guiding framework for nursing education. The impact of embedding a teamwork culture in basic nursing education could be significant on students and ultimately on the nursing profession. Further research is needed to develop and test application of the transformational leadership framework in nursing education.

Doctoral Theses from Nursing Postgraduate Programs in Brazil and their Association with the Millennium Development Goals

OBJECTIVES

The Millennium Development Goals are centered around combatting poverty and other social evils all over the world. Thus, this study seeks to identify the Millennium Development Goals as an object of study in theses from Postgraduate Nursing Programs in Brazil scoring 5 (national excellence) and 6 or 7 (international excellence), and evaluate the association between the score for the program and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

METHOD

Exploratory descriptive document research. Data were collected from the Notes on Indicators/Coordination for Higher Education Personnel Improvement for the 15 Postgraduate Nursing Courses scoring between 5 and 7 in the three-year-period of 2010/2012.

RESULTS

of the 8 Millennium Development Objectives, 6 were dealt with in the theses. There was an association (Fisher's exact test p-value=0.0059) between the distribution of the theses and the program scores in relation to the Millennium Development Objectives (p-valor=0.0347)CONCLUSION: the doctoral theses were slightly related to the Millennium Development Objectives, covering the population's economic development, health conditions and quality of life. It is recommended that Postgraduate Programs in Nursing pay closer attention to the Millennium Development Objectives.