Abstract:

In the ever changing landscape of health care, nursing research has become increasingly important in relationship to patients, consumers, communities, and our profession. Nursing research is our return on investment. The work we do every day in every discipline to provide excellent care, every patient, every day. Nursing research sets the stage for responsibility related to our nursing practice and outcomes.

It is important for nurses to understand the value of nursing research as it relates to our work. Nurses need to be able to speak to research methods, data collection and analysis techniques, descriptive statistics, implications for practice, returns on investment, and benchmarks as they relate to the care they provide on a daily basis and the outcomes in their institutions. The understanding and embracing of nursing research is critical to the success of current nursing culture and our overall profession.

The Nursing Research Fellowship program is a unique opportunity for nurses to study research questions of interest and advance on the Clinical Nurse Advancement System (CNAS). Nurses in this program learn and conduct research as principal investigators. This dynamic nursing research fellowship program began in 2004 and continues to grow and evolve.

The NRF program provides assistance with research method, design, data collection, and analysis. Participation in the nursing research fellowship program helps develop a nurse's research skills, knowledge, and confidence with research. The NRF is currently a two-year program. Nurses accepted into the program attend a monthly class and are assigned a mentor from the Department of Nursing Research & EBP.

Currently, a nurse applies to the program by completing an application form and an interview with nursing research staff. Eligibility for the NRF program includes: one or more years of employment at the sponsoring hospital; a Bachelor's degree in nursing or higher; a current nursing research project or idea; an interest in research; and, a letter of support from an immediate supervisor.

At the end of the first year, the nursing research fellows are expected to complete a research proposal, complete the process of obtaining human subjects approval, and present their proposal at the Annual Nursing Research Conference. During the second year, the nursing research fellows are expected to attend monthly classes; meet with their mentor regularly, complete data collection and data analysis, and disseminate their findings.

Many lessons have been learned over the past six years. These lessons have created an opportunity to re-evaluate the NRF program and examine and implement new ideas to continue creating successful nurse researchers and research champions.

Keywords:

Nursing research, nursing research fellowship.