Building and Sustaining a Hospital-Based Nursing Research Program

The first resource to present the “nuts and bolts” of creating a successful nursing research program. This text provides a roadmap to develop and nurture a nursing research program in complex hospital environments. Written by experienced clinical researchers who have successfully implemented these techniques in the Cleveland Clinic, the handbook shows nurses how to build and sustain a research program—a fundamental requirement to transform patient care and administrative practices and obtain and sustain American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet® program recognition. The book demonstrates, step-by-step, how leaders and staff can integrate nursing research into the workflow of complex health care environments. It provides a framework for developing horizontal and vertical structures that promote the creation of new knowledge and for enhancing the scientific foundation of nursing evidence. With a focus on practical applications, the book addresses the structures, systems, processes, and resources required for creating and maintaining a research program along with methods for its evaluation.

The handbook describes foundational principles that apply to hospitals of all sizes (including ambulatory centers and hospitals without extensive resources), and provides concrete guidance in adapting structures and processes to fit the needs of hospitals with varied nursing staff size and program goals. Replete with a wealth of ideas and strategies, it provides detailed templates that will assist novice and more experienced researchers, guidelines for committees to support nursing research within a hospital, and discusses the “who,” “what,” “why” of systems that enhance workflow. Chapters offer experiential stories written by nurses who describe the “real world” experiences of implementing clinical research in their practice. Tables and figures further illuminate information.

Key Features: Written by experienced researchers who have implemented the techniques used in this book Provides a framework adaptable for use with hospitals of all sizes Includes guidelines for committees/councils to support nursing research within the organization Discusses processes and systems that enhance collaboration and workflow Offers stories from the field by nurses about “lessons learned” from their research experiences