Drawing maps, setting courses: The nurse scientist's role in the CCNR

Acute care hospitals are increasingly engaging in research and evidence-based practice (EBP) activities to improve patient outcomes, enhance the work environment, and generate new knowledge. The Research Nurse Scientist (RNS) may hold a joint appointment with the local College of Nursing, providing linkages between academic and clinical environments. The RNS typically has five functions: (1) conducting research, (2) obtaining research funding, (3) leading and overseeing the research/EBP enterprise, (4) mentoring nurses and other professionals in research/EBP activities, and (5) providing education.

 

• Research and Grant Funding: As our nursing research enterprise grows and matures, the RNS is increasingly involved in seeking grant opportunities. We have successfully obtained federal grants, foundation grants, professional association grants and intramural grants for our hospital-based research initiatives. The CCNR gives us a stronger connection to the academic nursing environment and provides access to federal funding mechanisms more commonly available to academicians.
• Leadership: The RNSs co-chair the Research and EBP Council and are liaisons to the evidence-based champion teams in the hospital. Champions are clinical nurses who continually promote new ideas and are unit experts for a particular topic area (e.g., skin, pain, palliative care).
• Mentoring: Research indicates that nurses who are mentored by colleagues with expertise in EBP gain confidence in EBP and help promote its implementation. Mentoring fosters professional nursing expertise in activities such as searching for evidence, appraising research evidence critically, and publishing research findings. The RNS mentors nurses in grantsmanship and institutional review board processes. 
• Education: The RNS provides many levels of education in an organization. At the most basic, a 30-minute introduction to research/EBP is included in new hire orientation. RNSs offer workshops and full-day seminars on research/EBP. 

In addition to the essential functions already performed by RNSs in acute care facilities, the Colorado Collaborative for Nursing Research (CCNR) initiative offers the RNS an expanded role: in the CCNR, PhD-prepared RNSs can ally with PhD-prepared RNSs from other facilities/hospital systems to set their own research agendas and choose which indicators to examine. Therefore, in the CCNR—rather than expertly overseeing a program of research that others have set—RNSs set research objectives, reach consensus on the best route toward reaching those objectives, and follow the course that we have plotted. The CCNR allows Nurse Scientists both to excel in traditional capacities and to determine the direction that nursing research should go.

The CCNR also gives the hospital-based RNS the opportunity to explore clinical questions in a big data repository. The RNS “lives” in the clinical setting and brings a level of expertise to developing the Collaborative’s research questions. The RNS is also familiar with the electronic health record (EHR) and the challenges associated with getting data reports and assuring the accuracy of the reports.

In sum, the CCNR gives the RNS a critical role in shaping the future of nursing.