An entry-level nurse’s conventional tasks exclude research. In addition, most nurses work in direct patient care or administrative roles in the healthcare industry. Therefore, individuals in the nursing profession can offer a variety of talents and experiences to the science of nursing care through nursing research, which is a burgeoning discipline.
However, the term “nursing research” is frequently misunderstood. Some individuals have no idea where to start when it comes to defining nursing research. This article enlightens you on various aspects incorporated into nursing research, from defining what nursing research is to its significance.
What is Nursing Research?
Rigorous nursing research provides a body of knowledge that helps advance nursing practice. Therefore, nursing research assists in creating science that informs nursing practice, allowing nurses to provide the best care to their patients. Additionally, findings from such scientific inquiry help shape health policy and contribute to global healthcare.
Nursing professionals work to advance everyone’s health and well-being. However, their research often has lasting impacts. Nursing research uncovers knowledge to build the foundation of clinical practice and reinforce the goals of nursing.
Nurses use research to effect positive outcomes for their patients and others within the healthcare systems. Therefore, as patients’ needs become more complex and healthcare systems become varied, nurses use evidence-based practice to adapt and enhance care by incorporating nursing research with their professional experience and patient preferences. Moreover, nurses may conduct their research, use it in their everyday practice, and teach others using existing research.
The Purpose of Nursing Research
The general purpose of nursing research is to answer questions or solve problems of relevance to the nursing profession. Sometimes, a distinction is developed between basic and applied research. Primary research is undertaken to extend the base knowledge in a discipline or formulate or refine a theory. On the other hand, applied research focuses on finding solutions to existing problems.
However, the specific purpose of nursing research includes:
- Identification and description
- Exploration
- Explanation
- Prediction
- Control
Identification and Description
Qualitative researchers sometimes study phenomena about which little is known. In some cases, so little is known that the phenomenon has yet to be clearly identified or named or has been inadequately defined or conceptualized.
Nurse researchers have described a wide variety of phenomena, such as patients’ stress and coping, pain management, adaption processes, health beliefs, rehabilitation success, and time patterns of temperature readings.
Description, on the other hand, is a significant purpose for both qualitative and quantitative researchers. Quantitative description focuses on the prevalence, incidence, size, and measurable attributes of phenomena. However, qualitative researchers use in-depth methods to describe the dimensions, variations, and significance of phenomena.
Exploration
Exploratory research investigates the whole nature of the phenomenon, the manner in which it manifested, and the other factors to which it is related. For instance, a descriptive quantitative study of patients’ preoperative stress might seek to document the degree of stress patients experience before surgery and the percentage of patients who actually experience it.
In addition, exploratory qualitative research is designed to illuminate the various ways in which a phenomenon manifests and the underlying processes.
Explanation
The goal of explanatory research is to comprehend the underpinnings of specific natural phenomena and explain the systematic relationships among phenomena. Descriptive research provides new information, and exploratory research provides promising insights, but explanatory research attempts to offer comprehension of the underlying causes or complete nature of a phenomenon.
Therefore, in qualitative studies, researchers may search for explanations about how or why a phenomenon exists. Additionally, they may search for what a phenomenon means as a basis for developing a theory that is grounded in rich, in-depth experiential evidence.
Prediction
Through prediction, you can estimate the probability of a specific outcome in a given situation. Additionally, with predictive knowledge, nurses can anticipate the effect that nursing interventions would have on patients and families.
Aware that the incidence of Down’s syndrome in infants of elderly mothers is higher than in younger mothers. This is an example of prediction determining that an elderly pregnant woman is at a greater risk. For instance, a pregnant woman of 40 years old has a greater probability of getting a child with Down’s syndrome than a woman of 25 years old.
Therefore, prediction involves situations in which the research can predict and, to some extent, explain the occurrence of a specific phenomenon. Such findings would lead to improved healthcare practices.
Control
If you can predict a situation’s outcome, the next step is to control or manipulate the situation to produce the described outcome.
What is the Importance of Nursing Research?
Nursing research impacts your present and future nursing profession tremendously, making it vital to the training process. In addition, it is essential to the nursing profession and is required for your continued development in nursing care.
Below are the advantages of nursing research, including:
Helps Nurses to Advocate for the Patient and Deliver Optimal Treatment Based on Research Data
The nursing staff operates in a wide range of contexts, such as hospitals, classrooms, businesses, laboratories, and residential care. Each function has its own set of responsibilities. Therefore, your primary purpose as a trained nurse remains to advocate for the patient and deliver optimal treatment based on research data.
For Health Policy Creation and Global Wellness
As a nurse, you will be able to use the outcomes of scientific research to assist in creating health policy and enhancing global wellness. Additionally, nurse practitioners are dedicated to everyone’s well-being. Therefore, they frequently undertake research with a long-term influence.
Enhance the Provision of Higher -Quality Treatment
Any professional progress necessitates the conduct of research. In addition, healthcare is no exception, and nursing research has the potential to transform it. Therefore, adopting evidence-based practice will assist you in providing higher-quality treatment. Moreover, research helps nurses equip effective, evidence-based care as professional nursing evolves in response to societal requirements and developments in medical science.
Additionally, research is fundamental since it’s an essential predictor of nurse retention rates. This is significant for assuring long-term accessibility to high-quality nursing care. Therefore, it will enable you to progress and rely extensively on research findings to improve health outcomes and lessen illness-related risk factors.
Gives Patients an Opportunity to Make Rational Health-Related Choices
Nursing is a profession that necessitates good research abilities. How? Nurses equip patients and providers with information to develop rational decisions related to their health care.
Enhances Updates on Modern Trends and Patterns in the Healthcare Field
As a nurse, you are accountable for keeping patients informed on recent innovations in the nursing profession. However, this can be done by staying updated with modern trends and patterns so that they can develop critical choices while treating themselves or seeking care guidance from others. Therefore, it’s vital to communicate this information as it will allow both you and the patients you serve to use the services to comprehend each other better.
Opportunity for Learning
As a nursing student, the research will assist you in comprehending the fantastic chances and prospects in the nursing field. Additionally, it is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to help you become an active contributor to understanding the nursing research discovery process.
Experience with Research
During the nursing research, you will be obliged to spend months inside the laboratory conducting the requisite genotyping. Therefore, you will be allowed to experience another aspect of the nurse researcher’s job. In addition, you will figure out which library and online resources are the most reliable and relevant to your studies within a short timeframe.
Furthermore, conducting nursing research will assist you in providing practical, substantial proof care as the nursing profession evolves. This is in response to societal requirements and developments in science and medicine. Additionally, the nursing profession also necessitates good research abilities. But why? This is because it will help you equip information to patients and providers on how to develop educated decisions regarding their health.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as a nurse, you must perform research to enhance your practice, keep current, and equip better patient care. Additionally, as a student pursuing nursing, you can use information literacy abilities to exploit information to create your findings more effectively. Therefore, nursing research is required for you to understand, analyze, and apply research throughout your professional life. However, if you are looking for the highest quality nursing essays and nursing dissertations, you can place your order here.