ProjectShare: Partnering With Nursing Professionals to Track Local Research

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Publication Title

Journal of hospital nursing

Abstract

Background

Globally, projects supporting research, evidence-based practice, and performance improvement advance nursing practice. In hospitals, such projects ensure optimal patient outcomes and contribute to positive, productive work environments for acute care nurses. These nurses are in pivotal positions to share best practices, influence healthcare reform, and advance nursing science.

Hospital libraries support nursing research through article delivery, mediated literature searching, and education. In addition, librarians develop innovative services to fulfill local needs. At Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, the Regional Librarian worked with the Nursing Research (NR) and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Council to build tools and processes to fulfill the local need of tracking research and other projects.

Acute care nurses, regional and local leaders, and educators serve on the Council and attend monthly meetings. The librarian has been a member of the Council since 2016. The Council oversees nursing research of quality improvement, EBP, and other projects. Its goals include improving knowledge and skills, providing ongoing education, and disseminating information. The Council also ensures that appropriate procedures, such as ethics training and institutional review board submission are followed. It connects nurses to resources, including the library and documents research projects as part of the hospital’s ongoing Magnet journey.

Many hospital projects, however, occur without the Council’s knowledge. The literature indicates that this problem is widespread. A recent article in the May 2017 issue of the Journal of Nursing Administration titled Exploring the Best Practices of Nursing Research Councils, indicates that no best practices for tracking nursing research have been identified. Tools to track nursing research include structured databases and spreadsheets, and the process of collecting the information is arduous. This column reports use of REDCap to build an online form nurses could use to submit information about projects being conducted to the Council or elsewhere.

Department

Library Science

Department

Nursing

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