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Nursing research is perceived as a way of improving quality of care. As is the case in Britain and Switzerland, this ambitious activity is developing in France, favoured by the raising of nursing studies to university level and boosted by funding from the French ministry of health. A nursing team at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, in Paris, share their enthusiasm for this new approach., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the U.S. Congress created the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Its goal is to fund research that will assist patients, caregivers, clinicians, and others in making informed health decisions. Because nurses play a critical role in engaging patients in health care, they are valued participants in setting the institute's agenda and carrying out its programs. In this article, we provide an overview of PCORI and describe how nurses can participate in institute activities and apply for research grants., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) program are two federal funding mechanisms that some nurses in academic positions have used to support research and development of innovative nursing products or services. Both the SBIR and STTR mechanisms are excellent sources of funding for nurse researchers who want to capitalize on relationships with small businesses or obtain seed money to fund high-risk projects with potential to attract new venture capital. This article provides an overview of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded SBIR and STTR programs and summarizes similarities and differences between the programs. The article also describes unique features of NIH SBIR and STTR funding mechanisms that differentiate them from other R-series funding mechanisms, reviews evaluation criteria for SBIR and STTR projects, and discusses critical partners and resources for proposal development. Finally, the article describes characteristics of successful partnerships and provides examples of SBIR/STTR-funded projects.

Today's nursing leaders are setting the stage for the next evolution--bringing together skilled clinicians and administrators with peers in education to create new approaches to leading the profession forward. Partnerships share goals, common purpose, mutual respect, willingness to negotiate and compromise, informed participation, information giving, and shared decision making. The shared practice academia effort between a public university and a private health care system situated in the island state of Hawai'i is described. The medical center and school of nursing pursued individual strategic efforts to build research capacity and used the opportunity to fund academic practice research projects. The mutual need and recognition of the high stakes involved, in concert with stable, committed leaders at all levels, were key to the early success of their efforts. Through the formal research partnership mechanism, a discrete focus was created for efforts and used to move to tactical, operational, and interpersonal integration in this relationship.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an evolutionary step in the nursing model of excellence in professional practice at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A healthcare culture focused on excellence and world-class patient care requires that nursing research and EBP are integrated into the professional practice model and nursing care delivery. To achieve this, it requires the development of staff expertise, time allocation for staff to participate in scholarly activities, resources that support EBP and research, and expert consultants in EBP and nursing translational research. This article describes the systems and structures in place to provide staff with resources in order to translate research and deliver EBP and the multiple initiatives in disseminating evidence to the point of care.

The history and trajectory of the Rehabilitation Nursing Foundation (RNF), the research arm of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, is presented in this article. From 1988 through 2008, 52 RNF research grants have been awarded to 49 researchers. Since 1995, this research award program has been guided by the Rehabilitation Nursing Research Agenda. Funded studies have varied in focus from pediatrics to geriatrics, to specific chronic conditions, and to administrative and management issues, providing a basis for the development of rehabilitation nursing science. Strategies for successful RNF grant writing are also included in this article.

The expansion of US doctoral research programs raises questions about mentorship capacity, program quality, and decisions about future expansion. To describe capacity issues and, when possible, compare findings to those of an earlier study, a survey of US nursing research doctoral programs (n = 105) was conducted in 2008. The response rate was 84.8%. The Web sites of non-responding schools were reviewed providing some data from all programs. The mean ratio of students per current externally funded grant was 6.9 (SD 7.5) to 1. The mean ratio of student to ever-funded faculty was 8.3 (SD 8.3) to 1. The mean number of research activities required (out of 5 possible) was 1.8 (SD 1.4), and the most common was a research practica (77%), followed by attendance at a research meeting external to the school (37%), and submitting an article for publication (32%). The quality of many programs may be compromised by capacity issues. Attention to existing programs' requirements and capacities and determination of the roles of these variables in producing research competitive graduates is needed., (Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The New York State Research Agenda promotes nursing research and evidence-based practice as a means of improving the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of care in the state. One way to put the research agenda into action is through the development of regional nursing research alliances across New York State. These alliances are focused on ways to make research and evidence-based practice more tangible to all nurses. In this article the authors provide an overview of each alliance and detail the activities being undertaken to move the research agenda forward.

A nursing research alliance is a group of individuals in a geographic area who come together to identify ways to promote evidence-based practice, collaborate on research projects, and raise awareness of nursing research in the healthcare community. Six alliances currently exist in New York State. These alliances are actively engaged as catalysts for the generation and use of best evidence as the basis for nursing practice. In this article the authors will provide information about how interested individuals can develop an alliance in their area.

There is a good deal more to making innovation happen than removing barriers and providing funding. Meticulous planning is key.

Many new nursing leaders assuming deanships or assistant or interim deanships have limited education, experience, or background to prepare them for the job. To assist new deans and those aspiring to be deans, the authors of this department, 2 deans, offer survival tips based on their personal experiences and insights. They address common issues, challenges, and opportunities that face academic executive teams, such as negotiating an executive contract, obtaining faculty lines, building effective work teams, managing difficult employees, and creating nimble organizational structure to respond to changing consumer, healthcare delivery, and community needs. The authors welcome counterpoint discussions with readers.

Aim: To discuss factors that have influenced the development of research capacity among nurses in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs)., Background: Concerned health scientists have addressed the importance of building research capacity among health professionals. Strengthening capacity specifically among LMIC nurses has been infrequently discussed. Without the requisite educational preparation or an enabling environment for research, nurses are unlikely to either demand research capacity-building opportunities or initiate research examining nursing practice and health system challenges., Methods: A scan was conducted of nine internationally funded research capacity-building initiatives to identify programme targeting and the proportion of nurse trainees. A literature review examined graduate and post-graduate training opportunities for LMIC nurses, and barriers and enablers to nurses' involvement in research. Informal consultations were held with nurse leaders in 15 LMICs and leaders of eight LMIC nursing organizations., Findings: The scan found a generic targeting of health professionals with a very low percentage of nurse trainees. Programmes specifically targeting nurses did attract and prepare a significant number of nurses. Factors limiting nurses' involvement in research include hierarchies of power among disciplines, scarce resources, a lack of graduate and post-graduate education opportunities, few senior mentors, and prolonged underfunding of nursing research., Conclusions: Fully engaging LMIC nurses in health services research may yield pragmatic and evidence-informed service delivery and policy recommendations. Investments in supports for nursing research capacity may enrich global health policy effectiveness and improve quality of care.

Background: Nursing research in Mainland China is divided into two parts: domestic nursing research, comprising all publications in Chinese; and international nursing research, comprising all publications in English. Domestic nursing research has been developing rapidly, demonstrated by the increase in new national or regional journals and publications. However, little is known about the extent of international research., Aims: To outline the development of international nursing research publications in Mainland China and to provide suggestions for future development., Method: All of the papers were retrieved from PubMed. The key search phase was 'China or P.R.China NOT Hong Kong NOT Taiwan NOT Macao [AD]', with the limits of 'English', 'nursing journals' as well as the published date up to '2007/09/30'., Findings: PubMed recorded 57 English papers that were originally conducted in Mainland China during the search period from 1989 to 30 September 2007. Thirty-seven of the total 57 (65%) publications were contributed by Beijing, Shanghai and Hubei. Forty-four of the 57 publications were conducted with collaborators from Hong Kong, the USA, the UK and Canada. Thirteen publications were funded by international societies, while only three were funded by the Chinese government. The research topics mainly focused on clinical research, nursing education and nursing management., Conclusions and Implications: This study indicates that international nursing research has been growing slowly in Mainland China along with provincial variations. The suggestions to improve nursing research include the reform of nursing education, the enhancement of the collaboration with the international societies and the establishment of research priorities.

Nursing research has a tremendous influence on current and future professional nursing practice, thus rendering it an essential component of the educational process. This article chronicles the learning experiences of two undergraduate nursing students who were provided with the opportunity to become team members in a study funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. The application process, the various learning opportunities and responsibilities performed by the students, and the benefits and outcomes of the experience are described. The authors hope that by sharing their learning experiences, more students will be given similar opportunities using the strategies presented in this article. Nursing research is critical to the nursing profession and is necessary for continuing advancements that promote optimal nursing care.

Purpose: Research development and regional consortium strategies are described to assist schools in all countries extend their gerontological nursing research productivity. The strategies, collaboration and mentoring experiences, and outcomes are also shared to illustrate a highly successful approach in increasing faculty programs of nursing research in a focused area of inquiry., Design: A case description of gerontological nursing research development and regional consortium strategies in schools of nursing is used. The regional consortium included 17 schools of nursing that are working to increase faculty programs of gerontological nursing research. Survey responses describing publications, presentations, and research funding awards from 65 of 114 total faculty participants in consortium opportunities (pilot and mentoring grant participants, participants in summer scholars' grantsmanship seminars) were collected annually from 1995 through 2008 to describe outcomes., Findings: From 1994 through 2008, faculty participants from the consortium schools who responded to the annual surveys reported a total of 597 gerontological nursing publications, 527 presentations at research conferences, funding of 221 small and internal grants, and 130 external grant awards, including 47R-series grants and 4 K awards., Conclusions: There is an urgent need for more nurse faculty with programs of research to inform the health care of persons and support the preparation of nurse clinicians and faculty. The shortage of nurse scientists with active programs of gerontological research is especially serious and limits the number of faculty who are needed to prepare future gerontological nurses, particularly those with doctoral degrees who will assume faculty positions. Further, junior faculty with a gerontological nursing research foci often lack the colleagues, mentors, and environments needed to develop successful research careers. The outcomes of the development and regional consortium strategies suggest that the principles of extending collaboration, mentoring, and resource sharing are useful to augment faculty research opportunities, networking and support, and to increase productivity in individual schools., Clinical Relevance: Clinical relevance includes: (a) implications for preparing nurse scientists and academicians who are and will be needed to train nurses for clinical practice, and (b) development of more faculty programs of research to provide systematic evidence to inform nursing practice.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to present the strategies used in one newly established university School of Nursing and Midwifery in Southern Ireland to develop research capacity., Background: The case study was guided by an agreed strategic plan which included changing the research culture; providing focused and appropriate research training; mentoring of junior staff, employment of an external consultant; provision of funding for PhD progression; and institutional support at all levels., Conclusion: Success is profiled in relation to establishment of research themes, publications, research funding awarded, and numbers of students registered for PhDs. Challenges in further improving research productivity are also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether nursing is meeting its espoused goals of scientific development of the discipline and preparation for academic careers. With a comparative cross-sectional design, data on research funding, faculty number and characteristics, and the published literature across nursing, public health, and medicine were analyzed. Significant differences were found among the groups in terms of the number of National Institutes of Health research grants and the amount of funding awarded, as well as the number of faculty. The number of faculty significantly predicted the number of National Institutes of Health awards for all disciplines (R(2) = .666, P < .000). Within nursing, the number of full-time doctoral faculty was also significant (R(2) = .531, P < .000). The conclusion reached was that the current system for doctoral education in nursing does not prepare the number of graduates necessary to either replace retiring faculty or expand capacity. The lack of nurses with doctoral degrees affects the discipline's ability to generate and use high-impact science. Among the strategies for improvement were leveraging existing research-intensive schools by augmenting doctoral faculty and expanding the capability of nurses to engage in clinical scholarship through the new clinical doctorate, the doctor of nursing practice.

Doctoral students and new faculty members often seek advice from more senior faculty on how to advance their program of research. Students may ask whether they should choose the manuscript option for their dissertation or whether they should seek a postdoctoral fellowship. New faculty members wonder whether they should pursue a career development award and whether they need a mentor as they strive to advance their research while carrying out teaching, service, and practice responsibilities. In this article, we describe literature on the impact of selected aspects of pre- and postdoctoral training and faculty strategies on scholarly productivity in the faculty role. We also combine our experiences at a school of nursing within a research-intensive university to suggest strategies for success. Noting the scarcity of research that evaluates the effect of these strategies, we are actively engaged in collecting data on their relationship to the scholarly productivity of students and faculty members within our own institution.

Using data from a consecutive sample of 259 studies published in four leading nursing research journals in 2005-2006, we examined whether nurse researchers favor females as study participants. On average, 75.3% of study participants were female, and 38% of studies had all-female samples. The bias favoring female participants was statistically significant and persistent. The bias was observed regardless of funding source, methodological features, and other participant and researcher characteristics, with one exception: studies that had male investigators had more sex-balanced samples. When designing studies, nurse researchers need to pay close attention to who will benefit from their research and to whether they are leaving out a specific group about which there is a gap in knowledge., ((c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The Interdisciplinary Health Research Consultant-Professor in Residence Program is a partnership between the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) School of Nursing (SN), the New Jersey Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Center for Evidence Based Practice, and Morristown Memorial Hospital/Atlantic Health (MMH/AH). It provides MMH with the expert research and evidence-based practice (EBP) consultation and affiliation of a UMDNJ-SN faculty member and the resources of the New Jersey JBI Center for Evidence Based Practice. For the participating SN faculty member, it provides a clinical laboratory to pursue an individualized program of scientific research and scholarly publication. This research scholar works closely with the MMH/AH to (a) identify and evaluate existing mechanisms to support interdisciplinary health research and EBP at MMH; (b) develop and implement new mechanisms to support interdisciplinary health research and EBP; (c) implement the findings of published research using EBP strategies; (d) replicate interdisciplinary research studies; (e) conduct original interdisciplinary research studies; (f) seek intra- or extramural funding to support interdisciplinary research studies; and (g) support requirements for American Nurses' Credentialing Center accreditation for Magnet designation. The program has been successful in its first year of implementation.

Nurse educators are being challenged to maintain quality in light of increasing numbers of students, declining numbers of experienced faculty, societal mandates, and rapid changes in health care. The scholarship underlying the practice of nursing education, or evidence-based education, must continue to be explored through the design, testing, and refinement of education strategies from nursing and other disciplines. The involvement of every educator in this process will help create institutional valuing that serves to retain inquisitive and reflective educators in academic settings, while expanding evidence-based education in nursing. This article describes a literature review of the scholarship of nursing education practice and suggests approaches to generate a dynamic explosion of growth in nursing education to inform our students, promote optimal client health outcomes, and challenge each of us to reach higher levels of excellence in the practice of nursing education.

Many new nursing leaders assuming deanships or assistant or interim deanships have limited education, experience, or background to prepare them for the job. To assist new deans and those aspiring to be deans, the authors of this department, 2 deans, offer survival tips based on their personal experiences and insights. They address common issues, challenges, and opportunities that face academic executive teams, such as negotiating an executive contract, obtaining faculty lines, building effective work teams, managing difficult employees, and creating nimble organizational structure to respond to changing consumer, healthcare delivery, and community needs. The authors welcome counterpoint discussions with readers.

This article describes the history of the University of Washington School of Nursing (UW-SON) Center for Women's Health and Gender Research (CWHGR) and its role in helping initiate and sustain interdisciplinary research. The growing focus on the need for interdisciplinary research has made it imperative that nursing scientists collaborate with colleagues in other health-related fields including medicine, public health, dentistry, and social work. The CWHGR increased interdisciplinary research activities through mentorship of faculty and trainees, the creation of core laboratory facilities, the award of pilot grant funding focused on interdisciplinary collaboration, consultation on research design and methods both within and outside the UW-SON, and the utilization of the Human Response Model for both biobehavioral and sociocultural research collaboration. Accomplishments as well as lessons learned related to interdisciplinary research during the 19 years of the UW-SON CWHGR are highlighted.

Aims: To determine the extent to which clinical nursing practice has adopted research evidence. To identify barriers to the application of research findings in practice and to propose ways of overcoming these barriers., Background: Way back in 1976, nursing and midwifery practice started adopting research evidence. By 1990s, there was some transparency of research evidence in practice, but more could have been done to widen its adoption. Many barriers were identified which could hinder implementation of the evidence in practice, and the effort to remove these remains weak., Evaluation: 25 research articles from across Europe and America were selected, and scrutinized, and recommendations analysed., Findings: Many clinical practitioners report a lack of time, ability and motivation to appraise research reports and adopt findings in practice. The clinical environment was not seen as research friendly as there were a general lack of research activities and facilities locally. There was a clear lack of research leadership in practice., Implication for Nursing Management: This paper reviewed the research evidence from several published research papers and provides consultant nurses with practical suggestions on how to enhance research evidence application in their practice. It recommends how consultant nurses can make their practice more research transparent by providing the required leadership, creating a research-friendly organization, developing a clear research agenda and facilitating staff develop a local research framework for reading research and implementing research evidence in their practice.

Aims: To evaluate stakeholders perceptions of the extent to which a research facilitator post was addressing aims of: * providing academic support to enable research involvement of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals; * supporting dissemination of research into practice; * contributing to research strategy development., Background: Barriers to research capacity development have been recognized for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. A project established in a London NHS trust aimed to address these., Methods: A mixed methods approach was used., Results: Responses were generally very positive. The post effected improvements in the research culture and perceived increase in research-related activities., Conclusion: The post made substantial progress towards its aims. This approach may be useful in other healthcare locations to build research capacity., Implications for Nursing Management: Challenged by increasing priority accorded to research capacity and service research implementation yet recognition of barriers to achievement, this study offers insights from one means to address this.

Aim: To identify predictors of nurses' self-reported barriers to using research findings in clinical practice., Background: Several studies have shown that nurses perceive barriers to research utilization but to our knowledge predictors of nurses perceptions of barriers to research utilization have not been identified before., Methods: Three questionnaires were answered by 833 nurses: the Barriers Scale, the Quality Work Competence questionnaire and a questionnaire including questions on professional issues., Results: Dissatisfaction with support from immediate superiors for participating in research and/or development projects, having no academic degree and unclear and unrealistic workplace goals were identified as factors increasing the risk of perceiving barriers to the use of research findings in clinical practice., Conclusions: The results imply that head nurses, nursing managers and other health care leaders should create strategies for supporting nurses' professional development and possibilities to implement research findings in clinical practice., Implications for Nursing Management: To support research utilization and evidence-based care health care leaders, head nurses and nurse managers should create clear and realistic goals for the work place including demands on evidence-based care. It is also important for head nurses and nurse managers to create strategies for supporting nurses' professional development and possibilities to implement research findings in clinical practice.

In 1985, a very important event, the distribution of the Heckler Report, changed the direction of health policy and health research policy in this country. Although we have yet to see a yield of information that is substantially making a difference in health disparities, progress is being made and nurse scientists are at the forefront of the effort. For example, on December 21, 2001, NINR released a request for applications calling for proposals for Partnership Centers on Health Disparities (RFA-NR-02-004). The NINR in collaboration with the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities now funds 11 such Centers. These centers are charged with "(1) expanding the cadre of nurse researchers involved in minority health or health disparities research, (2) increasing the number of research projects aimed at eliminating health disparities, and (3) enhancing the career development of potential minority nurse investigators." NINR also currently funds seven Institutional National Research Service Awards focused on educating young nurse scientists in the conduct of health disparities research. So while I'm a little impatient about the progress we've made, I believe that, if we keep sight on what nursing research is about and the pressing need to focus attention on answering clinical questions about the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions, we are well positioned to make an enormous difference in the future. Personally, I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

Hospitals in a nonprofit mountain west corporation conducted a gap analysis to determine readiness for Magnet Recognition. Major gaps included nursing research and availability of consultation and resources for research. Based on the findings, the development of a dynamic research program promoting nursing research and evidence-based practice within hospitals was undertaken. A nursing research council was reestablished with representatives from service and academia. A literature review and analysis of corporate/academia resources were completed. The plan called for a nursing research coordinator position and development of a research budget. Academia continues to be represented on the hospital institutional review board. A semiannual research symposium including poster presentations by nursing staff and nursing students was implemented. The plan calls for development of a research fellowship program and unit-based evidence-based specialists. With administrative support and resources and partnering with nursing academia, nonteaching hospitals can develop successful dynamic nursing research and evidence-based practice programs.

Recent policy developments in Ireland have led to a focus on research capacity building as a means of consolidating nurse and midwifery education in the Irish academic setting. This follows similar initiatives in the United Kingdom and Australia. However, sparse literature and a lack of clarity of the term 'research capacity building' leads to some confusion. A concept analysis using Rodgers' framework was conducted. The literature examined included 'grey' literature, policy documents and indexed papers across a range of disciplines, derived from CINAHL/PubMed searches. The concept of research capacity building was deemed to imply a funded, dynamic intervention operationalized through a range of foci and levels to augment ability to achieve objectives in the research field over the long-term, with aspects of social change as an ultimate outcome. This is presented as an interim statement because of the evolutionary nature of the concept and the limitations of the exercise.

Although evidence-based practice (EBP) began as a challenge to the medical profession in the early 1970s, the concept has since been embraced by nursing and other health care professions. Although it is clear that the process of placing evidence into practice will continue to be refined, the mandate to do so is clear. The purpose of this article is to present a brief history of the definition of EBP, describe some of the more well-known models of knowledge translation, discuss some of the commonly agreed-upon steps in the EBP process, and present some resources that might be useful for readers.

The utilisation of research results in nursing is demanded by a new legislation in Switzerland. Scientific literature on the diffusion of nursing research results demonstrates that this issue is difficult and complex. This study explores the perceptions of practice-based nursing tutors of nursing students in the French speaking region of Switzerland concerning such transfer practice. The aim is to find indicators which may permit adequate decision making in order to facilitate nursing practice based on scientific research results. The Barriers scale of Funk et al. which refers to Roger's diffusion theory was employed as the measurement instrument. The data were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results demonstrate the obstacles with regards to the practice-based nursing tutors themselves, to the professional environment, to research, and to paths of communication. Various suggestions are raised by the respondents in all these areas.