Research Based Changes in Nursing Practice

Nursing research is an academic process confirming and refining existing knowledge. It generates new knowledge and affects nursing practice in all areas, including administration, research, clinical and education.

Used to guide nursing practice, improve patient care and outcomes, as well as the whole healthcare system, the knowledge is generated by research in a systematic, credible, and ethical way.

Research encompasses the aspects of health care integral to nursing: disease and injury prevention, health promotion, and supportive care, as well as education, policy and nursing services and the nursing profession. All nurses should be involved in the research process, and their roles will differ based on their level of education, competence, roles and responsibilities. The knowledge gleaned though research is an integral part of evidence-based nursing practice.

Lily Thomas, Ph.D., RN, chairperson of the North Shore-LIJ Health System's Nursing Research Committee and Director of Nursing Education at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, said she finds transferring research findings to routine practice, complex and multifaceted.

"The goal is to make decisions based on the best possible evidence," Thomas said. "Much of the research is generated at academic institutions, but the need to answer questions generated in practice is propelling our quest for evidence in clinical practice further."

Thomas said that the goal is to identify the best available research evidence and implement it in practice for best patient outcomes, rather than rely on tradition, authority, or ritual as we did in our past.

It is challenging ever evolving and there are numerous steps required. Committed nursing leadership, integration, implementation and information are essential for clinical change strategies to occur, Thomas said.