The importance of emancipatory research to contemporary nursing practice

When considering the significant changes that continue to transform nursing practice, a focus on evidenced-based practice has clearly placed nursing research at the forefront of professional practice. The aim of this paper is to highlight the important contribution that emancipatory research methodologies can make to the ongoing development of contemporary nursing practice. A research example demonstrates how an emancipatory framework was applied to a recent doctoral study undertaken with Australian community nurses who provided palliative care. The research focus was on exploring the relationship between the nurse's emotional well-being and their professional practice. The research was epistemologically located within a critical and feminist framework. Emancipatory research is well situated to address the subjective experiences of nurses and to contribute strongly to the future of nursing practice.     

Evidence-based practice and school nursing.

School nurses need to demonstrate that their practice is based on the best evidence available, which is usually data obtained from research. Evidence-based practice involves combining the best evidence available with nursing expertise and patient and family preferences to determine optimum care. Evidence-based practice guidelines are developed by carefully reviewing the available evidence on a topic and synthesizing this information into recommendations for practice. This article defines evidence-based practice and best evidence, describes the development of evidence-based practice guidelines, discusses factors that affect the use of research and evidence-based practice guidelines in school nursing, and reviews current sources of evidence-based practice guidelines for school nurses. Strategies that school nurses can use to incorporate evidence into their practice are discussed. One recommendation is that school nurses partner with nurse leaders and nurse researchers to develop evidence-based practice guidelines relevant to school nurse practice.     

The importance of applying human factors to nursing practice

The aim of this series is to introduce the topic of human factors and to show how it can be used in nursing practice on the ward and in nursing management, to improve the safety of patient care. Human factors can be used to make many aspects of working life easier, and if it is easier to do it is less likely to go wrong. This article discusses the importance of human factors in nursing and provides some practical suggestions on how to apply the principles of human factors. Forthcoming articles will examine human factors tools, surgical safety and human reliability in more detail.     

Engaging staff nurses in evidence-based research to identify nursing practice problems and solutions

This article illustrates how one academic health science center in a large metropolitan area sought to improve the quality of patient care by soliciting the input of their nursing staff in devising an action plan for change. The research model incorporated both survey and focus group methods used by nursing leaders in administration and practice to identify and prioritize nursing research and clinical needs in their organization. The goal was to establish consensus among clinicians and researchers about significant issues in the institution requiring in-depth attention. A second objective was to design a survey instrument that is easy to complete and could be distributed, collected, and analyzed easily, thereby providing empirical data to the clinicians in a timely manner and in a simple format. This expedited process enabled specific action plans to be developed around the identified problems. Moreover, the process promoted interest in advancing nursing research and evidence-based practice among the clinicians and administrators.     

Evidence-based practice guidelines and school nursing.

The use of evidence-based practice (EBP) has become the standard of health care practice. Nurses are expected to use best evidence on a wide range of topics, yet most nurses have limited time, resources, and/or skills to access and evaluate the quality of research and evidence needed to practice evidence-based nursing. EBP guidelines allow nurses and other health care workers to have research information collected, analyzed, and condensed into specific practice recommendations by experts. This article defines EBP guidelines and discusses the process of guideline development, including identification of topics, systematic literature searches, and evaluation and rating of research. Criteria for determining the quality of existing guidelines are reviewed. The steps needed to develop EBP guidelines specifically for school nursing are discussed.     

Early intervention and school nursing practice.

The most vital and critical period for early intervention is in the first 3 years of life. The school nurse working in an early childhood program plays a pivotal role in assessing and meeting the health and developmental needs of very young children and their families. This article discusses early intervention, as defined by federal law, as an age-related service delivered within a family-focused, multidisciplinary, interagency, and collaborative model. An assessment framework for school nurses working with this population is described, which includes physical, social, and emotional domains. Identifying children early and then providing needed interventions and services will assist at-risk children in realizing their developmental potential.     

The importance of cultural coding in nursing practice, nursing research and nursing science--components of a critical concept of culture

Based on the question, on which conditions the understanding of the strange is possible at all, this article points out--illustrated by research material on nursing practice, nursing education and nursing science--collective interpretative patterns that are based on binary codings like "nature-culture", "body-mind", "female-male", "strange-familiar", foreign-native", "you-we", "sick-healthy", "black people-white people", etc. These patterns and the value judgements expressed by them are social constructions within specific in certain historical and cultural contexts. Yet people neither experience collective interpretative patterns nor recognize them as such, but deal with them as if they were natural facts. This (unrecognised) process of naturalization of social-cultural phenomena provokes contradictions and conflicts in all fields of practical life--in nursing practice and nursing education too, which will be shown by examples. To describe and analyse these complex circumstances, an approach to a critical concept of culture is developed in this article. The approach includes social-cultural events, processes and structures as well as their implicated symbolization. However, this heuristic construct itself must not be naturalized and "essentialized".