So, I have been reflecting on my research experience, trying to identify the barriers and facilitators for nurses to lead clinical research in the field of critical care. If this is something you have experienced, can you explore with me what those barriers were? What strategies worked or didn't work to overcome them. What creative strategies are out there? Would you be willing to discuss this further with me?
In my experience, nurses who hold leadership positions are the most able to dedicate themselves to research endeavors given (1) they are less likely to be facilitating direct practice services and (2) as a result, have more time for programming and analyses. Moreover, there are strong political undercurrents in nursing care - where often front line workers are not given adequate leeway to formulate creative interventions for client problems - never mind develop novel research questions or conduct a study.
To answer your question regarding a solution or strategy: I would target leadership clinical staff and/or administration given that they are geared toward quality control and can, thus, easily undertake research and have ready access to usable data. Leadership buy-in into a particular realm of study would be necessary, and, as stated, these individuals will gravitate towards projects that improve compliance and regulatory standards.
I think there is lack of good data to determine and quantify the effects of different practices generally in healthcare. Several practices are 'rules of thumb', and being followed for historic reasons, without much thought about their efficiency.
I agree in terms of leadership buy-in and definitely organizational culture. At a large healthcare system, new position was created for Nurse Scientist. This role worked closely with the Clinical Nurse Leader to initiate PCOR (patient centered outcome research). Specific PCORI grant funding was pursued to fund internal basic research workshops. A key area with fairly easy learning curve was case studies from front-line nursing state. There was a tie-in with nursing career advancement plan as well. Also, there was much collaboration with quality improvement and service excellence divisions. Lessons learned were multi-collaborative & interprofessional approach, educational support with CEUs, change management especially related to culture, and recognition.
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