Idongesit I. Akpabio

Clinical Nursing Research: A Tool for Professional Development

This paper aimed at highlighting the importance of Clinical Nursing Research (CNR) in the professional development of Nursing. CNR often involve patient-oriented research, epidemiologic and behavioural studies, outcomes and health services research. These are all essential in today’s political and societal health care environment with growing shifts and disconnects in patients’ care, and the need for availability of human, material and financial resources required in meeting the health care needs. These and many more require the best available evidence, which could be acquired through CNR. However to achieve the benefits of CNR for professional development, Challenges including low quality research by new and inexperienced researchers; non-availability of research findings to nurses in the practice sectors; inability to identify and work on priority areas needed to improve practice; poor collaboration among researchers and inability to integrate research into practice should be addressed. The key to building and sustaining successful programmes in CNR and evidence-based practice could involve the ground work of establishing forums and structures such as research units in health institutions where discussions and activities about the processes for research and evidence-based practice could be promoted.