Susan Diemert Moch

Part 1. Undergraduate Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Education: Envisioning the Role of Students

Nursing educators have embraced the integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) into the nursing education curriculum in numerous ways. As this review of the nursing pedagogy literature demonstrates, most of these approaches built upon long-standing commitments to helping students understand the scientific research process, think critically, and develop the information literacy skills that will enable them to find the evidence that can inform their practice. Many reports in the nursing pedagogy literature recounted various strategies used to teach EBP to nursing students. Another category of nursing pedagogy articles discussed ways that EBP education can be suffused throughout the nursing school curriculum. Few educators, however, have envisioned students as having a role beyond that of the mere recipients of EBP education. Nonetheless, a small but growing number of nurse educators have begun to envision students as enablers of practice change in clinical settings. These innovators advocate a pedagogical paradigm that places students into socially meaningful partnerships with practicing nurses as a means to promote the uptake of EBP in clinical settings.

Part III. Reenvisioning undergraduate nursing students as opinion leaders to diffuse evidence-based practice in clinical settings.

Rogerss claims about the importance of social networks to the diffusion of innovations are reviewed in light of efforts to promote evidence-based practice (EBP) among nursing students and practicing nurses. We argue that nursing educators can take more deliberate advantage of the essentially social nature of the diffusion process by devising opportunities for nursing students to form meaningful social interactions with practicing nurses. We recommend curricular reforms that reenvision undergraduate nursing students as opinion leaders throughout the curriculum. Rogerss theory predicts that such ongoing interactions between nursing students and practicing nurses will better integrate EBP among both populations.

Part II. Empowering Grassroots Evidence-Based Practice: A Curricular Model to Foster Undergraduate Student-Enabled Practice Change

This article presents evidence collected over the past 15 years that attests to the success of curricular innovations conducted to foster socially meaningful contact between nursing students and practicing nurses as a means to promote evidence-based practice (EBP). Action research data collected as these pedagogical strategies have evolved suggest that such student-staff partnerships offer promise not only to encourage commitment to EBP among nursing students but also to surmount most of the barriers that prevent the widespread diffusion of EBP among practicing nurses in clinical settings. Based upon our successful experiences with student-staff interactions, we propose a curricular model-the Student-Enabled Practice Change model-that suffuses the undergraduate nursing school curriculum with opportunities for nursing students to form meaningful partnerships with practicing nurses. The Student-Enabled Practice Change Curricular Model relocates the power to drive practice change to the grassroots level of students and practicing nurses.

An advanced practice nurse--nurse researcher collaborative model.

The advanced practice nurse (APN)--nurse researcher collaborative model proposed in this article emerged through an APN and a nurse researcher working together on a pilot research study and a project to describe advanced nursing practice in the outpatient setting. The model demonstrates how, through the observation and discussion of practice and research, the needs of both the NR and the APN are identified. Further discussion identifies outcomes important for each professional role as well as for the discipline of nursing. Results of such collaboration include practice-relevant nursing research, research-based practice, and more reflective APNs and nurse researchers.

Science on a Shoestring: Building Nursing Knowledge With Limited Funding

Building the science for nursing practice has never been more important. However, shrunken federal and state research budgets mean that investigators must find alternative sources of financial support and develop projects that are less costly to carry out. New investigators often build beginning programs of research with limited funding. This article provides an overview of some cost-effective research approaches and gives suggestions for finding other sources of funding. Examples of more cost-effective research approaches include adding complementary questions to existing funded research projects; conducting primary analysis of electronic patient records and social media content; conducting secondary analysis of data from completed studies; reviewing and synthesizing previously completed research; implementing community-based participatory research; participating in collaborative research efforts such as inter-campus team research, practice-based research networks (PBRNs), and involving undergraduate and doctoral students in research efforts. Instead of relying on funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other government agencies, nurse researchers may be able to find support for research from local sources such as businesses, organizations, or clinical agencies. Investigators will increasingly have to rely on these and other creative approaches to fund and implement their research programs if granting agency budgets do not significantly expand.

Faculty and Student Cross-Cultural Learning Through Teaching Health Promotion in the Community

Cross-cultural learning for nursing students and faculty increased through a collaborative venture of teaching health promotion classes in a Hmong community. Through the learning process, nursing students and faculty learned about Hmong culture, and Hmong participants learned about health. The purpose of this article is to describe the process and evaluation of health promotion classes in a Hmong community.

EBP through student-staff collaboration.

D ifficulties lie in getting busy staff members in acute care settings involved in evidence-based practice (EBP). Most often, staff won’t even consider volunteering time for an EBP experience; however, through the unique studentstaff collaboration of New Knowledge Discussion Groups (NKDGs), staff members haven’t only voiced interest in participating in EBP discussions, but they’ve also expressed enthusiasm about continuing the discussions.1 Scientific evidence helps staff members solve real problems in the acute care setting, and undergraduate students are a means of easy access to this evidence. With the NKDG process, staff and students can work together to find EBP information. Most of the time, staff members don’t have the time to search for, read, or even identify “good” research articles; this is where the students come in. Students have the background knowledge to find information on topics of interest to staff nurses, and they’re able to read through the information and provide staff members with the most accurate and up-to-date evidence for their selected topic. This student-staff collaboration creates an evidence-based environment in which EBP can be used to provide the quality care that patients deserve. Let’s take a closer look at NKDGs and how your organization can use them to foster EBP.

Healthier Work Environments Through Action Research

Abstract:A team of nurses and a university-based nurse researcher describe a nursing theory-based action research plan to promote a healthier work environment. The process combines research and practice to achieve desired outcomes within an acute-care setting.

Embedding Research in Undergraduate Learning Opportunities

As a means of promoting scholarship, faculty are increasingly including undergraduate nursing students as team members in faculty-led research projects. Research involvement is a high-impact educational practice that enhances student engagement and retention rates and enables the reflection and integration of learning. The purpose of this article is to describe the benefits and innovative ways of directly involving undergraduate nursing students in faculty-guided research projects. Case examples from four non-research-intensive nursing programs are presented to illustrate the benefits of undergraduate student research involvement to students, faculty, their communities, as well as the nursing profession. Student assistance in all phases of the research process, ranging from research question generation, literature reviews, methods development, and data collection and analysis, to presentations and manuscript publication, motivates and helps faculty progress with their research programs. Benefits also include the creation of effective learning experiences that build nursing knowledge and potentially contribute to community health.

Collaborating With Businesses to Support and Sustain Research

Financial assistance is necessary for sustaining research at universities. Business collaborations are a potential means for obtaining these funds. To secure funding, understanding the process for obtaining these business funds is important for nursing faculty members. Although faculty rarely request funding from businesses, they are often in a position to solicit financial support due to existing relationships with clinical agency administrators, staff, and community leaders. The economic support received from businesses provides outcomes in nursing research, research education, academic–service partnerships, and client health care. This article describes the steps and processes involved in successfully obtaining research funding from businesses. In addition, case examples for securing and maintaining funding from health care agencies (evidence-based practice services) and from a health manufacturing company (product evaluation) are used to demonstrate the process.