Research as a Course Part In Nursing Education
What Is Research Course
Research is a scientific process of systematic inquiry or study to validate and refine existing knowledge and to develop new knowledge in a discipline (Polit & Beck, 2012). Research constitutes the empirical and scientific body of nursing science.
Nursing Research as a Subject
Research is a challenging course to teach. The complexity of teaching a research course is related to creating methods to actively engage students. Furthermore, incorporating three major sciences ethics, statistics, and nursing theory adds to the complexity. The evidence-based practice (EBP) and translational research movements in health sciences have emphasized the role of research in education and practice and guided the course structure and teaching methods.
The nursing program should be structured to ensure that students at all levels attain different research competencies (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACNL, 2006). For example, undergraduate students should be taught to analyze and apply evidence. In teaching research with graduate students, emphasis should be on critical appraisal and synthesis of the research finding to identify best practices for specific patient populations.
This means all students will be critical consumers of research. Critical consumers determine credibility and applicability to practice. The AACN Position Statement on Nursing Research identified the competencies for different levels of nursing programs (AACN, 2006).It is important to clarify the difference between the skills taught in a research course and those skills needed for EBP. The ultimate goal of EBP is to integrate the best available evidence into practice. Models are available to guide incorporation of evidence into nursing practice (Newhouse. Dearholt, Poe, Pugh, & White, 2007; Titler et al, 2001).
Research Technique In Nursing Education
Different experiential learning techniques have been used to teach research in nursing and health sciences (Sowan & Jenkins, 2013; Stern, 2005; Tsai, Cheng, Chang, & Liou, 2014). These include developing research questions for different research designs using the PICOT format; writing an integrative literature review; engaging students in the research process through conducting interviews and data collection; analyzing data collected from or by students; critically appraising of quantitative and qualitative studies; writing a research proposal interacting with expert researchers who are invited as guest speakers and presenting posters.
In addition, educators have taught the research course using EBP projects as a successive multipart assignment built on identifying a practice problem and ending with writing a recommendation for practice (Sowan & Jenkins, 2013). Other effective trends in teaching the research course include collaboration with an academic librarian to teach information literacy skills, group-focused collaborative learning activities, service learning projects, participating in journal clubs, and joint assignments with a corequisite clinical course (August-Brady & Adamshick, 2013: McCurry & Martins, 2010, Sowan & Jenkins, 2013).
Need of Nursing Research In Education
It is recommended that consideration be given to teaching research as an interdisciplinary course. In an interdisciplinary course, groups of health professionals can focus on: creating evidence for a particular patient population, thus enhancing interprofessional collaboration. Strategies for creatively engaging students in the research course should be created, used, and evaluated, thus promoting active learning. Research should be taught within the framework of lifelong learning and be integrated throughout the nursing curriculum.
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