Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Preparing Nurses for Tomorrow's Healthcare
Supporting an Embryonic Research Environment for Faculty by Incorporating Undergraduate Students
Erlinda C. Wheeler, DNS, RN and Thomas Hardie, EdD, RN, CS, NP. Department of Nursing, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
Learning Objective #1: Describe a faculty research mentoring program.
Learning Objective #2: Identify benefits of the research mentoring program for students and faculty.
Background: Academic faculty often have a twofold mission. While teaching is the major focus of academia, research and professional publications frequently determine faculty eligibility for promotion and tenure. In the universities where funded research is scarce, faculty need creative means to accomplish research goals. Research is an essential part of baccalaureate nursing education. The goal of research education at the baccalaureate level is to prepare knowledgeable consumers of nursing research. Students should be cognizant of the subtleties in conducting research and understand the major tenets that are inherent in this process. Students and faculty benefit by working together on research initiatives. Purpose: The purposes of the program are to provide students with hands on experience in the conduct of nursing research and provide faculty with assistance in moving their research agendas forward. Implementation: The undergraduate nursing research course is offered during the junior year. The course consists of one hour online lecture, one hour in-class discussion and up to 2 hours working with faculty on a research project. Faculty members were solicited to work with 5-10 students in a research project that was either in the planning stages or already in progress. The end products for the students were oral and poster presentations and submission of an abstract to a regional or local research conference for possible poster presentation. Results: Eight faculty members volunteered to mentor students for their research projects. Students’ research activities included reviews of literature, recruitment of subjects and data collection, interpretation and analysis. At the end of the semester, each group had oral and poster presentation. Of the eight student groups five submitted abstracts to a regional research conference. Both students and faculty expressed excitement and satisfaction with the collaboration and outcome of the research project.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)