University academics as educators are likely to have a greater role as facilitators of knowledge co-creation as technological change impacts upon traditional teaching practice with disruptive change enabled by technology predicted to challenge the traditional role of universities in the near future (Glenn & D'Agostino, 2008). The need for education to keep pace with rapid changes in professional practice, driven by research and new technology, has been highlighted by Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day (2010). While prediction of change has been notoriously complex, technology has already dramatically changed access to information and knowledge.
Traditionally nurse clinicians have been educated in the University classroom and in the workplace, relying heavily on knowledge transfer from more experienced professionals to relative novices. The situation has now changed because the breadth of knowledge about healthcare and the depth of specialist knowledge in any given area have expanded so rapidly. Technological change, specifically through the Internet and mobile connective technologies make comprehensive banks of information highly accessible. A consequence of this accessibility is that the latest research knowledge providing the basis for best practice can be developed and circulated at a far greater speed.
In nursing, clinicians have extensive experience and practice knowledge but may lack the time and incentive to undertake research activities and publish. In response to these changing circumstances, a research-informed topic directly targeting the research-teaching-practice nexus to promote construction and dissemination of research knowledge to inform professional practice has been developed and implemented.
Clinician knowledge and experience have always been essential for high quality health care. However with publication development both challenging and time consuming, it has been consistently difficult for clinicians to publish and gain recognition of their work (Johnston & Brassil, 2014; Heiwe et al., 2011; Eizenberg, 2011).
Compounding this situation is a change in communication and reading behaviours which make prolonged concentration on a single time-consuming activity, such as manuscript writing, an unlikely event for busy clinicians balancing demanding healthcare work with family and life commitments. With the best available research evidence increasingly accessible online, consideration of how best to apply research to practice concerns and patient-centred care has become more important as a basis for publication development (Fisher & Feigenbaum, 2015; Allen, 2011).
Methods:
To address this situation multifaceted strategies have been implemented to promote clinician publication in a postgraduate topic in a University-based Masters in nursing degree program. The approach taken has combined the prior strategies of publication mentoring by King (2012) and survey and interview findings about barriers and facilitators for publication (King et al., 2015). King (2012) had previously reported considerable success with high-achieving undergraduate nursing students; facilitating the development of their knowledge to critical appraise and summarise research literature to inform practice by following her structured process.
However, undergraduate students may have different needs in terms of education strategies required in the development of research knowledge to inform their practice as new nurse clinicians. The preferences of senior nurse clinicians was therefore sought through a survey of 11 senior registered nurses employed as clinical nurse educators in a large acute care hospital setting. Questions from a survey questionnaire by King et al. (2015) were modified to capture preferred approaches to learning and dissemination of research knowledge used by senior nurses in the healthcare workplace. The survey collected background data on the senior registered nurses’ prior studies, their academic qualifications and publication experience. The nurses’ responses were sought to questions focused on their perceptions of the best way to make outcomes of clinical practice improvement projects accessible to others in healthcare. The questions were framed using Likert scales with basic descriptive statistics used to analyse their responses. The nurses’ preferences have been used to further inform the topic so the needs of both new and experienced nurses can be addressed. Qualitative investigation through in-depth interviews of enablers and barriers to publication for students enrolled in undergraduate to PhD programs, many of whom were nurse clinicians, also helped to inform the development of the topic.
Results:
Postgraduate students studying in this capstone topic have been engaging with the development of a critical review of research evidence guided by a structured review process to address questions that have emerged from their own practice. While this approach has been widely used in the teaching of evidence based practice, a unique peer review and authentic assessment strategy have been integrated into the topic with the aim to mirror the review of manuscript process used by refereed journals.
Even though there have been some challenges to the inclusion of the simulated review process in the assessments of the topic, students reported high levels of satisfaction. The quality of the work being produced by these postgraduate students has been outstanding as they combine research evidence with their practice knowledge and experience to produce potentially publishable reviews that inform current nursing practice. To date the students’ reviews of the literature developed through the educational processes within the topic, and supported by academic mentors, have led to 33 publications in peer-reviewed refereed nursing and multi-disciplinary journals.
Conclusion:
This topic has broken new ground through integration of novel approaches with well-known teaching strategies, combining peer review with the development of analytical skills and the application of research evidence to practice.
Increasingly evident is the quality of the work being produced by these postgraduate students many of whom have greater than five years of clinical experience in practice. They combine research evidence with practical knowledge and expertise to produce robust, potentially publishable reviews that inform their own and other nurses’ practice.
The topic has been evaluated by the nurses as both challenging and very valuable as they learned to synthesise research evidence relevant to their practice and build critical confidence in their own abilities to write for publication. When Universities reach out to healthcare organisations and use research to learn how best to collaborate and support their nursing staff, both new and experienced, they maximise their potential to impact on patient care.