Nursing Research as Careers and Career Opportunities
Research Careers
Research expands the body of knowledge of a discipline and
profession. To ensure that students have an opportunity to learn about the
importance of nursing research to the profession, the National League for
Nursing Accrediting Commission currently mandates that baccalaureate nursing
programs teach nursing research methods and incorporate the utilization and
evaluation of nursing research into their curricula .
For baccalaureate nursing
graduates, the expectations are to evaluate and utilize research in their
practice. The expectation of master’s program graduates is to participate in
nursing research and to facilitate research utilization; the expectation of
doctorally prepared graduates is that they conduct and disseminate their
research.
Every nurse has a professional obligation to use research findings to
inform his or her practice. Some nurses choose a career in which the conduct of
research is one expectation, and others, nurse researchers, choose a career in
which the primary expectation is the conduct of research, including the
facilitation of research by others.
Research As Nursing Career
As a result of their educational and practice experiences, nurses
may decide to pursue research careers in a broad continuum of clinical and/or
practice areas. Research careers in nursing, as in other disciplines, follow a
developmental course, from novice to experience to senior researcher, with each
stage posing different demands and expectations and offering different
satisfactions.
Requirements for Nursing Research
The educational preparation for a nursing research career is an
earned doctorate with specialized courses in statistics and research
methodology. Generally, a nurse formally begins his or her research career with
doctoral work. With the doctoral committee members, a research area of
interest, a research problem, and senior research advisors are identified.
In
doctoral work the student has the opportunity to be actively involved in each
step of the research process, to develop research skills, and to be formally
socialized and mentored in the research environment.
Journey to Research Career
Nurses at this beginning stage of a research career are intimately
involved in building a sound foundation in research design, completing data
collection and analysis, and starting to develop a scholarly identity through
publication.
The demands at this stage of a research career revolve around
obtaining initial funding, prioritizing time for completing the research data
collection and analysis, and working with peers to develop a network of
research colleagues.
The satisfaction of the novice researcher is in making a
contribution to the body of knowledge in a specific area, acquiring a scholarly
identity, and presenting and publishing the results of research studies that
build the scientific base.
Experienced nurses with evolving nursing research
careers are challenged to maintain continued funding, serve as role models for
students and other nurses, further develop their research trajectory, and
extend their research network.
Nurses at this level of their research careers
find satisfaction in their growing reputation as researchers, the ability to
extend their study to addressing new questions, and working with colleagues on
multisite studies.
Challenges for Nurse Researcher
The challenges facing the senior researchers are to continue and
extend their own scholarly research, with interdisciplinary colleagues as
appropriate, finding funding sources to support large studies and mentoring
novice researchers and students.
Senior researchers find career satisfaction in
serving as consultants to other nurse researchers and interdisciplinary research
teams, mentoring novice researchers, developing as nursing scholars, and making
significant contributions to the body of nursing knowledge.
Research as Profession
For the nursing profession to remain viable in a changing world,
the continuous development of nurse researchers is necessary. To promote this
development, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), the institute
for nursing research within the National Institutes of Health, has funded core
centers for research at universities across the nation.
Examples of those
funded are University of Pittsburgh, University of California at San Francisco,
University of North Carolina, University of Iowa, University of Pennsylvania,
and University of Washington. The specific areas of research identified for
each university center are chronic disorders, symptom management, chronic
illness in vulnerable people, gerontological nursing interventions, advancing
care in serious illness, and women’s health, respectively.
These core centers support the creation of interdisciplinary collaborative
nursing research programs in specific areas of basic and/ or clinical nursing
research and offer opportunities for nurses to consult with nursing experts in
these areas, train with mentors, and develop professional networks with other
interdisciplinary researchers.
Other schools of nursing have research centers
(funded through other sources), and these also provide the infrastructure
necessary to support the research careers of faculty.
Financial Support For Research
Financial support for individuals seeking a research career is also
available from NINR. There are funding mechanisms to support nurses at various
stages of research careers. Development:
(a) predoctoral fellowships for
researchers beginning their research careers
(b) postdoctoral fellowships for
nurses who want to expand the knowledge gained in their doctoral study
(c)
senior fellowships for investigators who have already been successful in a
research arena and want to acquire new research capabilities or pursue new
directions of research.
For information about this funding source, contact
National Institute for Nursing Research, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2178 Building 31,
Bethesda MD 20892-2178. Professional nursing organizations are additional
sources of research funding.
Examples of these funding sources include Sigma
Theta Tau International, Oncology Nursing Foundation, and American Association
of Critical Care Nurses.
History of Research as Career
Research career development in nursing historically was confined to
faculty in a university setting. With recent changes in the health care delivery
systems, opportunities for research careers in industry, at clinical centers,
and in outpatient care facilities are increasing.
Hospitals and integrated
systems of health care delivery are increasingly employing nurse researchers to
study practice improvements, care quality, and health outcomes. Nurse
researchers also assist in the development of the informatics systems used in
these settings to support studies of comparison of practices, outcomes, and the
benchmarking efforts required.
A research career offers nurses the opportunity
to engage in a lifelong process of building a research program that attempts to
find answers to the questions that are central to the discipline and
professional practice. To pursue this career path requires a strong educational
foundation, mentoring in the research environment, and available funding.
Research centers established by the NINR and other sources serve as resources
for beginning, experienced, and seasoned nurse researchers to extend their
research trajectories.
Future of Nursing Research
The future holds many opportunities for nursing research careers in
integrated health systems, industry, and academe.