Clinical Nursing Research: A Tool for Professional Development

This paper aimed at highlighting the importance of Clinical Nursing Research (CNR) in the professional development of Nursing. CNR often involve patient-oriented research, epidemiologic and behavioural studies, outcomes and health services research. These are all essential in today’s political and societal health care environment with growing shifts and disconnects in patients’ care, and the need for availability of human, material and financial resources required in meeting the health care needs. These and many more require the best available evidence, which could be acquired through CNR. However to achieve the benefits of CNR for professional development, Challenges including low quality research by new and inexperienced researchers; non-availability of research findings to nurses in the practice sectors; inability to identify and work on priority areas needed to improve practice; poor collaboration among researchers and inability to integrate research into practice should be addressed. The key to building and sustaining successful programmes in CNR and evidence-based practice could involve the ground work of establishing forums and structures such as research units in health institutions where discussions and activities about the processes for research and evidence-based practice could be promoted

Improving utilization of conceptual and theoretical framework in nursing research

The Nursing and Midwifery Councils of many nations including Nigeria and nursing departments of various Universities and institutions have made it mandatory that conceptual and theoretical framework are used to guide Nursing research presented as part of the requirements for the award of certificates and degrees. However, it is often observed that many researchers are not skilled in the use of conceptual and theoretical framework and many do not also utilize conceptual or theoretical framework to guide studies conducted after graduation from their various educational institutions. Others do so for some parts of the research and do not also explain how the framework can be used to guide implementation of the study findings. Additionally, many publishers of research reports do not also demand for inclusion of framework in papers accepted for publication. This paper is aimed at highlighting the importance of using a conceptual framework to guide a study, the criteria that should guide the appraisal and selection of a framework; challenges that can hinder utilization of framework to guide research work and measures of improving utilization of conceptual framework in nursing research.KEYWORDS: Conceptual, Framework, Nursing, Research, Theoretical

A Comparative Analysis of Nursing Education and Other Forms of Education in Nigeria: Implications for Global Standards to Promote International Collaboration and Advanced Entry Level Competency of Nurses

The purpose of this paper was to highlight points that are necessary to bridge the gaps, where they exist, in relation to the structures, process and outcome of nursing education when compared with those of other professions. As a profession, nursing is broad in scope, and nurse practitioners are expected to possess a body of knowledge and skills for dependent, independent and inter-dependent practice. In many professions, preparation usually takes place in Colleges or University settings and educational preparation is usually prolonged to include instructions in the specialized body of knowledge and techniques of the profession. However, nursing education globally is highly variable, taking place in a myriad of programmes at the hospitals, technical institutes and institutions of higher learning with no uniformity. Furthermore, regarding educational outcome, many nurses in recent years are unable to meet the entry level competencies for registered nurses/midwives prior to employment into full practice. In other Medical Professions, including Medical Doctors, Medical Laboratory Scientists and Radiologists, a period of internship is provided for mastering of skills to enhance efficient and effective practice. This should also assist newly qualified nurses to improve on their entry level competencies to promote efficiency in their practical performance. It is therefore recommended that the regulating bodies should set standards of nursing education that are globally uniform and enforce compliance with such standards including admission criteria, contents/components; teachers’ qualification/certification and teaching facilities including materials and equipments. Furthermore, the recent plans to integrate Internship Programme into the training plan of graduate nurses is a step in the right direction and should be implemented without further delay to take nursing education and practice to greater heights

Evidence-based care: an innovation to improve nursing practice globally

Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) permits the highest quality of care in meeting the multifaceted needs of clients using the best available evidence from research findings, expert ideas from specialists in the various health care sectors and feedback from clients. However, in many instances, various challenges need to be addressed to enhance utilization of the best available evidence in nursing practice. This paper focused on ways of identifying the acceptable evidence and where they could be found; methods of implementing EBN; and appropriate measures of supporting EBN practice. For improved practice, it is recommended that nursing education should increasingly focus on development of skills for critical thinking and reflective practice as well as promotion of mentorship among nurse educators and nurse clinicians in regards to implementation of available and acceptable evidence.KEYWORDS: Evidence-based-care; Nursing; Practice