Nursing research provides evidence-based support to nursing activities and practices. The nursing profession is evidence-based from inception to present days when many people have taken up professional nursing research activities in universities and organizations that seek to improve and enrich the profession.
Nursing research falls under two categories; qualitative and quantitative research. All research activities must be funded for them to be successful. That is because, without resources, nurses and professionals involved with research activities will not adequately perform the studies due to lack of capital. Therefore, it is important that researchers identify sources of funds their activities and research. The profession is growing at a fast rate, and inventions are many which ensure that dispensation of healthcare services is continuously improved.
Therefore, it is important that those in nursing research profession identify the external sources of funds for their projects. External funders are crucial in making sure that projects and research activities are completed on schedule, thereby ensuring that the profession improves. Without funding, the profession will not experience any growth, and it is highly likely that people will complain about poor services offered in the job. Research eliminates these issues because it ensures that there is progress backed by evidence, on why a particular treatment works for a certain disease or patient condition. Therefore, it is important that research is conducted as it provides excellent opportunities and insights which have a profound influence on the profession.
It is important that the professional researchers identify sources o funds for their projects. That is especially necessary when they have limited or no funds from the organizations that they work with. For instance, a researcher working with a university may fail to secure full university funding due to competition from other researchers at the University who also require funding. Also, it is possible that a person wants to research on a matter that his organization does not value important, therefore, provides the go ahead for the research but refuses to offer to fund the research. In these instances, it is necessary that these researchers have external funders to ensure the success of their research. That is because, without the funds, the research activity will not occur because funds are needed to acquire and equip laboratories demanded by the research being conducted. Also, funds are required for assistants’ wages, specimen collection and culture and so on. Therefore, having a fund is as important as having the research topic.
There are many organizations interested in providing funding for studies in nursing. These organizations are mostly non-governmental bodies that are committed to improving health care services. It is important for a researcher to identify these bodies so that they can provide the necessary funds towards the success of the investigative study.
Also, identifying the funders will help people in the research industry know the prerequisites for funding. That will enable them to ensure that they meet the requirements that are needed by the external funders when requesting aid. For instance, some organizations fund research on specific diseases, and will not benefit a program that is unrelated to the conditions. For example, many organizations fund research in cancer and HIV/AIDS. Although committed to ensuring a better healthcare for all, they may refuse to support research in other areas of healthcare. Therefore, when a researcher has such information, he knows which external donors to approach for the funding. The knowledge saves the researcher a lot of time that he would otherwise waste presenting to people or organizations that will not fund his research.
Also, there are private funders. These are wealthy or influential people who like giving back to the community. Mostly, they alongside other likeminded individuals may come together and contribute towards research that is important to them. For instance, if they lost a close to cancer, they can fund cancer research. This type of funding is important has it has enabled several researches to be conducted, courtesy of such private entities or people. The result is an improvement of healthcare and in particular, the nursing field. We recognize that nurses’ work is challenging, as they have to ensure that physicians orders are followed, and they have many patients to look after. Therefore, simplifying a nurse’s work through research will ease his work. For instance, research helps develop standard treatment measures for people with similar diseases. That ensures that a nurse can expertly handle similar cases without having to rely on a physician.
The research has further provided technological advances that are beneficial to the professionals in the nursing field. Unlike in the past, nurses are nowadays required to use sophisticated technologies, such as life support machinery, dialysis machines and so on. These are all possible from conducting researches that have now influenced the profession. From this, we see that it is important to ensure that funds nursing research and training are easily available. Moreover, nurse training resources on new nursing innovations should be at hand to make sure that those in the profession are trained on innovations as they occur, ensuring their skills are continually honed.
Therefore, we see that it is important to identify sources of external funding as it helps to promote health care among those in need. A successful research will always bring out something that is beneficial to the profession. Therefore, it is important to identify external sources of funding for nursing research activities.
References
Clamp, C. G., Gough, S., & Land, L. (2004). Resources for nursing research : an annotated bibliography. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Diana J Mason; Stephen L Isaacs; David C Colby; Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. (2011). The nursing profession : development, challenges, and opportunities. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass.
Gerrish, K., & Lacey, A. (2006). The research process in nursing. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub.
