Nursing research is used to study a dilemma or a problem in nursing. Examine a problem you have seen in nursing. Why should it be studied Justify your rationale.
Nursing research plays a significant role in the practice of nursing. One of the most fundamental purposes of a nursing research is to establish a scientific foundation to improve nursing practice. Nurses need to use nursing research journals and evidence-based research in order to become effective in their field of expertise and improve patient outcomes (Quigley, 2012). Because nursing practice extends to the community, one of the problem areas in nursing that I can identify is how to deal more effectively with health disparities in the community.
Health disparities involve the gap in terms of the quality of health care and services provided to individuals with different socioeconomic status, level of education as well as ethnic background. Nurses are considered to be the front line health providers in the community and they need research based nursing practice that will guide them through in the delivery of their health care services among the populations vulnerable to health disparity issues. This problem may arise not owing to the conscious or unconscious discrimination but it may stem from poor communication between patient and health provider, language barriers, individual behavior, lack of information and patient preferences regarding their treatment (National Research Council, 2004).
With the help of nursing research it could essentially help nurses learn how to manage health disparity within the community where they provide nursing services and identify an effective nursing service approach to their patients belonging to vulnerable populations. Nursing research specifically involves the identification, description, exploration and providing solution to specific problems (Polit and Beck, 2004), the undertaking of which could help find the most effective and appropriate means of addressing health disparity in the nursing practice and improve patient outcomes.
References:
Quigley, P. (2012). Nursing Research. American Nurses Association. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/EspeciallyForYou/Nurse-Researchers
National Research Council (2004). Eliminating Health Disparities: Measurement and Data Needs. Washington: National Academies Press.
Polit, D.F. and Beck, C.T. (2004). Nursing Research: Principles and Practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
