Where nursing services are recognized as an integral component of health services, nursing personnel, in their capacity as educators, are responsible for including relevant content on this subject in formal and informal education and training programs for existing health staff, both professionals and non-professionals, and for undergraduate and postgraduate students in nursing, midwifery, medicine, social work, etc
All nursing personnel have, to varying degrees, a research function- ranging from the routine collection of data to the planning and carrying out of specific studies. Many research projects related to various nursing specialties can make a significant contribution to the planning and conduct of broad investigations into these areas and contribute much to revealing the health and welfare needs of the community in these areas and the degree to which they are being met
Often the nurse will participate as a member of a research team and, as such, carry out the following activities:
Suggest relevant areas that require investigation and help to define the specific problems to be investigated,
Participate in the designing of the study, including procedures for its implementations,
Assist in the collection of data and information,
Teach and supervise others- health personnel as well as members of the community- who are collecting information, and
Assist in the processing and interpretation of data, assume responsibility for the interpretation of material related to nursing, and recommend areas or problems for further study.
Where the nurse is solely responsible for the conduct of a study, his/her functions will be similar to those above, but, instead of participating and assisting, he/she will provide leadership responsibilities too.
These research functions do not preclude the need for expert advice from other nursing personnel or from other professional workers such as anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, physicians, and statisticians.
In conclusion, it is recognized that, of the five functional areas described above, general nursing practice, clinical specialization, management and supervision, education, and research- the area of general practice constitutes the core of nursing activities in the delivery of health care services
Prepared by-
Professor. Dr. Muna Abdulwahab Khaleel
College of Nursing / Al-Mustaqbal University / 2023-2024