Research collaboration benefits everyone

摘要

To the Editor, The daily work of nursing would overwhelm many individuals outside of the field, and the challenges facing nurses in perinatal centers leave little extra time for busy practitioners. This is why it is especially impressive when nurses make time for research collaborations outside of their daily practice requirements. Although difficult to squeeze into a rigorous schedule, these collaborations can pay valuable dividends to patients, staff, and the broadening of nursing scholarship. The publication of "Treatment-Seeking Behaviors and Attitudes Survey among Women at Risk for Perinatal Depression or Anxiety" would not have been possible without the generous support of Linda Newhouse, MSN, RNC, WHNP, and Marie Cooper, RNC-LRN, BSN, MBA, of Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus Ohio. In addition to thanking them for this service, I write this letter because their willingness to collaborate with a non-hospital-affiliated researcher has produced several important nursing benefits beyond the publication of research that are worth mentioning: 1. Opportunities for personalized continuing education. Our research findings are shared at the end of each project with nurses on the postpartum unit, along with practical implications of the findings, allowing nurses an opportunity to learn more about the women they treat. 2. Opportunities for practicing nurses to contribute to new hypotheses. Often, insights from nurses attending the educational feedback sessions are noted and included in future studies. This strengthens the relationship between practice and science, ensuring that new studies are relevant and practice based. Data for quality improvement and standards reporting. The burden of completing 6-week and 6-month breastfeeding outcomes, for example, may be overwhelming for busy nurses but can easily be incorporated into a research survey on a similar topic. With little additional effort, these data can be incorporated into grant applications, annual reports, and evaluations of current breastfeeding education.