National Nursing Nursing Education Taskforce

Recommendation 8 b) focuses on the future viability of nursing and midwifery research in Australia. How can we assure that not only is evidence found and applied for best practice, but also that nursing and midwifery makes a significant research contribution to the health care system and the health of the Australian people within the current context of research in Australia?

As part of the process of addressing the issues identified in recommendation 8 b) a series of forums /focus groups were held in each jurisdiction. In addition a literature search has been undertaken and efforts made to capture a snapshot of nursing and midwifery research currently.

Consultation

The following two areas were clearly rejected by the majority of the participants

A separate set of nursing and midwifery priority areas in research. The existing government National Research Priorities and the National Health Research Priorities were considered sufficient to accommodate much of nursing and midwifery research. It was advocated that nursing and midwifery researchers need to work within these government priorities, and also to ensure that they become more strategically placed to have an influence on the directions that the Government takes in research.

A dedicated pool of funding to provide research grant money (Recommendation 8 (b)). Forum participants pointed out that many nursing and midwifery researchers have been successful in accessing competitive national research funding. The view was put strongly that if nursing and midwifery is to be a strong force in the future, then its researchers must compete successfully on the same terms as other disciplines.

There were a number of areas that emerged as priorities by forum participants in order to ensure the future development of a strong nursing and midwifery profile. These included the following.

Integration of research findings into practice. The impact of nursing and midwifery research needs to be translated into practice, so that service delivery can be improved and the health of Australians benefit maximally. For this to occur, attention needs to focus on the research culture not only in the clinical area, but also in academia. Examples of strategies that had worked in building a positive research culture were given at the forums and these and other areas have been supported from the literature. Some clear strategic directions were provided – strategies that require an all of nursing and midwifery approach.

Building the longer-term research capacity. If nursing and midwifery research is to become stronger, then its longer-term capacity must be built now. Initially, this requires the development of a critical mass of researchers in particular research areas. Within a critical mass, expert researchers work together and gather around them a team of new and trainee researchers. Central to the establishment of “expert” status is the development of a research “track record”. A critical mass tends to develop more rapidly if the researchers work within programs of research, where the focus is on a particular area of research that is addressed in both breadth and depth. Within the development of a critical mass, the onus is to not only “grow” new researchers, but to enable novice researchers to build their own track records. In this way the longer-term capacity builds. From the forums, discussion with expert researchers and the literature, there are many strategies that nursing and midwifery can employ to build a critical mass, develop track records and achieve “expert’ status.

Getting smarter about being successful in accessing research funding. Effective research cannot be undertaken without adequate funding. Nursing and midwifery researchers have a history of being successful in accessing a wide variety of funding sources. However, in terms of longer-term capacity, the most effective sources are the competitive national research grants such as ARC and NHMRC. Many suggestions were made by forum participants and from these, and discussions with expert researchers, and the literature a number of strategies emerge that ensure a “smarter” approach to acquiring funding.

In addition to these priorities, a strong message from the consultation was the urgent need for a mechanism for a more co-ordinated national approach to nursing and midwifery research. Questions discussed included the role of Centres, the use of a leadership group, either an existing group, or a new group that could show the leadership necessary to co-ordinate nursing and midwifery research and to be a strong voice for nursing and midwifery research to government and other key stakeholders. Suggestions were made as to how this notion can be progressed.

Research Training for Nurses and Midwives

A report on Commonwealth funded Research Training Scheme Places and Australian Postgraduate Awards for nurses and midwives in Australia
May 2006

Increased research capacity in nursing and midwifery is essential to delivering optimum health services, developing research-led health policy and improving patient care. Growing awareness of patient safety initiatives, and the critical importance of inter-disciplinary team functioning in ensuring safe and effective care, are compelling reasons to elevate the importance of research capacity in nursing and midwifery as health sector research priorities.

Recommendation 8(a) of the National Review of Nursing Education (2002) Our Duty of Care Report focuses on building research capacity in the nursing and midwifery disciplines through Commonwealth support for higher-degree research training. The National Review of Nursing Education recommended that immediate steps be taken to ensure that the level of postgraduate research scholarships and research training places for nurses are at least maintained, with the longer-term target of doubling Research Training Scheme (RTS) commencement load by 2008.

Health Ministers referred Recommendation 8 to the National Nursing and Nursing Education Taskforce (N3ET), with direction to monitor and report on the implications of the Higher Education Review outcomes in relation to the recommendation and report to Ministers, as soon as appropriate.

N3ET conducted a national audit of Australian universities offering nursing and midwifery programs to assess current levels of RTS places and Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarships, and to determine whether the goal of doubling the number of nurses and midwives in RTS-supported places by 2008 was on target to be achieved. To support the audit, work was undertaken to establish the extent and capacity of research training in nursing and midwifery in Australia and to identifying the barriers and opportunities that impact on any efforts to increase the number of higher-degree research (HDR) students.

The report presents the results of the N3ET’s national audit of nursing and midwifery students enrolled in higher degrees by research in Australia, with a specific focus on access to the Australian Government’s Research Training Scheme (RTS).

Our Duty of Care - Recommendation 8

What is this project about?

Consultation

Research Training for Nurses and Midwives

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