Nurses do research too, and here ’s why it matters

Think “scientific research” and one may imagine doctors, Ph.D.s or technicians toiling away in the lab. But many people don’t realize that nurses do research too.Laura Perry, communications director for the UCLA School of Nursing, and Amy Albin, senior media representative for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, spoke with Karen Grimley, chief nursing executive at UCLA Health and assistant dean in the nursing school, about why the concept of nurses as researchers may be surprising to some, although the work they do is vital to improving the health and well-being of patients. The discussion coincided with the 15th annual Research and Evidence-based Practice Conference being hosted today and Wednesday on campus by the UCLA Health Nursing Practice Research Council and the UCLA School of Nursing. Geared toward clinicians, researchers and educators, the popular conference is designed to showcase ways to improve patient outcomes through science-based best practices and to provide opportunities for professional networking and education.What is the history of nurses as researchers?It started with the mother of nursing  — Florence Nightingale. She was a renaissance woman as it related to health care in the 1850s. Her work was all-encompassing and based in research. She measured illness and infection rates among wounded soldiers in the Crimean War and used those results to petition the British government to impr ove conditions, first, for the soldiers and then for pu...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news