UK nurse research training programmes prove to be a hot topic at RCN conference

The RCN International Nursing Research Conference offered stimulating speeches and the chance for nurse researchers worldwide to share ideas

I was delighted to represent Nurse Researcher and meet so many of the journal’s readers and contributors at the recent RCN International Nursing Research Conference at Sheffield Hallam University.

Comments and feedback are important and ensure that this journal meets the needs of nurse researchers and continues to attract new readers across the globe.

At a fringe session – Disseminating research for impact – I spoke about the metrics for measuring impact and offered some strategies for researchers to enhance the impact of their publications. The presentation aimed to encourage researchers to consider impact issues when disseminating their research and to implement strategies to ensure that their work has the widest reach.

Hugh McKenna’s stimulating keynote speech on the impact of impact provided useful insight into the measures of the research excellence framework in the UK and its implications for researchers and universities. For those not at the conference the presentation is available on the RCN conference website and is well worth listening to.

Importance of nurse staffing in health outcomes and patient safety

The other memorable keynote was delivered by Linda Aiken, Claire Fagin professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, US. Professor Aiken is a world leader in work around the impact of safe nurse staffing interventions. Her powerful international evidence highlighted the importance of nurse staffing in health outcomes and patient safety.

The growing interest and evidence around clinical research nurses and research career pathways for nurses in the UK was a notable feature of the conference. It was informative to hear presentations about various programmes running across the UK to support clinical nurses to engage in research training and clinical research.

I hope that we will see an increasing number of papers submitted to Nurse Researcher about these research training programmes and their evaluations as I am sure that sharing the knowledge of what has worked would be of interest to our readers. Please contact julie.sylvester@rcni.com with your suggestions.

Liz Halcomb, @LizHalcomb, is editor of Nurse Researcher