Nursing Science
Nurse Science is closely connected to the daily practice of nursing care. Integrating scientific research into nursing professional practice is central to this. This is why LUMC, like many other hospitals, is introducing a scientific nursing position, the clinical nurse scientist, in nursing teams. They are masters-level educated nurses who combine clinical care with scientific research. Nursing science is in charge of the research conducted within these positions and supervises the clinical nurse scientist in the daily research process.
…Nurse Science is closely connected to the daily practice of nursing care. Integrating scientific research into nursing professional practice is central to this. This is why LUMC, like many other hospitals, is introducing a scientific nursing position, the clinical nurse scientist, in nursing teams. They are masters-level educated nurses who combine clinical care with scientific research. Nursing science is in charge of the research conducted within these positions and supervises the clinical nurse scientist in the daily research process.
In addition, Nursing Science involves nurses working in direct patient care in research projects that are related to patient care of their departments.
Nursing Science does not have a structural role in clinical patient care.
Educate bachelor's level nurses in competencies related to academic skills, qualitative and quantitative research methodology and statistics, and the integration of scientific research into nursing practice is one of the responsibilities Nursing Science. This enables nurses to learn to initiate research based on questions arising from everyday nursing practice. They also learn to integrate the outcomes of research into daily practice and implement it structurally in routine care. This is essential to keep nursing care up-to-date.
…Educate bachelor's level nurses in competencies related to academic skills, qualitative and quantitative research methodology and statistics, and the integration of scientific research into nursing practice is one of the responsibilities Nursing Science. This enables nurses to learn to initiate research based on questions arising from everyday nursing practice. They also learn to integrate the outcomes of research into daily practice and implement it structurally in routine care. This is essential to keep nursing care up-to-date.
To achieve this, nursing science provides education in various undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs within LUMC and beyond. Within LUMC, this is primarily the EBP education developed and offered within the Department of Health Care Education. Also, Nursing Science is structurally involved in the university master's program in Nursing Science, program in the master's program in Clinical Health Sciences at Utrecht University by lecturing different courses of the master's program. At the international level, Nursing Science annually contribute to the 3-year PhD Summer School of the European Academy of Nursing Science.
The research of Nursing Science research focuses on the continuing development, evaluation and implementation of existing and/or new effective and efficient interventions for nursing practice that improve health outcomes of patients and/or their loved ones. However, the effectiveness of care cannot be isolated from the context in which it is delivered and the stakeholders in the care process. Therefore, Nursing Science additionally focuses on identifying and understanding the specific characteristics, needs, preferences and requirements of patients and their families and/or of nurses and other caregivers in receiving and/or delivering care. Nursing Science also studies the effectiveness of care delivery on patient outcomes in terms of context and mode of care delivery.
…The research of Nursing Science research focuses on the continuing development, evaluation and implementation of existing and/or new effective and efficient interventions for nursing practice that improve health outcomes of patients and/or their loved ones. However, the effectiveness of care cannot be isolated from the context in which it is delivered and the stakeholders in the care process. Therefore, Nursing Science additionally focuses on identifying and understanding the specific characteristics, needs, preferences and requirements of patients and their families and/or of nurses and other caregivers in receiving and/or delivering care. Nursing Science also studies the effectiveness of care delivery on patient outcomes in terms of context and mode of care delivery.
Within LUMC, Nursing Science is a new academic discipline. Therefore, there is a need for a research focus that covers the full range of nursing care. At the same time, the ambition is to connect Nursing Science to the major societal challenges of healthcare in the coming decades. Because those challenges are accompanied by increasing fragmentation of care that jeopardizes the quality of care and thus patient outcomes, Nursing Science focuses on ‘Continuity of Care’ as a research theme. With this central theme, Nursing Science will conduct high-quality research that fits the local context of the LUMC and its collaborative partners
Within the research theme ‘Continuity of Care’ the following perspectives can be distinguished:
- management continuity: consistent and coherent care that is responsive to the patient’s changing needs in their self-management of health conditions in the intra- and interprofessional collaboration within and across teams, organizations and settings.
- informational continuity: in connecting care between healthcare professionals within and across teams, organizations and healthcare settings information, either disease or person focused, is the common thread. This perspective focuses on availability and proper use of personal and medical history to guarantee appropriate care for each individual.
- relational continuity: the therapeutic relationship between patient and healthcare professionals, placing their needs, perceptions, preferences, and capacities at the center. This perspective is essential to tailor, from the very beginning of development until application in regular clinical practice, interventions to the needs, perceptions, preferences, and capacities of patient and healthcare professionals, which increases the external validity of interventions.