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Guest Editorial: Nursing and the UK research councils: time for change?
... We have not made any association between scores of impact case studies here and the final REF score per university; this exercise was primarily descriptive. The RCN Research Society has argued previously that research in nursing is underresourced in the UK (Kelly et al., 2015). Category 1 case studies support this argument by evidencing the value of nursing research and demonstrating return on investment through impact. ...
The UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 rated the research from 154 universities, and the impact of research was evaluated in 6975 impact case studies. Nursing was returned within unit of assessment (UoA) 3, which also included Dentistry, Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, although nursing research was also submitted within other UoAs. The study aim was to collate and categorise available REF impact case studies involving nursing researchers or on topics of relevance to nursing. Using nurs* as a search term, 469 case study entries were retrieved from the REF database and placed into three categories determined by the level of involvement of nurses. Some 80 impact case studies were submitted by nurses across 11 units of assessment, the majority being in UoA 3 (n = 55). A further 50 revealed some relevant impact, although nurses did not have an obvious research role. A total of 248 case studies described actual or potential impact on health or social care but were not associated specifically with nursing. Nursing research has demonstrable impact; however, there is a significant body of research with relevance for nursing that has not been associated with the profession in the REF. More attention should be paid to the ‘hidden impact’ of nursing research to ensure the full impact of nursing is recognised.
Despite the obvious advantages to patient care and professional development, nursing research in the UK is relatively poorly developed and research activity in nursing lags behind many of the more established university disciplines. The reasons for this are complex and numerous. The purpose of this article is to explore the most pertinent issues. For example, there is currently a lack of appropriately qualified research-active staff, the 'research culture' in many departments is inadequately developed, dedicated research funding is insufficient and competing demands are commonly placed on nurse academics. In order for research activity to improve significantly many of these problems have to be properly addressed because patient care and professional credibility are at stake.
Building on earlier work, this paper describes a coordinated and systematic method for identifying priorities for nursing development within a field of practice. The nursing contribution in stroke care serves as a case study, the primary aim of which was to establish priorities for research and development in stroke care from a nursing perspective. The initiative was a partnership between the Royal College of Nursing and the Stroke Association, supported by the Royal College of Physicians.
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