An article by Graue, Rasmussen, Iversen, and Dunning (2015) described an empirical study that investigated whether increasing the educational levels of nurses in rural Norway would improve the quality of their work. This process was deemed mutually beneficial to nurses and patients because both parties gained from improved competence and the acquisition of new knowledge. The evidence used to make the changes was big because it was rooted in empirical research. The study documented improved patient outcomes because increased education levels led to an increased quality of health care services offered to patients as nurses translated new knowledge into improved clinical practice.
One of the main challenges experienced by the researchers during the study was the difficulty of building nursing capacity in a changing health care system and in an environment where nurses were constantly overworked (Graue et al., 2015). Similarly, the nursing transitions identified in the study were complex. To overcome these challenges, the first step undertaken by the researchers was to spread out the research over a long period to accommodate varying schedules of the nurses. Secondly, the researchers used an expanded perspective on practice to make sense of the findings.
The selected article is useful to my role as a nursing practitioner because it could help to bridge the gap between theory and practice. For a long time, this gap has existed, and it has impeded the growth of the nursing field (Agbedia, Okoronkwo, Onokayeigho, & Agbo, 2014). The information obtained from the research study could also help in enhancing my understanding of how to improve nursing competence through skill advancement (Hussein & Osuji, 2017).
References
Agbedia, C., Okoronkwo, I., Onokayeigho, E., & Agbo, M. (2014). Nurses’ perspective of the research-practice gap in nursing. Open Journal of Nursing, 4(1), 95-100.
Graue, M., Rasmussen, B., Iversen, A.S., & Dunning, T. (2015). Learning transitions – A descriptive study of nurses’ experiences during advanced level nursing education. BMC Nursing, 14(30), 1-9.
Hussein, M., & Osuji, J. (2017). Bridging the theory-practice dichotomy in nursing: The role of nurse educators. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 7(3), 20-25.