Learning Content: Chapter 1 Nursing

¶ … learning content: Chapter 1

Nursing research requires a balance between abstract and concrete thinking. On one hand, research by its very nature deals with abstraction, given that it is trying to create a generalization about a subject, like the ability of a patient's family to obey complicated discharge instructions (Burns & Grove, 2005, p.3). However, nursing is ultimately a practical discipline that deals with the demands of human health on an individual basis. Nursing research is descriptive and empirical because nursing is a reality-based discipline. Nursing research should contribute to evidenced-based practice, and cannot be pure, theoretical research that is removed from the world of human interaction. Nursing research is almost always validated through sensory data, according to Burns & Grove (2005, p.6). The only possible exception is psychological nursing dealing with patient's affective mood states, but even here usually the patient's perceived mood is measured and validated on a scale, such as a standardized mood inventory.

But this does not mean that nursing research can avoid abstractions altogether. The process of deductive reasoning is necessary to apply research to everyday practice. There are also philosophical questions that arise. After all, nursing research has a dual obligation: to further knowledge and to serve humanity. This raises a number of ethical issues. For example, how to weigh the rights of the patients in a study vs. The need to further the research construct? Patients with a serious illness may want to take the chance they might benefit from an experimental drug, and argue that it is unethical for half of the participants relegated to a control group, which would mean that they would not benefit from the medication. Nursing research requires nurses to be critical thinkers as well as technically astute, and capable of translating ethical questions, 'hunches' they might have from hands-on practice, and anecdotal evidence into a study format that can be objectively validated yet is consistent with the humane principles of nursing.