Nursing Research Council Helps Nurses Improve Patient Care

In 2004, two nurses in the Martin Memorial Maternal-Child Department wanted to answer a question: was the DNA found in a newborn’s umbilical cord blood unique to it, or was it shared with the mother? And if it was unique, could that blood be used to provide DNA identification, rather than having to do a heel stick to draw blood – the standard operating procedure at the time.

So the nurses, along with Suzanne Crouch, Ed.D., MSN, ARNP, RN-BC, a nursing instructor from Florida Atlantic University, launched a study to answer that question. The research showed that DNA in cord blood was indeed unique to the baby – eliminating the need for the heel stick – and their study was published in the July/August 2007 edition of the Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecological and Neonatal Nursing.

That study by members of the nursing staff began the nursing research initiative as a source of evidence for the ANCC Magnet designation that Martin Memorial nursing is pursuing. In 2008 Martin Memorial affiliated with Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and initiated a nursing research council to encourage nursing staff to participate in their own research projects and foster a culture of appreciative inquiry within the nursing department. This affiliation is supported by Dr. Crouch and Dr. Pat Liehr, associate dean of nursing research and scholarship at Florida Atlantic.

Front row (l-r): Heather Hobby, Dr. Suzanne Crouch, Dr. Pat Liehr, Safina England, Sandy Dodd, Gena Palank.
Back row (l-r): Karen Ripper, Tiffany Cabibbo, Andrea Roloff, Sharon Beiser, Lynne Turcotte, Kristin Austin, Dr. Beth Pross.

Ultimately, the goal is to help improve the way patient care is delivered not just at Martin Memorial, but potentially in the nursing field as a whole.

“We want to promote evidence-based care,” said Karen Ripper, senior vice president and administrator of Martin Memorial Medical Center, and chief nursing officer. “We know by studying a question you can make a change in not only in patients’ lives, but nurses’ lives as well. This can empower nurses, so they’re providing care based on evidence that is believable, not based on custom or tradition.”

The call for potential research topics was sent out to the staff midway through the year and the council received numerous potential studies. In December, the research council announced three projects had been selected by a panel to continue moving forward and three others were named as honorable mentions.

The top three include subjects that explore topics such as: the perception of the patient who has been restrained in the intensive care unit; phase two of the umbilical cord blood study in infants; and will the use of white boards in oncology patients’ rooms help them participate more in their own care plans, therefore improving patient satisfaction.