Research Priorities for Community Nursing
Community nursing centres around taking account of the whole person, in terms of their physical, mental, psychological, social and emotional health and wellbeing, to provide support to patients and carers and improve their quality of life.
The aim of the community nursing PSP was to identify the unanswered questions about community nursing from patient, carer and clinical perspectives, and then prioritise those that patients, carers and clinicians agree are the most important for research to address.
This Community Nursing PSP has been led by four National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) 70@70 nursing research leaders, and was funded by the NIHR ARC Oxford and Thames Valley.
The nursing research leaders are from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Kent Community NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, and this partnership offers further opportunities for excellent collaborations across England.
Project lead / contact: Dr Catherine L Henshall - Oxford Brookes University
Are you a community nurse, and wondering how you could get involved in research?
If so, visit: www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/campaigns/yourpathinresearch
Or contact your local Trusts R&D team, who will be delighted to hear from you!
THE FINAL WORKSHOP FOR THE COMMUNITY NURSING PRIORITY SETTING PARTNERSHIP TOOK PLACE ON 14TH AND 15TH SEPTEMBER 2021.
In attendance were people who use community services, their family members, community nurses and their professional colleagues. Experienced James Lind Alliance Facilitators supported the process as a large group and in separate smaller groups to give everyone the opportunity to influence the final order of the evidence uncertainties.
There were 18 questions, ranked to the final Top 10, which will now be accessed by researchers to progress the uncertainties into research questions and projects to contribute to evidence for community nursing.
Top 10 Research priorities for Community Nursing.
| 1 | How can community nurse teams better meet the complex needs of patients with multiple health conditions? | 6 | How has community nursing changed in response to Covid-19? Are any of the changes (e.g. timed visits, new skills and working from home) worth keeping? |
| 2 | How can community nurses promote shared care/self-care amongst patients, and support carers to provide some aspects of care (e.g. changing dressings)? | 7 | Does seeing the same community nurse(s) over time make a difference to the quality of patient care? |
| 3 | How can community nurse teams best contribute to the management of acutely ill patients at home? What difference does this make to hospital admissions? | 8 | How can community nurses work effectively with other health professionals in hospitals and specialist community services to improve patient care? |
| 4 | What are the best ways for community nurses to involve unpaid carers/ relatives/ friends in decisions about their loved one’s treatment and care? | 9 | What are the stresses on community nurses and what impact does this have on their health and well-being? How can this be improved? |
| 5 | How can community nurse teams work effectively with social services and care services to improve the quality of patient care? | 10 | How can nurses be encouraged to become community nurses and to stay in the profession? |
A full listing, including eight additional prioritised questions, can be downloaded using the button below.