Collaboration with an adjunct professor develops research opportunities

Background: Nurses have a professional responsibility to deliver care based on the best available evidence. However, it needs a supportive environment in the department to achieve a nursing practice where existing knowledge can be translated to clinical practice. There is a need for nurses to have opportunities
to provide local clinical research at a practical level.
Objective: To identify clinical research priorities to further develop evidence based patient care. To develop nursing research capacity and capability at Zealand University Hospital and foster collaborative research opportunities between the Faculty of Education, Institute of Health, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom and the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark.
Method: In the Orthopaedic Department, Zealand University Hospital a postdoc fellow and clinical nurse specialists were employed. A forum was established for nurses engaged in research and development. Contact was established to a professor from United Kingdom and in 2017 The University of Southern
Denmark awarded her as an adjunct professor in orthopaedic nursing research.
Results: During 2017 the adjunct professor visited the department two times where approximately 60 out of 90 nurses heard her presentation: Research is everybody’s business. Nurses identified areas within their daily practice where they saw nursing practice could be improved. The research is everybody's
business approach aims to demystify research for clinically based nurses, facilitating them to identify research priorities and be active members of research planning through implementation methods such as action
research.
Conclusion and implication for practice: Nurses are enthusiastic about the international collaboration with the adjunct professor. In the future, more collaborative research will be created.