Priorities for research

Topic areas are listed alphabetically, not in any order of priority and it is acknowledged that they represent initial considerations and are in need of further refinement.

Care and caring practices

  • chronicity
  • exit from and access to service
  • health technology
  • informal carers
  • nursing interventions
  • nursing assessment
  • nursing led services
  • patient experiences

Health environment

  • achieving interdisciplinary working
  • assessment in health alliances
  • commonalities in integration and translation across disciplines
  • comparison of methods for determining health needs and outcomes
  • empowerment strategies in relation to health needs
  • feasibility and effectiveness of needs
  • nursing contribution to holistic needs in health alliances
  • the development of integrated nursing teams

Organisation and management of services

  • decision making: roles and boundaries
  • functional, social & economic evaluation of outcomes
  • needs assessment
  • commissioning
  • care delivery systems
  • patterns of care
  • education and training

healthcare workforce

  • Economic evaluation
  • Hidden work and hidden value of nursing
  • methods for economic evaluation and tools for use
  • value of hidden nursing work in society
  • redifferentiation of nursing roles
  • natural experiments to identify hidden work
  • users and carers in configuration of teams
  • costs and benefits of nursing workforce
  • the dynamics of delegation
  • social geography and other economic factors
  • future research in workforce planning
  • monitoring contextual changes in recruitment and retention
  • systematic review of evidence on recruitment and retention
  • transferability of evidence from other team building settings
  • the structure and function of team working organisations

Issues which emerged as common to all groups

Research priority issues:

  • decision making / rationing of services
  • economic evaluation;
  • evaluation of outcomes.
  • interdisciplinary education and training;
  • interdisciplinary needs assessment;
  • interdisciplinary team working;
  • models of service delivery;
  • patient/ user involvement in service delivery

Research infrastructure issues:

  • the need for an effective communication network between these professions and the broad health related R&D community;
  • the involvement of clinical practitioners in R&D priority setting;
  • the balance between service demands and research activities;
  • the development of research review activities relevant to practice issues;
  • the implementation of research evidence into practice;
  • the co-ordination and consolidation of research interests and expertise.