Research and innovation
Information and resources on using and developing research to enhance practice
Help shape our new research strategy
We’re developing a new RCN Research Strategy which, as part of the new RCN Institute, will shape how we develop evidence, expertise, education, policy and practice as an organisation, for our members and the wider nursing community.
Have your say
The first draft of our new strategy sets out our new approach, but we’d like your input too. Find out more about the new strategy.
High quality nursing research and support to innovate and use evidence in practice, enables nurses and those who work with them to develop new knowledge and nursing practice, and to ultimately transform patient care.
We are determined to maximize the opportunity for research and innovation to positively impact on the care experienced by patients and their families, and ensure our members gain fully from the support we offer to their decision making as professionals.
We are significantly increasing our members' access to the right standards, knowledge and information to support high quality care and drive improvements in practice.
Knowledge and Innovation Action Plan
The nursing professoriate in the UK
Timeline of professorial inaugural lectures
Research and innovation bulletins
The sections below demonstrate how the RCN will realise its goal of transforming care through using, building, assuring and sharing knowledge.
We promote the use of knowledge to inform policy and to inform decisions and nursing actions. We provide tools and help people develop the skills and confidence to ask questions, make evidence-informed decisions, innovate and adapt in response to changing needs.
Useful links
We contribute to and maintain a knowledge base for nursing, ensuring that our input to national and international multi-professional health research agendas is explicit. This contribution includes identifying and helping to fill gaps in standards, guidance and knowledge resources of relevance to nursing, and continuing to build the authoritative collection on nursing in the UK.
Useful links
Our outputs are evidence-informed, impartial and clear about the source, quality and strength of evidence presented. Our cataloguing of the RCN collection assures its intellectual integrity.
Useful links
We connect members to the knowledge they need so they can use it to improve quality of care. Format and content is relevant for people with different levels of expertise, roles, settings and influence. The content and expertise of the RCN library and archive and the staff supporting its use, inspire the nursing community and the public to gain an insight into the past, present and future of nursing.
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