Floor nurses lead studies

Nurses do not have to have a doctorate to conduct meaningful research at St. Luke’s Hospital on the Plaza.

Nurses throughout the hospital participate in research projects through the hospital’s Nursing Research Council. These projects are initiated by nurses, conducted by nurses and directly impact patient care.

St. Luke’s nurses have conducted 10 research projects in the past three years with funding from the Nursing Research Council.

“It’s the Nursing Research Council that wanted to do this,” said Lisa Riggs, RN, MSN, St. Luke’s clinical director. “Nurses who are taking care of patients are the best ones to ask questions for their patients.”

These questions are turned into studies that could possibly change policy at St. Luke’s.

“Our overall goal is not to make clinical nurses researchers, but to make clinical nurses curious,” Riggs said.

Rose Garcia, RN, BSN, CCRN, engaged her curiosity with a study in the cardiovascular intensive care unit.

During the study, nurses compared the cardiac index measurements in the supine in bed and out of bed positions for patients after cardiac surgery. The study came about after nurses noted how difficult it was for patients to get in and out of bed. When physicians asked for the measurements after a nurse had gotten the patient out of bed and into the chair, the policy required the nurse to get the patient back into bed before taking cardiac index measurements.

The study revealed that cardiac index measurements given when the patient was out of bed provided just as accurate results as those taken in bed.

Garcia said this information enables nurses to take these measurements on patients in or out of bed. The flexibility increases patient comfort and decrease nurses’ work load, she said.

Overall, Garcia said she enjoyed participating in the research.

“There’s no other study like our study,” she said. “It is very empowering.”

Nurses from the unit will present their study at the National Magnet Research Conference in Florida.

Cardiovascular intensive care nurse Sarah Shrum, RN, BSN, participated in the study.

“For me it was such a new experience,” Shrum said. “I would totally do it again. I thought it was way fun.”

Garcia said the physicians on the floor responded well to the results.

“They were very supportive,” she said. “We have a really good group of physicians.”

Briggs said studies the nurses conducted throughout the hospital have gotten great response from physicians, staff and other nurses.

“The benefit is the idea comes from the nurse taking care of the patients,” Riggs said.

St. Luke’s Nursing Research Council Chair Carole Decker, RN, Ph.D., FAAH, describes the research studies as a win all around for nurses, patients and the hospital.

“It’s gaining momentum,” Decker said. “It really becomes exciting for a nurse to engage in these kinds of activities.”

The council provides research classes that nurses can participate in twice a year.

Briggs said she would like to see nurses generate two new studies each year.

The council hired Jacque Carpenter, RN, Ph.D., through a grant from St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation to serve as nursing research program director.

“She’ll be dedicated to continuing to support (studies) and keep that enthusiasm going,” Decker said.

Nurses who participate in these studies often see the results have a direct impact on their unit, Briggs said.

In one study, nurses working in labor and delivery measured the effectiveness of walking to progress labor. Briggs said the results of this study could change how nurses advise patients who come in before labor.

“(The research) really becomes part of what you do everyday instead of a project,” Briggs said.

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