Editorial
Gloria Carvajal-Carrascal
0000-0001-a244-2731. Decana Facultad de Enfermería y Rehabilitación, Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia. [email protected]
Keywords (Source DeCS): Nursing; health; nursing research; evidence-based nursing; scientific and technical publications.
Palabras Clave (Fuente DeCS): Enfermería; salud; investigación en enfermería; enfermería basada en la evidencia; publicaciones científicas y técnicas.
Palavras-chave (Fonte DeCS): Enfermagem; saúde; pesquisa em enfermagem; enfermagem baseada em evidências; publicações científicas e técnicas.
To reference this editorial / Para citar este editorial / Para citar este editorial: Carvajal-Carrascal G. Research in the Nursing Care Group - UniSabana and Aquichan: Track Record and Challenges. Aquichan. 2021;21(4):e2141. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/aqui.2021.21.4.1
Nursing is a professional discipline that, building on scientific knowledge, seeks to take care of people and improve professional practice in different areas based on understanding its phenomena and using the best available evidence (1). Its core or subject matter is the care of human health experience (2, 3), although recent conceptualizations indicate that the discipline is oriented towards humanization, meaning, choice, quality of life, and healing in living and dying processes (4). Therefore, theoretical development, research, and practice should focus on comprehending these constructs and devising transferable care strategies that promote health, improve well-being, and ensure a comprehensive approach to human beings' health (5, 6).
Based on the different professional practice roles, nursing is bound to rise to the demographic, cultural, social, and global health challenges, pointed out by various international organizations and institutions, and fufill the commitments established in the global agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It must address challenges related to maternal and infant mortality, improved nutrition, mental health, progress in the prevention and control of infectious diseases, the management of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD), the strengthening of response to emergencies and disasters, the provision of person-centered care, the assurance of access to universal health coverage, among others (7-12).
To continue its disciplinary development, nursing needs to reinforce research understood as a creative, systematic, and rigorous process to produce and use knowledge to impact the health experience of individuals, families, and community groups positively. Nursing research is essential to improve health care, understand the problems of practice, identify the most effective strategies or interventions, and guide institutional and public policies aimed at more affordable and equitable health and social services (10, 13, 14). Based on knowledge and practical experience, nursing professionals can theorize, formulate hypotheses, and collect evidence to improve patient care and outcomes (15).
In this regard, the available literature shows current trends in nursing research, namely: i) demographic changes; ii) diversity and globalization; iii) technological innovation; iv) individualized care and population health; v) health policies, and vi) changes in the nursing workforce. Some guidelines are related to the cost/effectiveness of care analysis; reducing the gaps between nursing research and practice —by identifying barriers and enablers in the development of highly innovative evidence-based approaches for advanced practice—; using data science to facilitate research and improve health care services; training the future generation of researchers from a range of high-quality, flexible, and accessible programs and the necessary interdisciplinarity to address the population's health problems (16).
Consistent with these global social and health challenges, and with the Universidad de la Sabana's Educational Project postulates and the mission of the Department of Nursing and Rehabilitation, the Nursing Care Research Group - UniSabana has promoted the development of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral research for 24 years to improve practice from knowledge transfer. The benefits of this work are noticeable in the improved health and well-being conditions of people regionally, nationally, and internationally. The group has also resolved to understand the health experience of care recipients, developing simple and complex interventions to meet the resulting needs, influencing health outcomes, validating the results for the benefit of people, and consolidating disciplinary knowledge (17).
For more than two decades of work, the group has concentrated on investigating those nursing phenomena that promote health and well-being in communities, schools, workplaces, and hospitals, to better the experience of caring for the patient's health, respond to problems of social inequity, promote healthy lifestyles, and strive for greater autonomy and participation in health with the leadership and commitment of individuals and communities. It has also inquired about phenomena related to the theory and quality of nursing care, emphasizing the development of nursing interventions and the measurement of empirical indicators that make the cost/effectiveness of care variable visible to ensure autonomy and dignify the human condition (17).
A significant initiative, derived from the track record of this research group, has been the creation of the Master's in Nursing (campus-based and virtual) and, more recently, the Doctorate in Nursing that, based on researcher training, seeks to align advanced nursing training with the practice needs and the care priorities of the health sector. According to the literature, these programs are responsible for consolidating high-quality lines of research that further the understanding of phenomena related to health care and the development of nursing interventions that contribute to building practice on scientific evidence, in addition to guiding institutional policies related to people's health care and influencing public health policies to transform health services (17-19).
Efforts to consolidate and make visible the research development of the discipline are also materialized in Revista Aquichan. In its 20 years of existence as a scientific publication, it has been faithful to the meaning of its name, "caring." As such, it aims to make the theoretical development of nursing visible and become a means of disseminating advances in nursing science in favor of disciplinary practice and the well-being of patients.
This commemorative issue brings together outstanding national and international scholars and icons in nursing who present their conceptualizations, reflections, and prospects regarding the disciplinary development required for the coming years. Topics such as pragmatic and empirical adequacy in medium-range theories, the conceptual and theoretical origins of empirical indicators, and the development of medium-range theories to strengthen nursing in Colombia are addressed from conceptual advances. From the methodological perspective, the contribution of systematic reviews and meta-analyses is examined. We also introduce a change in the graphic line of the journal that gives a modern and versatile look to the issue without affecting its mission, scope, and themes.
For the coming years, the Nursing Care Group - UniSabana sees an excellent opportunity to continue impacting people's health and quality of life significantly by generating knowledge that can be transferred to practice, responding to the actual needs of the population. Revista Aquichan will continue to lead high-quality editorial processes that ensure the visibility of nursing knowledge worldwide.
References
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