Browsing by Author "Estabrooks, Carole"

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    Clinical nurse educators as agents for change: increasing research utilization
    (2005) Milner, Margaret; Estabrooks, Carole; Humphrey, C.
    The purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of research utilization among clinical nurse educators. The primary goal for clinical nurse educators is the facilitation of professional development of practicing nurses. Responsibilities include promoting best practice by mentoring others, acting as an information source, and assisting in the development of policies and procedures based on available research evidence. Using Rogers’ (Diffusion of Innovations, 4th edn., The Free Press, New York) diffusion of innovations theory as a theoretical foundation, we conducted a secondary analysis to test a predictive model of research utilization using linear regression. Results show that educators report significantly higher research use than staff nurses and managers. Predictors of research utilization include attitude toward research, awareness of information based on research, and involvement in research activities. Localite communication predicted conceptual research use and mass media predicted symbolic use, lending support to the idea that overall, instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic research utilization are conceptually different from one another. Our findings show that the research utilization behaviors of clinical nurse educators position them to facilitate evidence-based nursing practice in organizations. We discuss the theoretical, conceptual, and nursing role implications of our findings for nursing practice, education, and research. Suggestions for future research includes studying actual use of research findings of clinical nurse educators and designing intervention studies that assesses the effectiveness of clinical nurse educators as facilitators of research utilization in organizations.
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    Measuring knowledge utilization in health care
    (2003) Estabrooks, Carole; Wallin, Lars; Milner, Margaret
    In this paper we address the need for methodological advances in the research utilization field focusing on the area of measurement. Unresolved measurement challenges present an important and practical problem. An inability to adequately measure research utilization calls into question studies that claim to demonstrate either its causes or its effects. In this paper we: briefly review the concept of research utilization and its meanings, review the requirements of good measurement instruments, review existing research utilization instruments in nursing, and discuss implications and future requirements for scholarship in this field.
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    Research utilization and clinical nurse educators: a systematic review
    (2006) Milner, Margaret; Estabrooks, Carole; Myrick, Florence
    Background: Clinical nurse educators and other linking agents such as clinical nurse specialists, advanced nurse practitioners, and nurses working in research leadership positions are an important link in the facilitation of evidence-based practice in health care organizations. Aim: The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a systematic review of the literature regarding clinical nurse educators and research utilization, using the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework as a backdrop for the analysis. Findings: There is a positive relationship between research utilization and attitude toward research, higher levels of education, and reading professional nursing journals among clinical nurse educators. The authors suggest that not all clinical nurse educators have the necessary critical appraisal skills and research knowledge to use research effectively in practice. Conclusions: Few studies have examined clinical nurse educators and the determinants of their research utilization behaviour in clinical practice. Future research on clinical nurse educators needs to focus on the outcomes of research utilization, including the effectiveness of their role as facilitators and the contexts in which they practice.
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    Sources of practice knowledge among nurses
    (2005) Estabrooks, Carole; Rutakumwa, William; O’Leary, Katherine; Profetto McGrath, Joanne; Milner, Margaret; Levers, Merry Jo; Scott Findlay, Shannon
    Several studies have been published listing sources of practice knowledge used by nurses. However, the authors located no studies that asked clinicians to describe comprehensively and categorize the kinds of knowledge needed to practice or in which the researchers attempted to understand how clinicians privilege various knowledge sources. In this article, the authors report findings from two large ethnographic case studies in which sources of practice knowledge was a subsidiary theme. They draw on data from individual and card sort interviews, as well as participant observations, to identify nurses’ sources of practice knowledge. Their findings demonstrate that nurses categorize their sources of practice knowledge into four broad groupings: social interactions, experiential knowledge, documents, and a priori knowledge. The insights gained add new understanding about sources of knowledge used by nurses and challenge the disproportionate weight that proponents of the evidence-based movement ascribe to research knowledge.