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Let the evidence show…
By Stephanie Patrick
Working to boost the knowledge base and research opportunities for
a clinical specialty of nursing, TCU’s Harris College has teamed with
the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates, a national
nursing organization, to offer a gastroenterology and endoscopy
nurse fellows program and a nurse scholars program focused on
evidence-based practice.
Eleven staff nurses from across the United States came to TCU in
February as fellows to learn how the concepts of evidence-based
practice can be applied in their day-to-day clinical practices. They,
as well as the eight nurse scientists named scholars (pictured above),
were selected by SGNA to take part in the inaugural three-year
learning opportunities.
“The fellowship recipients went through an intensive program, where
they learned about evidence-based practice, the things that you
have to think about when you are trying to change practice, how to
work with interdisciplinary teams and critiquing the evidence. They
focused on determining when is it appropriate to apply evidence
to practice versus when you need more evidence,” said Kathy Baker,
PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CGRN, FAAN and the deputy director of TCU’s
Center for Evidence Based Practice & Research: A Collaborating
Center of The Joanna Briggs Institute. “It was a week-long, in-depth
immersion in evidence-based practice.”
The scholars will be prepared to build a repository of synthesized
research applicable to gastroenterology and endoscopy.
“As a nursing specialty, we aren’t that big; there are only 8,000-9,000
members of the organization,” said Baker, an ex-officio member of
SGNA board of directors and the editor of the organization’s peer-
reviewed journal. “When you think about it, that means there isn’t
a huge group of nurse scientists in the specialty to develop the
research in that area; (there aren’t) a lot of resources to support
developing the science and using the science in the specialty.”
Some projects include instituting a hospital-wide scope reprocessing
committee, nurse-administered Propofol sedation in endoscopy
and colonoscopy preparation for the diabetic patient, according to
information provided by Susan Mace Weeks, DNP, RN, CNS, LMFT,
FAAN, associate dean of Harris College and also the center’s director.
The SGNA fellowship and scholars programs are modeled after a
broader, evidence-based nursing program introduced several years
ago at TCU. That program, which will accept its fifth class of fellows
this fall, is designed for nurses in North Texas and includes several
specialties.
New SGNA fellows and scholars will be competitively selected to
participate in the national programs every year. Applications for the
next group of fellows and scholars will be accepted in the fall.
“Their home institutions must agree to give the nurses eight hours
per month to work on their evidence-based practice projects,”
Baker said.
Nurses also need a mentor in that institution, someone who
understands and knows the research process, and who can be
supportive and help them access what they need.
“We’ve been very happy to see that a lot of the nurses who participate
seem to have a renewed enthusiasm about nursing and about their
practices,” Baker said. “Quite a few of them have gone on to pursue
higher education and many of them have begun to be very active
leaders in their organizations.
“We’ve been very pleased that the outcome hasn’t just been the
evidence-based practice piece, but a lot of professional development
and leadership.”
“We’ve been
very happy to see that a lot of
the nurses
who participate seem to
have a
renewed enthusiasm about nursing and
about their practices
,” Baker said.
Front Row (L-R): Dee Sadler, Rhoda Redulla, Glenda Daniels, Sharon Dudley-
Brown; Back Row (L-R): Kathy Baker, Donna Zucker, Marilyn Schaffner,
Marilee Schmelzer, Susan Nuccio, Susan Weeks (Photo by Jim Hudson)
FEATURES
The Harris College Magazine
- Summer 2012 ·
5