Hospital-based nursing research programs: a requirement for progress

Research has resulted in improvement of the quality of patient care, greater job satisfaction for nursing service personnel, and better utilization of personnel. Facilitation of research has been accomplished through the establishment of nursing research programs in hospitals. However, the current climate of economic restraint gives rise to the risk that research in hospitals will be viewed as a "budget luxury" which can be eliminated early in the financial review process. The need for a nursing research program as part of a modern hospital organization is defended in this paper. The benefits of such a program and an infrastructure supportive of nursing research are described.