[Research competencies in nursing specialties]

Since nursing became an university degree in 1977, there have been several regulations to develop specialties, all of them agreeing on the need to include skills in research. Indeed, the relevance of acquiring these skills in all current disciplines has led to Royal Decree 99/2011, which regulates the official PhD courses, and recognises specialist nurses as qualified to access PhD studies. Nowadays, students from six of the seven specialties included in the Royal Decree 450/2005 on nursing specialties, are performing their training. The acquisition of research skills is seen as an opportunity and a challenge. However, the organizational structure of training facilities (multiprofessional teaching units) and the incorporation of nurses as clinical tutors, who initiated this teaching activity, deserve special attention to ensure the correct acquisition of research skills in the training of specialist nurses.