Research in the Rehabilitation Unit Presents Challenges to Nurse Researchers

Gathering data from patients on a rehabilitation unit poses challenges for nurse researchers.

A case study is presented that describes ways the researchers attempted to meet these challenges while conducting their study.

The case study presents the approaches that the investigators took to undertake the study and then described the ways in which these approaches could have been improved.

Their successes and failures are described.

Suggestions are made for future investigators.

Clinical nursing research is required to develop an evidence base for practice in the rehabilitation unit. An analysis of the challenges and possible methods of overcoming these challenges is useful to both future investigators and nurses in practice to insure that studies can be carried out effectively.