Cognition of nursing translational medical research among nursing practitioners in China

Nursing translational research (TR) begins with clinical discovery and medical research and leads to clinical application in patients. TR is key to improving nursing quality and developing the nursing profession. However, its development in China remains limited, and the reasons for this are unclear. We aim to enhance the recognition of nursing TR among nursing practitioners in China by exploring their cognition about nursing TR and associated influences.

We distributed an internet-based questionnaire to 683 nursing practitioners between February 13 and March 15, 2023. We analyzed the characteristics and cognition of nursing TR using descriptive statistics, the chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and stepwise logistic regression analysis. The majority (79.65%) of nursing practitioners who responded to the questionnaire were willing to participate in nursing TR.

Nursing practitioners with a higher educational level, stronger recognition of the importance of nursing TR, and stronger recognition of transdisciplinary nursing TR were more willing to participate in nursing TR.

The results of this study can accelerate nursing practitioners' willingness to participate in nursing TR.

We identified strategies to promote TR: provide further education, optimize courses in higher education, disseminate information, provide guidance on the importance of nursing TR, and establish a nursing TR platform with appropriate potential collaborators.