The natural connection: the clinical nurse specialist and bedside nursing research

The educational preparation and consistent clinical focus of CNSs position them ideally for conducting research at the bedside and helping staff nurses see the relevance of such research. Our research studies have identified a new category of clinical nursing research termed bedside nursing research. Like its parent category of clinical nursing research, the function of bedside nursing research is to generate new knowledge or validate and expand previously generated knowledge. Characteristics that distinguish bedside nursing research from other forms of clinical nursing research are: focus, idea stimulus and setting, originator of the research question, relationship with theory, sensitivity to changing technology in health care, and impact on nursing practice. To illustrate the nature and outcome of this type of research, we describe three bedside nursing research studies conducted by CNSs in a pediatric oncology setting. These studies assessed: (1) the effects of chest tube stripping on the incidence of pain, fever, and pulmonary complications; (2) the relative safety and efficacy of techniques for blood sampling from Hickman catheters; and (3) the effects of infusion method on quality and survival of transfused platelets. The impact of these studies of hospital practices is reviewed.