Conducting unit-based research to improve quality of care

How does a tertiary care medical center without a primary academic nursing affiliation improve quality of patient care by conducting unit-based nursing research? The organization's strengths and opportunities include top management support, an infrastructure for development of nurse researchers, a specific patient care coordinator role, research supporting organizational decision making, and success in obtaining nursing research grants. The effects of limited consultative support, statistical avoidance, reorganization, competing staff demands, and lack of funding must be minimized. Strategies include: continue communication with top management, provide meaningful development opportunities and technical research support, build on completed research, use multidisciplinary teams, and change thinking to maximize the research opportunities that already exist.