Clinical Nursing and Midwifery Research in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Nurses and midwives are well placed to improve the health outcomes of patients in a number of areas, so the fields of nursing and midwifery must include the ability to conduct rigorous research, synthesize findings into relevant evidence, and use research to inform practice. However, clinical nursing issues in regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) are often under-researched. The three projects included in this proposal are part of a larger study funded by the Columbia University President’s Global Innovation Fund in collaboration with the Office of Global Initiatives of Columbia University School of Nursing. This dissertation includes three aims: (a) conduct a scoping review of published clinical nursing research to assess the current state of research in the region, (b) conduct a formal program evaluation of a Research Summit that identified clinical nursing and midwifery research priorities and developed an action plan for the EMR, and (c) describe perceptions of barriers and facilitators to research utilization among nurse leaders in the EMR. The results of the scoping review demonstrated that there was limited clinical nursing and midwifery research that has been conducted in the Region. The program evaluation indicated that the Summit was successful and a number of actionable projects have been carried out as a result. Furthermore, the results of the Barriers Scale (Funk et al., 1991) showed that the main barriers to research utilization were lack of funding and resources, lack of support, lack of interest, and lack of training while the main facilitators were placed into the categories of improving support and research culture, resources, and education and training. GDP also significantly impacted the extent to which participants experienced barriers to research utilization. It is important that more Region-specific research be carried out. In order to do this, the research skills of nurse/midwife researchers need to be enhanced and the dissemination of their research supported. Nurse and midwife researchers in the Region should develop consensus regarding specific regional clinical research topics to be given priority and provide support so that nurse and midwifery researchers overcome any barriers they face regarding utilizing clinical research in their practice so that patients can be provided with better and safer care.