An evidence-based approach to community nursing

Evidence-based practice is the mantra of all nurses and health visitors. We aim to always give evidence-based care to the children and families we serve, but many of us wish to contribute to that evidence too by becoming more research active. We are often deterred from becoming more research active by the notion that researchers are all professors based in universities, and all celebrate a long academic career – and at the very least, they all hold a PhD. To an extent this is correct; research professors to tend to be the leaders of nursing research programmes but they are also one part of an increasingly diverse group of nurses at various stages of their research skills development, with many based primarily in practice.

The QNI's Community Nursing Research Forum provides an opportunity for nurses and health visitors at all stages of exposure to and experience of research, to come together to explore the skills and knowledge required for becoming more involved in undertaking research (https://qni.org.uk/nursing-in-the-community/community-nursing-research-forum). After a pilot year funded by NIHR, for which we are extremely grateful, the QNI is delighted that the Forum has over 1000 members – and they range from ‘research-interested’ to post-doctoral researchers seeking to diversify the methods of research they wish to apply and learn more about research methods they may not have used in their doctorate. The learning between members is fabulous – and the mentor matching scheme more successful than we ever imagined.