EDITORIAL
Research groups in nursing: from knowledge transfer to the practice
Mercedes TrentiniI; Denise Maria Guerreiro da Silva VieiraII
IPhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Researcher at Center for Living Situations Chronicles of Health (NUCRON) Department of Nursing, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC)
IIPost-Doctorate by the Faculty of Nursing from the University of Alberta. Professor, Department of Nursing and the Post-Graduate Program in Nursing at UFSC. Coordinator of NUCRON
The route of the construction of knowledge is infinite and full of challenges. The biggest challenge of the research groups in nursing relates to joint participation of health institutions in the field of health care practice. Most of the research groups in nursing have no legitimate connection with the systems responsible for health practices, and this fact implies difficulties for knowledge transfer from academia to practice and vice versa. The origin of this gap may be related to the mismatch of interests and intentions of both parties. The research groups at universities centralize its activities on the development of knowledge, predominantly abstract knowledge, while the institutions are responsible for the practical knowledge and they need to guide this knowledge to solve problems in the short term, faced in their daily routines. Seen this way, one of the biggest challenges today, constitutes the official participation of health care institutions in the development and socialization of knowledge built by these research groups. Achieving this communication requires from each of the parts of health services, a research agenda that indicates their topics of interest.
In this sense, the responsibility of transferring the knowledge produced in research to practice is shared among professionals working in the field of practice and research. They are committed to building a partnership with professional the practice, to carry this device and making reliable research, to researching topics related to the practice and, above of all, to be aware of the demands and interests of nursing practice.
Although there are plentiful attempts to transfer the knowledge produced in research to the nursing practice, this still shows disharmony with the emerging theoretical evidences. Attempts to transferability intensified in the recent times and is still pursued as challenging. To realize such transferability of theoretical knowledge to practical care, we must consider that migration of knowledge simply does not match the translocation of the same, as it was designed by the researchers, because it needs to be rebuilt and you need a process des-abstraction so as to make it refined and adjustable based on the conditions of the practice. To perform the refinement of knowledge, researchers need to listen to the "voice of the practice" because it is in the field of practice that theoretical formulations emerge and need to return to practice in order to be tested, absorbed and incorporated or rejected. Reflecting this way, the evolution of nursing as a profession depends on the interaction process of knowledge emerged from practice and knowledge built by the research.
The formation of research groups also involves technical and administrative activities that promote transferability, such as: providing human and material resources sufficient in number and quality, encouraging attitudes of commitment to portability, both individual and organizational, and develop an education plan in the long run for professional training.
Besides these aspects, there is an availability for the type participatory methodologies, such as action research and research convergent-care, which shows suitability for the simultaneous construction of knowledge and its transfer to practice.
Another challenge to be faced by research groups is to overcome the lack of communication between groups alike. It is noticed that there is effective communication between the research groups existing in the same educational institution in nursing and, much less, with similar groups from other institutions. This vulnerability of the research groups can take each research group to enclose and thereby target group's own interests only, restricted to their own local interests.
Despite some attempts at building networks in the research in the health area, as has been proposed by CNPq in bidding for research funding, a consistent movement in this direction has not been observed. Most researchers continue to develop projects within the restricted context. This shows that the health professions are still tied to the traditional model, creating a culture of not opening for a job that involves a multidisciplinary and interagency discussion. To reach this level the research groups need to break paradigms, not only in relation to research methods, as is already happening, but mainly due to inter-academic relations.
A research network consisting of multiple investigative groups from different institutions, with trends in similar studies, would allow the cultural intellectual exchange, provide flexibility in the construction of knowledge related to certain lines of research, and especially, facilitate the transformation of the research results into new processes and health care products.
The organization of research network requires financial and technological support. Above all, a new arrangement of the members of the research groups to deviate from certain traditional paradigms and are imbued with the sense of community, participation and commitment to interdisciplinarity. We want to believe that the future of nursing research, as has been occurring in the world of marketing, will develop, composing networks formed by the reunion of these groups with similar themes and lines and the broadening and deepening of social commitment in common health institutions and education as relevant linking.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
08 Jan 2013 -
Date of issue
Dec 2012
