Nursing Research Day - Essay Example

Nursing Research Day The essay aims to address a two-fold objective to wit to attend a research conferencein a preferred area; and (2) to write a one-page reaction paper in response to the experience.Nursing Research Day Research and disseminating research findings on nursing practice play a vital role in empowering nurses and in improving healthcare. Recently, I have attended a research conference at Presentation College in Aberdeen on March 18 where I have realized several key points in the evolution of public health nursing and its current directions.

Reflecting from the first presentation entitled “Past, Present, and Future of Public Health Nursing”, I noticed that diseases rapidly changed from simple to complex and from treatable to hardly treatable in just a short period of time; whereas, active shaping of nurses and the healthcare delivery system were slow and given less priority. It feels like the system we have that time only focused on the disease and not on what we can do to prevent occurrence of diseases. It is quite sad that ‘prevention’ was only a word because if not, should public health nurses receive more professional development trainings to help the community prevent diseases?

Should more facilities and better health care delivery be obtained to prevent worsening of diseases or ease recovery? Attending a research conference like this will lead participants like me to examine current practices and advocate for change. Sometimes, it will leave you asking yourself a number of questions about the result and your immediate experience as you critically examine the findings. You see yourself in the process – directly or not directly involved. The second presentation entitled “An Update on the State of Nursing” has helped me realize that statistics and numbers would not matter unless it will be put into words and will be given interpretation.

At first, participants of the research were only given demographics of the nurses’ educational pursuit, position in government and organization, and employment rates. These were not much appreciated until these results were interpreted and benchmarked. I have felt the need to fulfill several vacant opportunities, especially on the administration path. We, nurses, advocate for change in our status and in the delivery of care. However, how will the administration understand us if those who are seated are businessmen, stockholders, or others not from the health profession?

How can we advocate for change in Congress if our voices were so little? Conducting and disseminating research findings are important in imbibing awareness of the current situations, changing our stand in the society, and becoming actively involved in the process. Without these, change will not be possible as we will not have scientific or logical proof to ground our claims. Nurses need research for one’s professional development and for continuously upholding delivery of high-quality care to the community.

ReferencesKenon Jr., C. (2014). An Update on the State of Nursing. Research Day at Presentation College, (n.p.). Aberdeen. Knutson, D. (2014). Past, Present, and Future of Public Health Nursing. Research Day at Presentation College, (n.p.). Aberdeen.