Clinical nursing research: You can do it!

Nurses can use clinical nursing research to strengthen the knowledge base of their practice and to develop effective nursing interventions. When planning and implementing their studies, nurses must anticipate and deal with important issues concerning the realities of clinical nursing research. These issues include developing the research question, planning for an optimal sample size, passing the Institutional Review Committee, managing conflicts between clinical and research roles, selecting instruments to measure the variables, collecting data in a clinical setting, analyzing and interpreting the data, funding the proposed study, and ensuring administrative support.