The mission of the Foundation of New York State Nurses Association Central New York Nurses Center for Nursing Research Planning Committee (CNR-PC) is to improve nursing practice through facilitating and conducting nursing research and promoting the best available evidence. To realize this mission, the CNR-PC is dedicated to supporting the development and ongoing efforts of regional nursing research alliances. A research alliance is a group of individuals in a geographic area who come together to identify ways to promote evidence-based practice (EBP), collaborate on research projects, and raise awareness of nursing research in the healthcare community. The words consortium and collaborative have also been used to describe an alliance. Six alliances currently exist in New York State, creating research networks in the Capital District, Leather-stocking area, Central New York/Syracuse region, Long Island/Metro New York City, the Hudson Valley, and most recently the Rochester area. From creating online continuing education programs to sponsoring symposia and conducting multi-site studies, these alliances are actively engaged as catalysts for the generation and use of best evidence as the basis for nursing practice in New York State. The CNR-PC looks forward to supporting the growth of future alliances in Buffalo, the North Country, and anywhere nurses are working to improve and maintain the health of the communities they serve.
Research alliance benefits
There are several important reasons to establish a research alliance, the primary one being a way to network with others interested in research and EBP. This connection leads to sharing ideas and resources. An alliance also offers an opportunity for those who wish to learn about research and EBP to link with coaches and mentors, provides an avenue for nurse educators and leaders to expose novices to research, and promotes current best evidence being applied in practice.
Knowing where to find doctorally prepared nurses and those with research experience can be a challenge; an alliance can help overcome this. For those actively engaged in research, an alliance can assist in identifying multi-site study partners and provide a forum to disseminate research findings. Alliance members are not only eager to assist with research when possible, they also look forward to learning from other researchers. These educational experiences are typically available to everyone free of charge, are delivered on a level understandable by all, and span a variety of research and EBP topics. Overall, alliances provide a way for nurses to connect within and across organizations at local, regional, and state levels. Being able to achieve this type of connection increases the visibility of professional nursing in the community and allows nurses to improve health within and across communities.
How to initiate an alliance
The first step in initiating a regional research alliance is the same first step that nurses take every day to care for patients: Recognize the need. This may seem like stating the obvious; however, it takes only one person who believes that research and EBP are important and who recognizes that these factors are missing in their setting to have a significant impact on the creation of a research alliance.
The second step in initiating an alliance should then be taken as quickly as possible: Recruit colleagues for support. Find that first colleague right away. Even the most motivated, energized champion of EBP and research can benefit from having someone who agrees that forming an alliance is a good idea. Additional colleagues could be strategically chosen to represent constituencies and skill sets most important for creating and sustaining the fledging alliance. Examples include a nurse colleague who has contacts in the community, someone who is skilled at networking, and another who is a good organizer. Appropriate colleagues are those who enjoy the early work of envisioning what might be the vision, mission, and goals of the alliance. They also can be counted on to help out with such last-minute adventures as finding a new meeting location because someone double-booked a room, starting (and perhaps finishing) a meeting because patient acuity requires the alliance chair to stay on the unit, or stepping in as a substitute for a guest speaker who has been snowed in at home.
A note of caution here: While it is important to have an idea of the mission of the alliance early in development, that mission cannot become so pre-determined that no one beyond the initial group will be interested in alliance membership. A group will be most successful in the long-term when they are able to work together to define their roles and mission so that they meet each participant's needs.
The third step in initiating an alliance is to identify and contact other individuals and groups that might share an interest in starting and maintaining the alliance. Organizations that might be interested in both the shortand long-term life of the alliance include:
* The local NYSNA district.
* Local chapters of Sigma Theta Tau International and other professional nursing organizations.
* Leaders in the workplace wherever nurses are employed, including selfemployed nurses.
* Hospitals on the Magnet journey or with Magnet status.
* Colleges and schools of nursing.
In addition to these potential sources of support and alliance membership, the Foundation of New York State Nurses and those regional alliances already in existence are ready and willing to help anyone who is interested in extending support for research and EBP across New York State.
Where alliances are needed
Broadly stated, alliances are needed wherever one or more nurses find themselves without adequate, accessible support for generation and use of current best evidence as a basis for practice. Because geographical location can be a significant issue--whether 15 miles of unplowed, snow-drifted roads east of Lake Ontario or 15 miles of bumperto-bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway--many existing alliances have expanded into cyberspace, providing nurses in some communities with adequate, accessible support online. Other nurses remain detached from the resources necessary for them to engage in research and EBP. For example, currently no research alliances exist in the Buffalo and North Country areas. This absence of organized groups with whom the other alliances could collaborate creates a barrier to networking with nurses in those areas--but also provides an opportunity for willing nurses to fill the void.
Foundation support
The Center for Nursing Research facilitates the genesis and sustainment of New York State's research alliances. The Center is one of three centers that are part of the Foundation of New York State Nurses, a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to increase public knowledge and understanding of nursing, the nursing profession, and the arts and sciences on which human health depends. The other two centers of the Foundation of New York State Nurses are St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Center for Public Education and the Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History.
Within the Foundation, the CNR-PC implements much of the mission of the Center for Nursing Research. This committee joins representatives of the Foundation and the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) in roles dedicated to improving nursing practice through support and conducting of nursing research and promoting use of the best available evidence. The CNR-PC uses a Statewide Nursing Research Agenda to guide its activities and makes this tool available to the alliances and other proponents of research and EBP throughout the state. The CNR-PC is particularly well-placed to assist the regional research alliances and facilitates inter-alliance collaboration toward mutual goals.
With a more global view of the status of research statewide, and a knowledge of New York State's resources, the committee members help assess the needs of the individual alliances and identify resources available to them. CNR-PC members have been very willing and active in leading alliance groups through their formative years. Through periodic meetings and conference calls, the CNR-PC brings alliance leaders together where they are able to network and work with other leaders to problem-solve and meet their individual needs.
The CNR-PC's Research Fellowship program is an effective tool to mentor alliance members, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to the alliances and to gain from alliance activities. Currently all three Nursing Research Fellows are strong participants in their regional alliances. One fellow focused her fellowship project on forming an alliance for her region. She has been able to recruit research consultants for a region that has few academic centers for nursing research and has created a successful collaborative effort among clinical practitioners, educators, managers, and researchers.
Along with NYSNA, the Foundation of New York State Nurses offers modest financial support to each of the alliances to serve as seed money for educational activities, research, or to fund the cost of meetings. The alliances have the autonomy to choose how they use these funds to best promote their agendas. Several of the alliances have collaborated on educational programs and multi-center research protocols.
The Foundation's awards programs also offer incentives to young researchers and facilities to promote the use of evidence in practice. Institutions that become involved in the alliances connect with experienced researchers who can guide their efforts to conduct sound EBP projects. The American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Hospital program also serves as a very strong incentive for institutional involvement in these regional research alliances.
Conclusion
The CNR-PC, and the NYSNA Council on Nursing Research before it, has a long history of leading the struggle to raise the visibility of research in practice. These organizations knew that their vision would be fulfilled only when the individuals closest to the patient, closest to the decision-makers, and closest to those who influenced generations of caregivers took up the crusade. The New York State research alliances have served their members by linking individual and institutional users of research evidence with consultants who can guide their programs to bring evidence into practice. Educators and researchers also win by gaining access to new populations and practical laboratories for the conduct of research and fresh, realistic experiences for students.
These alliances have demonstrated the strength of collaboration within their local area and other like groups throu ghout the state. That each alliance is unique demonstrates that they are responding to the local environment. Each is unique in the needs it recognizes and addresses, how it defines its mission, and how it operates. That alone testifies to the value of regional organizations because they can bend more easily to fit the local situation to strengthen the nursing community and care delivered at the bedside.
Find or start an alliance
If you are interested in finding a nursing research alliance near you or in starting an alliance in your region, contact the Foundation of New York State Nurses at (518) 456-7858 or by e-mail at mail@ foundationnysnurses.org.
More information on the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing can be found at www.nursingsociety. org or (888) 634-7575.
Become a Nursing Research Fellow
The Center for Nursing Research Planning Committee offers the Nursing Research Fellowship program through sponsorship from NYSNA and the Foundation of New York State Nurses. The program is three years long and consists of regular educational, research, and general association experiences. One fellow is selected and funded each year by NYSNA. Under special circumstances, the Foundation of New York State Nurses may fu nd an additional fellow. Nominations for research fellows are open from January through May of each year. For more information on becoming a fellow, contact the Foundation of New York State Nurses at (518) 456-7858 or by e-mail at mail@ foundationnysnurses.org.
Gina Myers, PhD, RN
Priscilla Sandford Worral, PhD, RN
Cindy Gurney, PhD, RN
Gina Myers is an assistant professor at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY; Priscilla Sandford Worral is coordinator of nursing research at University Hospital, Upstate Medical University, in Syracuse, NY; and Cindy Gurney is a former research specialist with the Foundation of New York State Nurses in Guilderland, NY.
