How to write a nursing essay on Generating External Evidence and Writing Successful Grant Proposals

How to write a nursing essay on Generating External Evidence and Writing Successful Grant Proposals

Nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers are improving medical practice and healthcare delivery through research and innovation. These two processes require a lot of resources like finance, personnel, and time for successful implementation. Of particular interest is the amount of capital required to finance healthcare projects and the sources of the capital. Transforming an idea into a useful product requires effort, planning, and collaboration which are all dependent on funding. The researchers need to keep in mind that funders have very specific requirements for eligibility, especially the project type (Morley et al., 2020). This discussion focuses on identifying the sources of funding for an evidence-based change initiative to be implemented in the hospital.

Funding Sources

Various types of funding sources are available for research and innovation projects. The first source of funding for the project in the institution may come from grants. Grants represent money awards that allow organizations to do specific projects that meet the specific guidelines outlined in the proposal. There are several types of grants including research, innovation, education, and program development grants (Dopp et al., 2020). Understanding the type of project being carried out is the first step toward securing grants for conducting projects. In this project, applying for an innovation or program development grant will be the most appropriate course. Specifying the type of population and healthcare condition of interest can also determine whether funding will be provided.

While many agencies are available to provide grants for EBP research, the Sigma Global Nursing Excellence is among the best choices. The Sigma Foundation/American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) EBP grant is available to help providers to improve services in their respective institutions. These organizations provide grants based on the quality of the research proposal. For example, the organization reviews the background and significance of the project, evidence synthesis, goals, and the magnitude of healthcare improvement upon completion of the project (Dopp et al., 2020). To be eligible for this grant, the principal project lead must be a registered nurse and have at least a master’s in nursing. Other key requirements include completion of the project within 18 months of funding and using a clinical setting to implement the project.

Charitable/philanthropic donations are the second source of funding for evidence-based change initiatives. Donations represent contributions, grants, or payments made in cash to organizations without the expectation of something in return (Dopp et al., 2020). In most cases, donations are made to qualified organizations in the eligibility criteria section to support scientific research or further education. Corporate philanthropy is the most acceptable approach to receiving charitable donations for evidence-based practice implementation in healthcare. Corporate organizations may have their specific interests when acting as a source of funding for organizations. For example, a company can screen employees to see if their employees have certain medical conditions and provide funding aimed at addressing the observed challenge.

Charitable donations are good for funding healthcare projects because they can come from any organization at any given time. Most supportive donors focus on areas like patient education, specific medical conditions, and healthcare improvement projects (Morley et al., 2020). An example is AMGEN which organizes philanthropic donations in areas including fellowships, patient education, awards/scholarships, and other areas of medicine with top-qualified members. To receive these donations, applications must be made 60 days before the program start, submit a detailed description of the project, and the full project budget. Overall, charitable donations are the best sources of funding because they increase feasibility, decrease costs for service providers, and increase the acceptability of evidence-based practice.

Funding through professional nursing organizations is another source for evidence-based practice and nursing research. These organizations provide grants to institutions to conduct research and implement evidence-based practices. For example, the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) provides grants to individuals and organizations seeking to improve evidence-based practice implementation in healthcare (Morley et al., 2020). Providing funding serves to promote the use of EBP, dissemination of research, and sharing of information to enhance the quality of care provided to patients. Unlike the other sources of funding that apply to all nurses, funding for professional nursing organizations requires the researchers to be part of the organization (Jaramillo et al., 2019). For instance, conducting research in the pediatric hospital will require the lead nurse to be a member of organizations like the Association of Pediatric Gastroenterology or the American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association among many others.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have long been known to be a strong pillar for supporting research and implementation of EBP in healthcare. While the majority of healthcare funds originate from the government, NGOs are important partners in supporting disadvantaged groups. In collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), these organizations are seeking proposals for the effectiveness of implementing and sustaining EBP in areas like mental health and adult care (Jaramillo et al., 2019). The only challenge that can be observed when using these types of funders is that they always focus on low-resource healthcare organizations and non-specialty settings.

The areas of interest do vary when seeking funding from these types of sources. Acceptable areas include testing the effectiveness of strategies to achieve EBP through training or integrated E-health and studies to test EBP delivery through collaborative approaches (Dopp et al., 2020). There is also support for studies that seek to test the effectiveness of EBP data harmonization across service-providing agencies. The eligibility criteria from these sources can vary from higher education institutions to small healthcare organizations. When seeking funding from NGOs, it is important to seek help from well-known researchers and powerful healthcare team members.

Securing Grants

The process of securing grants for EBP and research varies because of the depth of investigation and implementation required. The grant writing process always starts with identifying the problem and goals for that funds will be sought (Wisdom et al., 2015). The person seeking funding should thoroughly search for relevant opportunities from funders in government agencies, private foundations, and corporate foundations. The reason for intensive research is to ensure the project goals fit with the identified funder. For evidence-based projects and evidence-based quality improvements, the researchers must ensure all areas of the proposal are completed. A typical EBP proposal for securing grants should contain the title and abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and budget (Wisdom et al., 2015). The Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) provides detailed information on the information required to secure grants.

Evidence-based practice and quality improvement initiatives usually take less time to secure grants compared to research. Upon completion of the required materials, as outlined by SQUIRE, the proposal is submitted to the respective committee. The purpose of the committee is to determine whether the materials meet the accepted standards. In most cases, the committee decides whether to accept the proposal without consulting the researchers. The amount to be awarded is also determined by the committee and communication is made immediately. Upon completion of the project, the investigator is required to submit a final report that provides a breakdown of the budget and any unused funds.

Securing research grants is a tedious and time-consuming process. The investigator is always tasked with analyzing and meeting the components required by funding sources. It is recommended to look for what the funding organizations are looking for and write a proposal that captures what is needed (Wisdom et al., 2015). While EBP and research projects will require the same outline, research grant applications contain more detailed information. For example, the budget section should identify the specific costs that are to be met by the funders and the methods used to reach those costs. In addition, the investigator should provide funding requirements beyond the project like costs for maintenance and operational support.

A key feature of research proposals for funding in compliance with the institutional review board (IRB) standards for nursing research. All research will require an ethical review process to ascertain the benefits of the study and expected outcomes (Morley et al., 2020). The involvement of this team makes the process of research studies tedious because IRB approval takes several months. The process can even be longer if the study requires the utilization of technologies and data sharing. Research grant proposals should also include IRS letters proving the organization is tax-exempt (Wisdom et al., 2015). The last step will involve acceptance or rejection of the proposal and editing of the final manuscript if the research is accepted.

Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research

Quantitative research is often used when the researchers want to get objective and conclusive answers. This approach is used to answer clear and pre-defined questions in the advanced stages of research studies (Borgstede & Scholz, 2021). An example of how I will use quantitative research is to determine how well virtual reality can act as a pain management modality in the adult world. The second part will involve identifying the research question. For example, what percentage of adults benefit from virtual reality to reduce pain during wound dressing in the selected healthcare organization? The independent variable in this case will be virtual reality while the dependent variable will be the patient’s pain. The null hypothesis will be that virtual reality helps to reduce pain during wound dressing among adults. The last steps will include collecting data, using statistical methods to analyze data, and making a conclusion that accepts or rejects the hypothesis.

Qualitative research is used when a detailed description of an issue is required or when research questions need to be sharpened (Borgstede & Scholz, 2021). An example of how I might use this approach is to determine why pediatric nurses prefer virtual reality for pain management. Using an in-depth interview method taking approximately 30 minutes, I will ask nurses about their perceptions of virtual reality to manage pain and why they prefer using this method. Just like in quantitative research, each participant must give consent before participation in the research. I will use the thematic analysis method to group common ideas of nurses and determine reasons why virtual reality is preferred over other pain management methods.

References

Borgstede, M., & Scholz, M. (2021). Quantitative and qualitative approaches to generalization and replication–A representationalist view. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 605191. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.605191

Dopp, A. R., Narcisse, M. R., Mundey, P., Silovsky, J. F., Smith, A. B., Mandell, D., … & Mendel, P. (2020). A scoping review of strategies for financing the implementation of evidence-based practices in behavioral health systems: state of the literature and future directions. Implementation Research and Practice, 1, 2633489520939980. https://doi.org/10.1177/2633489520939980

Jaramillo, E. T., Willging, C. E., Green, A. E., Gunderson, L. M., Fettes, D. L., & Aarons, G. A. (2019). “Creative financing”: Funding evidence-based interventions in human service systems. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 46(3), 366–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-018-9644-5

Morley, K., Morley, M., & Beratarrechea, A. (2020). Funding global health projects. In Leveraging Data Science for Global Health (pp. 65-75). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47994-7_5

Wisdom, J. P., Riley, H., & Myers, N. (2015). Recommendations for writing successful grant proposals: An information synthesis. Academic Medicine, 90(12), 1720-1725. https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0000000000000811

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