Building Clinical Nursing Research Capacity

Lead: Professor Margaret McMillan

Margaret McMillan has led this area of research within the School of Nursing and Midwifery, and over several years has been continually building into strong frameworks guiding nursing practice. Research that was undertaken from 1997 - 2001 centred on clarifying elements of the roles and functions of nurses, including the Competency Standards projects for Australian Nursing Federation and the former Australian Nursing Council. These projects clarified aspects of the nursing role that aligned with consumer needs and preferences and appropriate structures and processes within the health system (Indicators of the Quality Use of Medications by Nurses in Australia, PHARM).

Much of the work from research in this area has had a major impact in that the outcomes provided the foundations for innovation in education, for example, the introduction of the Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Newcastle - a curriculum which involves four health disciplines, is the largest in Australia and accommodates the largest range of specializations. Innovation in practice has also been a key achievement with the development of nurse practitioners across the world. Examples include:

• The identification of the determinants of the Scope of Nursing Practice (Queensland Nursing Council)
• Elaboration of the Boundaries for Safe and Therapeutic Practice (NSW Nurses Registration Board) Project to develop a community care and funding model for treatment and payment, Commonwealth Department of Veterans Affairs

All of these projects led to significant policy and practice change in nursing care in Australia and internationally through AusAID projects in India, South Africa, Indonesia and The Maldives.