How Biostatisticians Can Contribute to Nursing Research in the Hospital Setting

• Activity Number: 127
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, July 30, 2012 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): Dunlei Cheng*+ and Yahya Daoud and Huanying Qin and Susan Houston and Jenny Adams
• Companies: The University of Texas School of Public Health and Baylor Health Care System and Baylor Health Care System and Baylor Health Care System and Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital
• Keywords: Statistical Consulting ; Nursing Research ; Health Care Improvement ; Fall ; Family Care Card

Abstract

This presentation will mainly focus on how biostatisticians can play an active role in supporting nurse collaboration research in a hospital environment. Nurses are critical for caring for the sick and injured in acute care hospitals; hence their hands-on experiences provide great insight about research associated with the quality improvement of clinical practices. For this presentation we highlight that biostatisticians not only provide quantitative pieces for the nursing research but can guide nurse research teams in choosing designs that add scientific merit to their studies. Biostatisticians are qualified to play the latter role since they are usually engaged in the proposal development and implementation while nurses are juggling between direct patient care and scholarship activities. We will share with the audience some tips of successful collaboration with nurses and some lessons we have learned in our consultation with nurses. We feel it is important for biostatisticians to participate early in the nurse research project, to provide quick feedback, and to communicate effectively, especially on statistical jargons, with all the nurses on the research team.