Hello.  My name is Ditas.  I’ve been a registered nurse now for over 5 years.  I started working in flu clinics, auditing medical records, case management, internal medicine, and currently my area of practice is Utilization Review.  Utilization Review ensures that patients receive the services that insurance is paying for.

According to Newhouse (2007), research is a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.  Research plays an important role in nursing practice because patient safety is the ultimate goal.  Evidence-based research dictates how nurses are to keep patients safe.  Research can help clarify disparities and deficits in quality of care for patients, increase evidence to support the effectiveness of interventions, define standardized performance measures on a national level, and focus on improving health care work environments (Newhouse, 2007).  Standardized evidence-based research allows nurses to practice safely at all work environments.  An example such as hand washing is good practice anywhere a nurse practices, not just in one particular facility.  Research based on experiments and clinical trials have proven that hand washing saves lives, decreases transmission of infection and other diseases, and keeps patients safe.  Research provides nurses with knowledge on how to better care for our patients.

Newhouse, R. P. (2007). Diffusing confusion among evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 37(10), 432-435.