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Clinical Research in Practice: A Guide for the Bedside Scientist

Author(s): Janet Houser, PhD, RN, Academic Dean, Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions, Regis University, Denver, Colorado
Joanna L. Bokovoy, DrPH, RN, Catholic Healthcare West, corporate
Details:
  • ISBN-13: 9780763738754
  • ISBN-10:0763738751
  • Paperback    277 pages      © 2006
Price: International Sales $80.95 US List
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Overview

In today's healthcare environment, every clinician is accountable for determining the value of their interventions. Fortunately, some of the most useful patient care research is conducted in the living laboratories that are clinical settings. Clinical Research in Practice: A Guide for the Bedside Scientist is a straightforward guide to reading, evaluating, and using research in these clinical settings. The text helps the bedside scientist take a study from question to design to practice.

In a straightforward, reader-friendly approach to a complex subject, the text arms the clinician with the information they to engage in the research process, and includes real-life research to illustrate the most essential concepts of practice-based research.  Clinical Research in Practice is an excellent guide to translating clinical work into an actual research project.

 

ShowKey Features

Includes the following key features:

  • Evaluation Checklists: straightforward guides to help the reader evaluate a research article for quality and application to practice.
  • Concepts in Action: real-life research to illustrate and illuminate the important concepts of practice-based research. Each is a description of a real-life project, with limitations and weaknesses included. These help the reader grasp how research actually looks in a practice setting, and encourages the reader to try research even if they can't achieve perfection.
  • Hitting the Stacks: actual selections of research articles to illustrate key concepts
  • Where to Look: guidance to find and critique specific elements in a research article.
  • From the Mouths of Bedside Scientists: students, colleagues, and bedside scientists explain specific research and concepts.
  • From More Depth and Detail: directs the reader to more comprehensive and detailed text for more advanced reading.

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ShowTable of Contents

Part I - An Introduction to Bedside Science

Chapter 1: The role of research in clinical practice

Chapter 2: A step-by-step guide to research in practice

Part II - Building a Foundation for a Bedside Science Project

Chapter 3: The research question

Chapter 4: Scanning the literature

Chapter 5: Soliciting organizational commitment and resources

Part III - Designing the Structure of a Bedside Science Project

Chapter 6: Design, study methods, and procedures

Chapter 7: Sampling strategy

Chapter 8: Don’t fear the numbers

Part IV - Using Bedside Science in Practice

Chapter 9: Can we use it?

Chapter 10: The role of survey and qualitative research

Chapter 11: Communicating results to larger audiences


Glossary

Appendices

Appendix 1: An informed consent for a bedside science project

Appendix 2: A survey for a bedside science project

Appendix 3: A published study: what to look for

Appendix 4: Reading the research: a summary evaluation checklist
Appendix 5: A bedside science research flow sheet


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ShowAbout the Author(s)

Janet Houser, PhD, RN-Academic Dean, Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions, Regis University, Denver, Colorado

 

Dr. Houser is the Academic Dean of the Rueckert Hartman College for Health Professions at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She has a BSN, an MSN in Maternal-Child Health, an MS in healthcare administration, and a PhD in applied statistics and research methods. She has taught nurses, administration, and physical therapy students from undergraduate through doctoral level, primarily in the subjects of biostatistics and quantitative methods. Dr. Houser spent 20 years in health care administration with the Mercy Health System. Her last position was as Regional Administrator for Professional Practice for Mercy Health Partners in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was responsible for professional practice and clinical research in 29 facilities. During her tenure with MHP, she implemented evidence-based practice as a basis for the procedure manuals and system-wide care delivery policies, a shared governance model, and a collaborative care delivery system. Currently, Dr. Houser’s research agenda is focused on the association of nurse autonomy and outcomes. Dr. Houser has published three books, Clinical Research in Practice: A Guide for the Bedside Scientist (Jones and Bartlett, 2007) , Nursing Research: Reading, Using, and Creating Evidence (Jones and Bartlett, 2008), and Evidence-Based Practice: An Implementation Guide (Jones and Bartlett, 2010) and has more than 30 publications in journals and books. She has presented her research at regional, national and international conferences. She also manages a consulting firm, Abacus Systems, which specializes in biostatistical research analysis, developing measurement systems, and implementing evidence-based models of care delivery. 
Additional Titles by this Author

Joanna L. Bokovoy, DrPH, RN-Catholic Healthcare West, corporate

Dr. Bokovoy is Director of Clinical Innovation at Catholic Healthcare West corporate in San Francisco, California, where she is the clinical leader for a 3-year multidisciplinary project to improve Severe Sepsis mortality and cost in 36 hospitals throughout California, Nevada and Arizona. Dr. Bokovoy spent over 10 years as a researcher and over 9 years as a direct care nurse, with progressive leadership roles in both fields. She holds an Associate Degree in Nursing, a Bachelors’ degree in Elementary Education/Biology, a Masters’ degree in Public Health education, and a Doctorate in Public Health, preventive care/epidemiology.

Dr. Bokovoy’s research agenda focuses on implementation science, including the use of pattern mapping to understand complex systems, and Severe Sepsis clinical research. She has presented her collaborative research at national and international conferences, and has more than 20 publications in journals and books. She teaches quality improvement, research and evidence-based practice methods to clinicians and provides assistance in study design and analysis of research projects, including research on system sustainability of innovations and the effectiveness of Severe Sepsis education on mortality. She co-authored this book, entitled "Clinical Research in Practice: A Guide for the Bedside Scientist" and published by Jones and Bartlett in 2006, with Dr. Janet Houser.

Dr. Bokovoy has been an independent consultant with the American Nurses Credentialing Center since 2007 and has consulted for BearingPoint/USAID, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, California Institute for Health Systems Performance and over 20 hospitals and hospital systems. She specializes in implementing sustainable innovation and research systems in hospitals, using the concept of direct care clinicians as bedside scientists. 

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ShowReviews

  • "Clinical Research in Practice is an intensely practical step-by-step handbook for physicians interested in conducting investigator-initiated clinical research. With this book in hand, every practicing physician can do his or her bit in advancing evidence-based medicine."

    Norm Goldfarb
    Journal of Clinical Research Best Practices
    Vol. 2, No. 8

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ShowAppropriate Courses

This text would be useful as a supplemental resource in research methods courses, both at the undergraduate and masters' levels, as well as in courses with titles such as "Evidence-Based Practice," "Critical Inquiry," "Scientific Inquiry," or "Clinical Research Methods."

Applicable in any clinical profession, including physical therapists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, nutritionists, and nursing.

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