Nursing research in Qatar: Where do we stand?

Title : Nursing research in Qatar: Where do we stand?

Abstract:

We will provide an overview on the development of nursing research in Qatar including improvements, challenges, and implications on nursing and national health strategy and related policies. The findings of an exhaustive literature review will be presented to show the research outcomes for nursing in Qatar in terms of priorities, settings, theory utilization, methods, sources of data collection and funding support.

Purpose: The aim was to provide an overview of nursing research in Qatar over the previous 15 years.

Methods: Several online databases were searched for published articles between 2000 and 2015 related to nursing research in Qatar.

Findings: The initial search identified 6540 articles, whose titles, abstracts, and texts were screened for satisfying the eligibility criteria. Only 57 articles met the eligibility criteria. The highest percentage of studies (42%) focused on clinical practice issues. Eighty-seven percent (87%) were published in peer-reviewed journals; 84% (N = 48) were conducted between 2011 and 2015 with 16-fold growth rate compared to 2000-2005. The majority of authors were postgraduate qualified nurses, mainly 67%of them with hospital and academic affiliation (88%). The vast majority of identified studies were conducted in hospital settings (63%), and only 14% of the studies used a nursing theory or conceptual framework. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the studies were quantitative, and 25% were funded mostly by hospitals. The majority of the included studies have been done in collaboration with other disciplines (60%), especially with physicians (65%).

Conclusion: Nursing re-search in Qatar has dramatically developed and improved over the last 15 years. However, nurses need to be more motivated to conduct and publish re-search in collaboration with national, regional, and international research bodies. Implications for Nursing and Health Policy: Building and sustaining nursing research infrastructure considered as a top priority for nursing leaders, academic, and ministry of public health in Qatar. Furthermore, preparing nurses with higher academic degrees is an essential step in advancing research utilization in Qatar and the region.

Audience Take Away:

• The development of nursing research in Qatar
• Challenges to conducting nursing research

Strategies to improve the quality and quantity of nursing research

Biography:

Abdulqadir Nashwan is a Nurse Research Scientist (NRS) at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) a member of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Qatar. He received his Bachelor Degree in Nursing (BSN) in 2007 and Master Degree in Nursing Oncology (MSN) in 2011 from the Hashemite University (HU) in Jordan. In 2012, he joined the nursing department in NCCCR as an Oncology/Hematology Charge Nurse; then he became a Head Nurse for Urgent Care Unit in 2013 and in 2014 he has been appointed as a Nurse Educator. In 2015, he has been appointed as a Senior Adjunct Instructor at the faculty of nursing at the University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ). His current research interests include Research Utilization, Evidenced-Based Practice, Clinical Hematology, Medical Oncology, Nursing Informatics, and Cancer Immunotherapy. Mr. Nashwan has published more than 25 research articles in peer-reviewed journals such as the Blood, BMJ, and Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing. In November 2015, he has received Award of Merit for Placing HMC at the Cutting Edge of Cancer Research as a part of Stars of Excellence Program introduced by HMC. In October 2016, Mr. Nashwan has completed a Cancer Biology and Therapeutics (CBT) Program; provided by Harvard Medical School (HMS). Mr. Nashwan has been committed to mentoring and encouraging young clinical investigators throughout his career; he has formally supervised the training of more than a dozen MSc candidates and nursing fellows. His expertise is routinely sought in an advisory capacity both nationally and internationally; he has served as a member of health policy subgroup at ICN Nurse Practitioner/Advance Practice Nursing Network (APNN), also he has served a reviewer for several reputable journals (e.g., Journal of Applied Nursing Research, Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing, and Journal of Cancer Therapy) and as an editorial board member at the American Journal of Nursing Science (AJNS) and Trends in Medicine and Health (TMH).