Background
In June 2021, the School of Nursing received the designation of Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. The School of Nursing at Nipissing University became an academic setting acknowledged for moving knowledge to action through Best Practice Guidelines (BPG). The BPSO designation was a gateway to an International network of more than 1,000 BPSOs across the globe. The next step in the journey of designation is to create a Research Unit focused on generating knowledge in the implementation of BPGs in nursing curricula. Multiple researchers became interested in the creation of this Research Unit to expand evidence-based knowledge creation within the School of Nursing. This led to the conceptualization of the Nipissing University Nursing Education Research Unit (NUNERU) that would house multiple research networks. The BPSO research agenda will live within NUNERU as a research network. The proposed Unit will focus on the common research thread of experiential nursing education within the School of Nursing. The development of NUNERU will heighten the visibility and reputation of the School of Nursing, identify a locale for students to engage in further scholarly endeavours, and create a virtual space for the School to leverage funding sources and national/ international collaborations.
The main goal of NUNERU is to advance knowledge and practice in experiential learning in nursing education and foster impactful local, national, and international research. This includes the important work related to BPSO designation. It is a place to bring scholars, faculty, students, and the community together to enhance research opportunities, academic excellence, knowledge generation, and dissemination. NUNERU is also a place to build ideas with community partners that are relevant and meaningful. The values that will govern NUNERU are: a) fostering innovation; b) advancing the use of technology in learning; c) developing praxis; and d) promoting collaboration nationally and internationally. A secondary goal is to provide a place for research mentorship for faculty members and students.
NUNERU structure will include Co-Directors that will lead the development of the research unit and will be responsible for generating and delivering its research reports. A steering committee will assist in decision making relating to operationalizing the vision, mission, and yearly goals of the NUNERU. This committee will also aid in identifying research needs. The members of the steering committee will be composed of researchers within the School of Nursing and a fellow researcher from a different department who may offer a wider perspective on the research agendas of NUNERU.
A student research coordinator will manage the operations of the NUNERU. This may include coordinating monthly research presentations, writing circles, and research workshops. This will be available to faculty and students to create a climate of critical thinking, curiosity, and imagination. A designated person from the Steering Committee will be nominated to take charge of stakeholder involvement. This person will interact with the wider community at large to bring potential benefactors and seek endowments for the centre.
​A future goal of NUNERU is to develop a certification program in experiential learning to generate income for the centre. This program is another form of dissemination of research products. The evaluation metrics will include a dashboard of number of funded research, number of published articles, etc. An evidenced informed evaluation framework will be established to guide quality evaluation. NUNERU will search for continuous funds from a variety of other sources to capture a more rounded approach of scholarship. With a focus on Boyer’s Model of Scholarship, annual income coming into NUNERU will be sought through Advanced Clinical Practice Fellowships (ACPFs), a potential endowment from the community, other tri-council and non tri-council funding sources such as the Trillium Foundation and the Heritage Fund. To date, the BPSO project is willing to transfer the existing funds to NUNERU in order to initiate its start-up needs.
​A future goal of NUNERU is to develop a certification program in experiential learning to generate income for the centre. This program is another form of dissemination of research products. The evaluation metrics will include a dashboard of number of funded research, number of published articles, etc. An evidenced informed evaluation framework will be established to guide quality evaluation. NUNERU will search for continuous funds from a variety of other sources to capture a more rounded approach of scholarship. With a focus on Boyer’s Model of Scholarship, annual income coming into NUNERU will be sought through Advanced Clinical Practice Fellowships (ACPFs), a potential endowment from the community, other tri-council and non tri-council funding sources such as the Trillium Foundation and the Heritage Fund. To date, the BPSO project is willing to transfer the existing funds to NUNERU in order to initiate its start-up needs.
The NUNERU is well aligned with the Nipissing University Interprofessional Simulation Centre of Excellence. The Simulation Centre provides an opportunity for onsite research and national and international collaboration in experiential learning for healthcare education.
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The development NUNERU in School of Nursing is essential. A Research Unit grounded on experiential learning in nursing education braids the nursing research expertise in the School of Nursing into a bricolage of scholarship that will highlight the research generation that exists within the School of Nursing.