The role of nursing in research analysis for improving practice environments and patient outcomes

The first step in effective nursing research is to understand the problem or issue at hand. Nurses must identify areas where there may be gaps in knowledge or a need for improvement (Freire et al., 2018). Through data collection techniques such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observational studies and literature reviews nurses are able to gain insight into how a particular problem affects patients or practice environment (Daly & Cusack-McGuire, 2017). Gathering this information then provides valuable insights into potential strategies that can be used to improve patient outcomes and enhance practice environments.