Page 38 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

36 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Building research capability and capacity in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps
Despite the high profile nature of Army nursing practice, the challenges of serving in hostile environments, away from one’s normal constructs appear to have limited the operational research output from Army nurses. As a result, there have been limited Army nursing studies detailing the valuable information that has been generated in relation to the excellence and development in nursing practice in an operational arena; in particular since the commencement of Operation TELIC in 2003. In order to develop and disseminate research capability and capacity, a Nursing Professoriate was introduced by the Army’s 2nd Medical Brigade in January 2012. The Brigade has the largest number of Army nurses grouped together within a single chain of command, and oversees the deployment of all nurses into the operational land environment. The Brigade Commander and DANS gave full endorsement to this project.
This initiative brings together Territorial Army nursing academics from across the United Kingdom to establish a higher research expertise for leadership, development and guidance to positively influence Army nursing research. This group have the analytical and educational skill sets to support the Brigade Commander and DANS in identifying nursing topics for research exploration and to address these issues through robust, empirical Army nursing studies, to positively influence operational and contingency planning capability building. The appointment of Colonel Alan Finnegan as the first Defence Professor of Nursing and chair of the 2nd Medical Brigade nursing research professoriate clearly demonstrates the importance the chain of command has placed on developing a valuable and contemporary evidence base for defence nursing.
Our internal membership is listed below:
• Colonel Alan Finnegan, Chairman - Defence Professor of
Nursing and Head of the Academic Department of Defence Nursing, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine; Visiting Professor of Mental Health University of Chester & Honorary Professor in Army Nursing Birmingham City University
• Major Mike Brownsell – 208 Fd Hosp (V: Liverpool) – Head of Acute Adult & Child, University of Chester
• Lieutenant Colonel Pat Cook – 207 Fd Hosp (V: Manchester) – PhD Student, University of Salford
• Colonel Kevin Davies MBE RRC – Dep Cdr 160 (Wales) Bde – Professor of Nursing and Disaster Healthcare, Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, University of Glamorgan
• Colonel Tina Donnelly – 203 Fd Hosp (V: Cardiff) – Director of RCN Wales
• Major Janet Kelly PhD - 306 HSMR (York) – Lecturer in Healthcare Law, University of Hull
• Captain Neil Kitchiner PhD – 203 Fd Hosp (V) Wales – Principal Clinician & Honorary Research Fellow, All Wales Veterans Health & Wellbeing Service, University Hospital of Wales
• Lieutenant Colonel Stephen McGhee - 205 Fd Hosp (V: Glasgow) – Professional Lead for Adult Nursing, University of Stirling
• Major Tony McGrath – 256 Fd Hosp (V: London) – Principal Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire
The forum promotes Army nursing research in order to empirically demonstrate through valid methodology and reliable methods the valuable outputs of 2 Medical Brigade nurses in positively affecting the duty and standard of care provided for injured service personnel, and other casualties who they may care for. It will also support 2 Medical Brigade nurses engaged in the research process by facilitating a research forum to assist in the preparation of papers for publication; conference presentations and award submissions. In addition, it will provide expert mentorship and supervision throughout the MSc and PhD pathway from development of a research proposal, REC preparation, through to mock viva examination. A further advancement will be to identify opportunities to promote Army nursing research at national and international level through collaborative working practices with the Royal College of Nursing and Universities.
Since January 2012 the 2nd Medical Brigade nursing research professoriate has been working in collaboratively with the RCN Research Society and tailoring many of our outputs to those of the Society’s objectives. This is proving to be mutually beneficial and helping raise the profile of both organisations. Several universities including Ulster, Portsmouth and Derby have contacted the Chairman regarding the Professoriate and there are developing opportunities for collaborative working programmes. These contacts followed an overview of the Professoriate in the RCN Research and Innovation Bulletin Vol 03 Issue 38: 02 October 2012. Working collaboratively with the UK higher education sector has allowed the professoriate to develop links with schools of nursing and editors in chiefs of journals with high impact factors.
Our external membership is listed below:
• Professor Robert Ashford FFPM RCPS (Glasg.) Director of
Post Graduate Research, Birmingham City University
• Dr Peter Carter OBE, Honorary Colonel Committee Member
and General Secretary/Chief Executive of the RCN
• Dr Celia Hynes, Director of Post Graduate Multi-Professional
Studies University of Salford
• Professor William Lauder, Professor of Nursing at the
University of Stirling and Editor in Chief of Nurse Education
Today
• Professor Kath McCourt CBE FRCN, Dean of the School
of Health, Community and Education Studies, University of
Northumbria and Chair of RCN Council
• Professor Hugh McKenna FRCN, Honorary Colonel and
Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) University of
Ulster
• Professor Ruth Northway FRCN, Professor of Learning
Disability Nursing, Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, University of Glamorgan and Chair of RCN Research Society
• Professor Mike Thomas, Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Chester
• Professor Roger Watson FRCN, Professor of Nursing at the University of Hull and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing