Abstract
The 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) produced a database of impact case studies and documented significant efforts by UK researchers to achieve impact. Determining impact is undoubtedly a new and complicated task and, as we see in the paper by Redman et al. (2015), one that is only in its initial stages. The need to make an effort to measure impact is real and urgent if we are to support researchers (and practitioners) to work effectively.
Although the paper by Greenhalgh and Fahy (2015) provides some insights into the challenges of assessing research impact, it is important, worldwide, for nursing researchers and nursing as a profession to be able to show our contribution. Being able to do this will increase the visibility of nursing research and motivate nurses to use a rigorous approach to answer questions related to health and care delivery issues. It is also important to show the impact of nursing research and evidence-driven care on patient care and related outcomes.
The reviewed paper presents a descriptive study of 469 impact case studies submitted using nurs* in the text, but not only those submitted to sub-panel UoA3. Among the 6975 impact case studies, the authors included 6.7% involving nursing researchers or on topics relevant to nurses. Other papers have already presented the impact of study cases presented in other fields such as community-based health sciences, clinical medicine, etc. As there is only a quantitative approach presented it would be a useful exercise to make a further interpretive analysis for qualitative detail in a small sample, using the three categories established as criteria for the sample. It would also be interesting to know more about how these case studies have influenced guideline development, contributed to changes in policy or practice and improved nursing-sensitive indicators, etcetera.
Finally, if nursing researchers are to have an impact on the health of populations as well as development of the profession it is important that both knowledge producers and users are involved in the generation and implementation of research findings (Bullock et al., 2012). The use of strategies that offer views from different disciplines may help us all to advance patient care and manage any resultant economic and professional challenges. Impact indicators proposed in the Research Excellence Framework for nursing may need to be revised to develop more robust methodologies for taking on board and describing the real impact of nursing research, including more valid and reliable impact indicators (Ovseiko et al., 2012).
The reviewed study will contribute to the discussion about the hidden impact of nursing research, thereby serving as a point from which policy makers and nursing leaders could design more adequate indicators for describing the real impact of nursing research.