ENA's Delphi Study on National Research Priorities for Emergency Nurses in the United States

Bayley, Elizabeth W. PhD, RN
MacLean, Susan L. PhD, RN
Desy, Pierre BS
McMahon, Margaret MN, RN, CEN

Broomall, Pa, Des Plaines, Ill, and Williamstown, NJ

Elizabeth W. Bayley, Delaware County Chapter, is Professor, Widener University School of Nursing, Chester, Pa, and Nursing Research Facilitator, Crozer Chester Medical Center, Upland, Pa; E-mail: [email protected].

Susan L. MacLean is Nursing Officer and Pierre Desy is Associate Director of Research and Injury Prevention, Emergency Nurses Association, Des Plaines, Ill.

Margaret McMahon, Jersey Shore Chapter, is Emergency Clinical Nurse Specialist and Staff Nurse, Atlantic City Medical Center, Mainland Division, Pomona, NJ, and Pool Nurse, Emergency Department, Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Washington Township, NJ.

Journal of Emergency Nursing 30(1):p 12-21, February 2004.

Introduction

This study identified and prioritized research questions with greatest value to emergency nurses and of highest importance for health care consumers.

Methods

Three hundred twenty emergency nursing leaders were invited to participate in 3 rounds of mailed surveys aimed at developing consensus. During round I, 147 nurses submitted 456 research problems. These problems were synthesized into 154 researchable questions, encompassing 17 themes. The round II questionnaire listed these questions in random order. Respondents used a 7-point Likert scale to rate each question's value for practicing nurses and importance for health care consumers. One hundred one nurses rated 106 questions >5.0. The round III questionnaire was individualized to provide each respondent's round II score and each item's median group score. Reflecting on these data, subjects again rated the 106 questions.

Results

Seventy-nine nurses rated 16 questions 6.0 or greater for value for practicing nurses; 3 questions were rated 6.0 or greater for importance to consumers. Optimum staff to patient ratios, effects of mandatory overtime, holding admitted patients, and ED overcrowding, as well as effective strategies for educating and ensuring competence of nurses, were highest priority research problems for practicing nurses. Pain relief, impact of and methods of decreasing holding/lengthy ED stay, and effective strategies for patient teaching were judged most important for consumers.

Discussion

Nurses' concerns with staff shortages and overcrowding of emergency departments and their effects on patients are paramount. Pain management and patient education were chief clinical issues requiring research.