It is often associated with older adults, but delirium, an acute brain dysfunction that causes confusion and behaviour changes, also affects children, a population in which the condition is both underdiagnosed and potentially dangerous.
Registered nurse Carly Demczyk has seen it often in the critically ill children she cares for in
CHEO
’s pediatric intensive care unit. Now the young nurse is on a mission to learn more about the role of nursing interventions in managing and preventing delirium in critically ill children without the use of medication.
Doing so, she said, could dramatically improve their outcomes. “To see that improvement is very rewarding.”
Demczyk is one of the first recipients of CHEO’s new Nursing Research Internship Program that is part of a focus on nursing-led research at CHEO and the CHEO Research Institute. The hospital is encouraging nurses to follow their curiosity to help shape the health system. It is changing the way some nurses are viewing their roles.
Coming up with innovative solutions to problems is all in a day’s work for many nurses, but turning those nursing hacks into more formal research has not always been an option.
That is changing at CHEO and the CHEO Research Institute. Its expanding focus on nursing research is both a means of
improving patient care
and a way to
energize nurses
and help keep them in the profession.
In recent months, CHEO has launched the nursing research internship program which is allowing Demczyk and others to pursue their research interests. It has also expanded opportunities for nurses to contribute to research and health-care innovation. The goal is to create a nursing research centre at CHEO and a culture that supports research by frontline nurses.
With that goal in mind, the CHEO Research Institute held a nursing research conference this week called the Power of Nursing Curiosity. Organizers described it as a way to “gather curious nurses together for a day of sharing ideas and leading innovations relevant to the nursing discipline.”
“Nurses are well-positioned (to do research) because they work at the bedside and understand the challenges,” said Christina Cantin, nursing research scientist at CHEO Research Institute and chair of the conference.
The focus on research represents a cultural shift in nursing and challenges the belief that research is something that happens “somewhere else”, said Cantin. Nurses frequently come up with solutions and improvements. The research focus will help encourage it through mentoring and, in some cases, help make broader changes in the way care is delivered at CHEO and beyond.
Cantin said it represents a recognition of the value of nursing expertise to the health system.
Research by nurses is not new, but traditionally they have had to choose between focusing their career on formal research or on clinical practice, said Tammy DeGiovanni, senior vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing officer at CHEO.
The research focus at CHEO allows nurses to do a mix of clinical work and research, so that they can play a role in finding solutions to some of the challenges in their work, said DeGiovanni.
The hope, she said, is that having space to ask questions and find the answers will help “fire their passions” and that will play a role in helping to keep experienced nurses in the profession.
Burnout, workload and challenging conditions have all contributed to severe nursing shortages in recent years. Encouraging nurses to pursue research ideas is an approach to nurse retention that CHEO officials say is getting the attention of many on staff.
“I have been surprised at how many people are interested,” said DeGiovanni.
Demczyk, meanwhile, said the culture at CHEO is evolving quickly when it comes to integrating research and curiosity into the role of nurses. Demczyk, who has worked in CHEO’s PICU for more than two years, said she wants to continue combining research with her clinical work.
“I see a path for myself that combines my passion for nursing with research.”
