Nursing and scientific production. Reality and relevance

Antonio Arribas Cachá

Abstract

That Nursing currently has in our country a HIGH LEVEL OF QUALIFICATION AND TRAINING for the exercise of its specific work, is an objective reality difficult to refute, given the training and academic levels currently in force for our profession.

- Regarding the level of qualification, we can mention the existence of a university degree, as a basic requirement for the practice of nursing in general, the recognition of specialized nursing training, through the regulation of the EIR system of the different nursing specialties developed, as a complementary training requirement for the practice of our profession in its specialized field or the establishment of a complete university course of our discipline, up to its highest level through postgraduate training in its scales of University Expert, Master and Doctor, constitute solid enough arguments to support the existence of this high level of training of our profession.

- As for their training, it is necessary to take into account that it is precisely the regulated training that provides the necessary training for the development of the corresponding actions that have been the subject of such training. The extensive training development available to the nursing profession is what gives it this high level of training for the exercise of its specific work, positioning it as the reference professional in the field of comprehensive health care for the population at all levels, from the promotion and promotion of health to the attention to the care needs of the population through the promotion of self-care and the implementation of nursing care plans.

These professional capabilities of Nursing are those that generate the existence of OWN COMPETENCIES for the development of their specific work, in an autonomous manner.

In the logical process of generating competencies, it is the skills obtained from formal training that generate the corresponding competencies for their performance. This process is what guarantees their safe application (patient safety) and the greatest possible effectiveness.

In this aspect, it seems necessary to highlight the tremendous relevance for Nursing that the development of these competencies is specifically established within its professional framework, especially if we take into account that nowadays health promotion, health promotion and care measures are recognized as a priority for the health care of the population.

This paradigm shift in health care, in which the focus of attention shifts from disease to health, as an essential measure to respond to the health needs of the population and the sustainability of health systems, is a reality recognized nationally and internationally and reflected in our own General Health Law, which has led to a very significant change in the professional status reserved for the work of nursing within the multidisciplinary health team. Nursing professionals must be aware of this change, which they must recognize, assume and put into real practice in the health care of the population.

But nursing is not only assigned these priority measures within its own framework of competencies, but it also develops them and does so effectively.

If there is a perceived and manifested reality, it is the HIGH LEVEL OF EFFECTIVENESS OF NURSING PROFESSIONALS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR COMPETENCES.

The public recognition of the Health Administrations of the effectiveness in the development of our work, valued as an essential pillar for the proper functioning of any health system, and the data expressed by the users of the health system through satisfaction surveys, in which Nursing is positioned as the best valued health professional in the system, seem data that support this effectiveness in the development of our competences.

From this approach, in which some of the basic fundamentals of nursing are reviewed:

- It is a scientific discipline.

- Endowed with a high level of qualification and training.

- It has its own competencies for the development of its professional work.

- That its competencies include priority measures in the health care of the population.

- That he/she develops his/her competences and does it in an efficient way.

It would seem logical to deduce the existence of a very high scientific production in the field of health promotion, self-care and care plans, reflecting all their work and experiences and providing a consistent basis for progress in the acquisition of new competencies and improving the quality of current ones. However, this is not the case. What is happening?

Well, if we analyze it following some of the basic principles that are very familiar in our profession, we can consider that when an expected behavior or action does not appear, it may be due to not knowing, not being able to or not wanting to.

Nursing knows how to generate scientific production. During their undergraduate training, they acquire knowledge to publish and disseminate the results of their actions, and later they complete them through continuing education or postgraduate training.

Nursing has numerous forums for the dissemination of its work, through conferences, congresses, publications, manuals, etc., so that it can generate more scientific production every day.

Therefore, the only option left is that Nursing lacks the necessary motivation to generate scientific production, which could mean that it does not attach enough importance to it to devote the necessary efforts to its realization. Professionals could be completely focused on "doing and acting", without giving the importance that "disseminating what is done" deserves, with the consequent error that implies: "what is not disseminated is not valued and slows down progress".

At this point of reflection, we should ask ourselves a few questions

ARE WE PROFESSIONALS AWARE OF THE TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC GENERATION AND DISSEMINATION IN NURSING FOR THE PROFESSION IN GENERAL AND FOR THE PROFESSIONALS THEMSELVES IN PARTICULAR?

It must be considered that only those who develop a given competency are capable of generating experiences and scientific evidence of the same, and in this sense it is understood that the absence or scarce generation of experiences and scientific evidence in relation to a given competency implies the absence of its development.

ARE WE PROFESSIONALS AWARE THAT IT IS NURSING ITSELF THAT IS GOING TO SET ITS OWN COURSE AND FUTURE AS A DISCIPLINE AND AS A PROFESSION?

The history of nursing itself shows how it has been evolving and advancing as a discipline and as a profession based exclusively on demonstrating, through science, the relevance and importance of its work.

Everyone knew the relevance of the work of nurses in practice throughout history, but it was not until scientific data were published demonstrating the impact of their work on the health of people, that they were recognized as professionals, and subsequently advanced based on the generation of development that validated their work.

ARE WE AWARE THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO ARGUE THE NEED FOR OUR PROFESSIONAL PRESENCE IN THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?

All of us professionals are concerned and worried about the existence of the necessary number of places for nursing professionals that will allow us to carry out our work and do it properly. However, we do not always understand that the number of places in our society is proposed by health managers based on existing data and evidence on the relevance of the performance of the competencies of each professional, in this case Nursing.

The development of new competencies and health services for the population, the promotion of measures to encourage and promote health, the ability to solve health care problems for the population, the design of new systems aimed at patient safety, the improvement in the quality of care, comprehensive care for the individual, community care, etc. are some examples of nursing competencies for which it is essential to generate the necessary data and evidence to demonstrate the need for nursing professionals to carry them out.

ARE WE AWARE THAT WE ARE LEAVING THE FIELD OPEN FOR OTHER HEALTH DISCIPLINES TO OCCUPY THE COMPETENCIES THAT CORRESPOND TO NURSING ACCORDING TO ITS TRAINING AND CAPABILITIES?

The promotion and promotion of health and care are currently central areas in health care, located within the competencies of nursing itself, on which other disciplines want to act because of their relevance and importance, even going so far as to redirect their own paradigms in an attempt to address them.

Expressions such as "medical care" or other similar ones in relation to other disciplines, such as pharmacy, clearly reflect the interest of these professionals in acting on these areas within the scope of Nursing, in the face of the passivity existing in scientific production.

I would like to conclude by stating that according to these arguments it seems essential to motivate professionals of the need to generate abundant scientific production, specific to Nursing, quality scientific production, as an indispensable measure to consolidate and continue the progress and the path designed since Florence Nightingale by the leading nurses of our profession.

Antonio Arribas Cachá