Q: Clinical Questions: Where Do You Find Them?

A: Everyday clinical practice scenarios in your patient care setting.

How do I find a good clinical research question? Consider your own patient car setting. What have you encountered in taking care of patients this week that may have caused you to ask “Why do we do it this way? Or could we do it better?”

One way to identify important clinical questions and potential research questions is to gather unit clinicians and conduct a focus group to brainstorm ideas that are pertinent to your patient population or clinical area. Another way to identify good questions is to keep pads of Post-it©notes at the bedside or clinical workstation to capture ideas as they occur during daily patient care delivery (see Research Strategies For Clinicians, Chapter 2)

Prioritizing Clinical Questions

Q: Why is it important to use a system to prioritize possible research ideas?
A: To ensure that the most important, efficient and effective project is selected.

Doing research is hard work. Keeping potential barriers in mind while you are selecting your research topic can help you cut down on the number of problems you will encounter along the way. Prioritizing research questions may help maximize your potential for success by differentiating clinically important and feasible research questions from those that may be more difficult to accomplish given current unit expertise and resources.

Key factors to consider when prioritizing your research question include patient population and setting, other projects currently in process, institutional priorities (for example, the balanced scorecard priority areas), cost, availability of tools, and funding requirements. Other critical factors to consider are the priorities and patient safety targets set by national professional groups, such as the National Quality Forum (NQF) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality indicators. Professional groups and associations, such as the American Association for Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and the American Heart Association (AHA), establish additional research priorities that may pertain to your patient population and should be considered. Use a table like the one below to help your research group prioritize potential projects.