The Nurse Educators’ Scholarship Project (NESP) began in the fall of 2004 with funding from the BC Medical Services Foundation. The participating partners in the project are nursing programs at Camosun College, University of Victoria, Malaspina University-College, North Island College, Langara College, Douglas College, Kwantlen University College, Thompson Rivers University, University of BC-Okanagan, Selkirk College, College of the Rockies and Aurora College. The intent of the project is to foster scholarly work amongst nursing faculty and to build capacity for research and scholarship within nursing faculties across British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. We are now entering the third year of the project and are requesting one more year of funding from the BC Medical Services Foundation.
Scholarship is foundational to quality in nursing education and practice. Until recently, scholarship in nursing tended to be equated with research for the creation of new knowledge (knowledge discovery). This type of scholarly activity was viewed primarily as the responsibility of university-based nursing faculty who had “research” designated as part of their work assignment. The use of research results (research application) was deemed the responsibility of practitioners and basic to good practice, but not necessarily within the realm of scholarship. Similarly, the teaching of students was not commonly associated with scholarship.
Consistent with shifts in perspectives on health and health care research and academic scholarship, nursing scholarship is currently being more broadly defined. An example of a broad definition of scholarship is Boyer’s[1] (1990) model that explicates the scholarship of teaching, as well as knowledge discovery, integration and application (or engagement). The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing has expanded on Boyer’s model and included service as another aspect of scholarly work. The CASN definition of scholarship and position statement document, which includes examples of each area of scholarship along with examples of evidence of scholarly work, can be found at (http://www.causn.org/research/Research_Position_statement.htm). The participating nursing programs in NESP have adopted the CASN definition of scholarship and are working with Boyer’s model.
The scholarship of discovery, integration, service, application, and teaching are all part of the broader umbrella of research. These distinctions and definitions of scholarship are a way of explaining the broad array of exploratory and theory driven research that is evident in the healthcare field. For example, not all medical research is a research of discovery (research that results in the creation of new knowledge). Some is clearly application, some is integration of existing knowledge, and some of it is evaluating continuing medical education or methods of providing education to physicians serving remote areas. The shift is also apparent in the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) mandate that refers not only to creating new knowledge, but also to translating knowledge into improved health.[2]
This broader view of scholarship invites nurses to expand their knowledge of and involvement in scholarly activity. The project was initiated because a current priority for all the nursing programs is to strengthen the capacity of nurse research scholars. This project is very innovative and has been highly successful in the first two years. As a result of the project there is an increased awareness and valuing of scholarship across all the nursing programs and amongst nursing faculty members, increased scholarly activity among nursing faculty and increased support for scholarly activity at the partner sites. The development of faculty over the last 12 months in particular has seen faculty forming 6 active cross-site teams (see information on teams) and the submission of grant applications and publications. The recent colloquium saw the bringing together of preexisting teams and the formation of new ones focusing on more specific areas of inquiry. Momentum is growing and many nurse educators, who were not engaging in scholarly activity a year or two ago, are now doing so.
