Volume 9│Issue 3│October 2018 Carilion Medical Center, 1906 Belleview Ave, Roanoke, VA 24014 http://chsweb.carilion.com/nursserv/NursW eb.html nursingresearch@carilionclinic.org (540)266 -6216
Writing for Internal Publication: Reflections on How to Eat an Elephant Margaret Perry, MSN, RN-BC - Sr. Nurse Educator, Education & Organizational Development It was about 10 years ago when the idea of an internal publication first occurred to me. I didn’t have a name for it, or even much of a plan. But while trying to inspire the nurses on my units to pursue CAP, the argument I got back from those who didn’t immediately walk away was “How am I supposed to get a point under Research? There’s nothing there I can do.” I remember I had a hard time refuting their claim. I focused on the CAP point for research that seemed like a logical first step into the world of nursing research: “Submits an article to an internal or external publication”. An external publication would be a long shot, especially for an inexperienced writer, so I looked for an internal one. Zero. Zip. Nada. If I wanted these nurses to pursue CAP, I would have to create an internal publication. The publication, then named “REACH Newsletter”, had a solid foundation. It was designed to mimic an external publication. It had a peer review board made up of many of our Clinical Nurse Specialists who would review submissions and were committed to mentor the authors to create a finished product with scholarly integrity. Many of you are familiar with the joke: “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “one bite at a time”. The idea was to take the ‘elephant’ of research and break it down into bite-sized pieces. While nurses might feel a research project was beyond their capability, they could interview a nurse who was involved with research, write a critique of a research article, or summarize a quality project, and maybe discover research was just a lot of bite-sized pieces. Eating the elephant could become possible. After it was first published, despite heavy marketing (hand delivering paper copies all over the hospital), I wasn’t sure anyone saw it except the four nurses I begged to write articles. After the first couple of issues, I partnered with the Carilion Nursing Research Department to develop the internal publication. It was integrated into the Research Council and quickly began to grow. It became hospital-wide and then started accepting submissions from outlying facilities. It was re-named “Within REACH”, portraying that research IS consistent with our professional practice model (REACH) and within reach of the bedside nurse. Peer review processes were refined to resemble the processes of professional journals. Nurses wrote interesting articles, but more was added. The internal publication started covering the Week of the Nurse activities and the Nursing Research Conference. It showcased nurses doing research, getting published, and taking their work to conferences. It grew and grew. It is now published 3 times a year; with a fourth Annual Special Conference Edition covering Carilion nurses at conferences, such as the Carilion Nursing Research Conference and the ANCC National Magnet® Conference. It moved from being a paper publication to an electronic one. It surpassed my original vision for it. Now Within REACH is entering the next phase of its growth. It has moved out from under the leadership of the Research Council. A multidisciplinary Editorial Board will now provide editorial review for Within REACH, but also for other scholarly endeavors, such as the Magnet® document, external publication critique, and award and recognition editing. Within REACH is branching out to welcome submissions from other health care professionals, as well as moving outside the inpatient world to ambulatory and outpatient arenas. This has been an exciting journey. In many ways I have likened it to raising children. As they grow you have to step back and allow them to develop their own potential. Other people invest themselves in your children and influence their growth. Within REACH has grown and promises to continue to grow, especially given the investment of so many people- the Research Council, the Clinical Nurse Specialists, nursing administration, Kim Carter who has a vision to continue to carry this forward, but especially frontline nurses, who invest their time and energy to submit, and work with the feedback they get to make this a valuable publication with scholarly integrity and rigor. I can’t wait to see where the next ten years will take us.
~ Margaret
Carilion Clinic Roanoke Campus