Reference no: EM133846411

Question

Clinical nurses are ideally placed to write for publication in addition to those who work in academia who have this as an accepted part of their role. Nurses generate new evidence from their work in practice by carrying out research and audits and being involved in practice development projects, for example. This resource of knowledge needs to be shared with others, ideally in an international arena so that nurses can learn from each other. Nursing in the United Kingdom is now an all graduate profession and many nurses go on to study at both Masters and PhD level, providing writing from all levels of academic study that can be adapted for publication. It seems wrong to undertake a study and obtain findings and then choose not share this widely. Both a lack of confidence and time are cited as reasons why nurses do not write; however, to share knowledge with others is a duty as part of any nursing role for the improvement of staff working practices and patient care. All nurses need knowledge that is practical, experiential, and scientific; clinical nurses who write for publication can provide this.

Writing for publication; clinical nursing; sharing knowledge; writing as a part of the nursing role; evidence-based practice

Nurses outside of academia often do not feel that writing is a part of their role. However, all nurses and midwives, especially those in clinical practice have valued knowledge to enable their voice to be heard by a wider audience and to share best and evidence-based practice. Writing for publication supports the principles Nursing and Midwifery (NMC) Code of Professional Standards of Practice and Behaviour for Nurses and Midwives ([9] ) and could also play an active role in the process of revalidation ([10] ). Many aspects of clinical practice are important to disseminate to a wider audience; nurses and midwives have expert clinical knowledge (scientific, experiential, and practical) informed by evidence and learned by doing. Nurse education now involves study at University with the submission of academic work as a part of assessments. Therefore, nurses already have writing skills that can be channelled towards writing for a journal. Evaluation and measurement of care is a part of clinical practice, which is important to share with others so that they can learn what works and what does not, or what may need to be refined. It is essential that a journal that wishes to reach clinical staff who are direct caregivers offer articles that are useful to their practice. The best way to provide articles that are both relevant and credible is to encourage clinical nurses to write.

Writing for publication enables the sharing of innovation and best practice ([6] ). [14] agrees that for the dissemination of knowledge and practice, publication is necessary; however, a lack of confidence or knowledge of the process, and insufficient time prevents practitioners from writing. However, the nurses delivering care often do not realise that they too should be writing for publication. Not enough time is mentioned as the most common reason for clinicians not writing about their work ([6] ; [11] ) along with a lack of confidence and little support in the workplace. Many nurses have designed or implemented new ideas because of projects for practice innovation, benefitting staff, patients and their communities, but these are often overlooked and are not shared widely. [4] suggests that clinical nurses underestimate the impact of their contributions to written publications. Some 10 years ago, there was a call to provide innovative ways to encourage nurse to write for publication such as encouraging writing workshops, but these were met with limited success ([7] ). However, there remains an issue of a reluctance of nurses to write despite the growing recognition that publishing in peer-reviewed journal is becoming an expectation for nurses, midwives and other health professionals, whether they work in academia, research, management or clinical practice ([5] ).

The process

The first decision to be made is what to write about and where to publish ([1] ). The best subject to write about is one that you have experience of, such as a speciality that you work in; a previous good quality assignment or literature review that you could adapt; the results of a practice audit; an innovation of a new practice that you have evaluated, or the results of change management resulting in better outcomes for staff or patients. The most important issue is that the subject matter must inform practice. Permission will need to be sought from the workplace if results of audits and other work are to appear in the public domain because of your publication. Choosing the right journal for the publication is essential ([6] ; [8] ). It is good to become familiar with the type of writing found in different journals as this helps to gain an idea of the style of the writing, the technical detail and the length of articles that are published. Journals have their own unique selling points that are outlined in the aims and scope of the journal, and in the type of readership that the publication hopes to attract. Considering whether you are writing for a national or international audience will also have an impact on what you choose to write. For an international audience there will be a need for generic terms that have meaning across cultures. Deciding who you are writing for and why will help you to keep a clear focus. Think carefully about the people who will read the work as your 'audience,' while addressing the wider issues that the editor may be keen to hear about, along with how well the article fits into the style and usual content of the journal.

Box 1. Question to ask yourself

What do I want to write about?

Who may want to hear this?

Why is this important to write about now?

Where is the best place to publish?

When commencing the writing, use whatever systems used for past study have helped you to construct a piece of writing while fitting the activity into normal life. Perhaps writing a framework or plan for the piece may help. Look at other articles in your selected journal as these will provide some guidance/templates for the structure of the writing. Continue to read and re-read your writing and ask others to read it too. Proofreaders do not need to be experts in the subject area but need to be able to understand what is trying to be said. Once the work is to a good standard, it is time to consider the submission process. [1] provides an excellent publication guiding nurses through the writing process, from critical reading through to preparing the final piece of work for submission. Examples from postgraduate work are provided, which show the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches along with case studies of published research demonstrating good practice in writing.

When submitting a paper to a journal, abide by their guidelines for submission, which provide details for the author of how the work should be presented. Guidelines can be downloaded from the journal website. Follow these guidelines and show attention to detail: failure to do this will result in an immediate rejection ([3] ). Do not be tempted to submit a piece of work written for another purpose, such as a university assignment, without editing the writing to fit the journal style. Assignments that were wellreceived at university would need to be reworked and submitted in the house-style of the journal before they can be considered for publication. The submission process varies between the different journals. However, it is usual to upload the title of the article and the details of all authors first. Some journals may require the abstract, key words, the main article, references, figures and tables, and a letter to the editor as separate items ([2] ).

Initially, the work will be read by the editor and if it is suitable to progress it will then be read by peer reviewers who will advise the editor whether the article is suitable for publication. These reviews are fed back to the author to help with revisions of the writing so that it can be reconsidered for publication. It is unusual, but very fortunate if the work is accepted without any revisions being required. However, being prepared for rejection at worst, while having awareness that it is very common for the reviewers to advise amendments to your writing is a good place to start. The rejection of an article can purely be because it is not suited to the journal that it has been submitted to. It is not always about the quality of the writing. Part of writing for publication is being prepared to cope with rejection and to re-write and resubmit writing-determination and staying power are a big part of the writing process.

Correspondence will take place between the author and the journal editors and to any reviewers who are asked to look at the work. In all dealings it is important to be professional, polite and attend to detail. The impression made online with communications is as important as face-to-face encounters.

Box 2. The writing process

Format for writing:

Abstract: a précis of your article

Introduction: introduce the main essence of the writing to follow

Main body: the main argument/discussion of what you are writing about

Conclusions: sum up the main points of what you discussed with some messages for the future