Introduction
The role of registered nurses (RNs) in research cannot be overemphasized. Essentially, they are mandated to provide ultimate care and advocacy to patients while coordinating key research processes ensuring justice, respect for persons, and beneficence, as seen in Jan Klein’s actions. Therefore, this paper reviews some of the critical concepts related to research and provides a summary of personal opinions on the nurse’s actions in the videos.
Essential Elements of Informed Consent
Researcher ethics and law require informed consent. This entails communicating all important details of a study to prospective volunteers so they may decide whether to join (Grant, 2021). The main component is a detailed research description that details the inquiry, methodology, and participant involvement. It must encompass all risks and advantages, promote voluntariness, and guarantee secrecy (Grant, 2021). Institutional review board (IRB) documentation, review, and approval are also crucial.
Special Populations
Researching specific groups has legal and ethical issues for RNs. These include pregnant women, people with impairments, children, underprivileged populations, and the elderly (Winter et al., 2018). For example, research on minors requires parental consent, and studies on pregnant women must not harm the baby. Further monitoring and interventions must be implemented to ensure such individuals undergo no harm in such breaks (Winter et al., 2018). In disenfranchised populations, privacy and trust must also be increased.
Nurse’s Role in Research Situations
As clinical research coordinators (CRCs), nurses are crucial to research. They must emphasize patient rights and interests during research. As such, they must lead informed consent and ensure participants understand the research and agree to participate willingly (Garrity et al., 2017). They must also take privacy and confidentiality precautions. Nurses must always respect participants’ dignity and autonomy. Furthermore, they must regularly communicate with the research team to resolve issues and protocol changes.
Thoughts on Nurse Jan’s Action
Through the videos, Jan remains professional and conducts herself as expected of a nurse in research. She ensures that one of the participants fully understands the research despite her desperation to participate. She also keeps the team updated and does check-ins while correcting the team members in areas she feels are taking the wrong path (Garrity et al., 2017). However, as the CRC, she needs to be more assertive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of nurses in research cannot be overstated. They must consider informed consent as their primary mandate is to the patients participating in the study. They must be ready to consider special populations, such as children. As such, an RN must ensure that they understand and execute their role just as Jan did for successful research completion.
References
Garrity, S. R., Tarzian, A.J., Lehmann, K., Greene, K.L., Browning, S., Dauses, T., Giffels, J., & Zimmet, S. (2017). The research clinic [Video file]. The Office of Research Integrity and the Office for Human Research Protection. Web.
Grant, S. C. (2021). Informed consent—we can and should do better. JAMA Network Open, 4(4). Web.
Winter, S., Larson, R., Cordova, C., Solares, A., Haozous, E., Page, K., & Page-Reeves, J. (2018). Inclusion of special populations in clinical research: Important considerations and Guidelines. Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, 4(1), 56–69. Web.