The role of the advanced practice nurse in facilitating a clinical research study. Screening for delirium.

As advanced practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners have a leadership role in integrating and promoting nursing research in clinical settings. In this quasi-experimental study, the role of the advanced practice nurse in developing and implementing an intervention that improved delirium screening by staff nurses is described. Screening practices of the treatment group nurses were accurate in 100% of the cases. Control nurses failed to detect any cases of delirium. A discussion of study findings and their relevance to advanced practice nursing are discussed.