Trends in nursing research in France: a cross-sectional analysis.

AIM: To examine the engagement of French registered nurses with the Ministry of Health's initiative to spur scientific inquiry in the community. BACKGROUND: French nursing research has suffered from a lack of dedicated funding. Positive signs of change have recently appeared, with the launch of the first national public funding programme dedicated to nursing research. This initiative, begun in 2010, was launched by the French Ministry of Health. Through this initiative, 149 registered nurses, serving as principal investigators, and their teams submitted research proposals between 2010 and 2011. The administrative guidelines of the funding programme are clearly oriented towards producing quantitative and exogenous nursing research. METHOD: A cross-sectional analysis of 149 nursing research projects submitted during the first and second years of a French national funding programme for hospital-based nursing research was conducted. Research proposals were included in the analysis whether they received funding or not. Data collection took place in 2011. The categories used in the analysis were the following: (1) the socio-demographic data on the registered nurse principal investigators, (2) the research teams and (3) the research proposals (methodologies, bibliography, focus of the research, output, the status of the research proposals). RESULTS: This study highlights the presence of methodological homogeneity among the research proposals submitted for funding. Clear tendencies were towards interventional and quantitative studies and those with an exogenous factor research objective. Between 2010 and 2011, 25 projects were funded out of 149 submitted. They were mostly quantitative and/or focused on the exogenous factors in patient care. CONCLUSION: The socio-political context of a funding programme designed to encourage nursing research has had an implicit influence on the type of research to which French nurses have committed themselves to and the scientific positions with which these nurse researchers align themselves.

Burden of infections among 44,869 elderly in nursing homes: a cross-sectional cluster nationwide survey.

In France, although there are 445,000 beds in nursing homes (NHs) for elderly people, no studies on the burden of infections in NHs have been published. We sought to estimate the prevalence of infection among the residents and to assess the extent to which infections were associated with the residents' risk factors. We performed a nationwide, multicentre, cross-sectional, clustered period prevalence survey over five one-month periods. Cases of infection were classified as definite or, in the absence of laboratory confirmation, as probable. A total of 44,869 residents in 578 volunteer facilities were enrolled in the survey. The overall prevalence rate of infections was 11.23% [95% confidence interval (CI): 10.50-11.97] and differed significantly (P<0.001) across survey periods (the time of the year the survey was carried out). The rate of definite cases was 4.60% (95% CI: 4.04-5.54) and the rate of probable cases was 6.63% (95% CI: 5.77-7.98). Respiratory tract infections were the most frequent and accounted for 41% of all infections. Infections were significantly associated with age, length of stay, full disability, urinary device, bedsores and the survey period. Only prevention programmes may reduce the impact of infections on this frail population.

Guidelines for infection control in nursing homes: a Delphi consensus web-based survey.

A nationwide survey was performed using a two-round web-based Delphi procedure to develop a set of consensus guidelines for preventing infections among residents in nursing homes (NHs). The research group was led by an investigative group of six specialists. Research analysts conducted a literature search and review of practice guidelines, systematic reviews and articles or abstracts published in English and French on the topic of infection prevention. The literature search was examined by 23 specialists (who compiled a preliminary list of 301 recommendations). Using a Delphi survey online instrument, 81 experts from all relevant medical specialties in the fields of infection prevention and control and geriatrics rated their agreement with each of the recommendations using a nine-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 9 = strongly agree). During the second round, 79 participants received anonymous feedback from the first round and assessed a narrowed list of 130 recommendations. Recommendations were retained and classified according to the overall median score and ratings percentages by stakeholders. A total of 79 raters rated ≥ 10% of items, and 264 recommendations were retained and rated as follows: 240 items reached consensus, 24 items reached near consensus, 37 items were discarded and one recommendation was deleted. Many infections, though not all, can be prevented in the frail elderly. Thus, these guidelines should be adopted by each healthcare professional and facility to implement routine infection control procedures.