Nutrition-related nursing research.

o identify the contribution of nurses to the nutrition research literature between 1970 and 1984, nursing and multidisciplinary research journals T were reviewed. A total of 104 nutrition research articles with nurses as first author or co-author were identified. More than two thirds of the articles have been published since 1980; only nine had been published prior to 1977. Of the articles, 55 were primarily nursing research and 49 were the result of team research. More than half (28) of the 55 articles were found in two journals, Nursing Research and The Journal of Parentera1 and Enieral Nutrition (JPEN). Most of the articles that were the result of team research were published in JPEN. * Nurses involved primarily in nursing research had higher educational levels overall than did those involved in team research. Of the 101 nurses involved in nursing research, 79 % had education preparation beyond the bachelor’s degree; of the nurses who served as first authors, 76% were educated beyond the bachelor’s level. Of the 57 nurses involved in team research, 20 % had postbaccalaureate education, and one had a doctoral degree. Even in the nursing research studies there was an emphasis on collaboration, with 36 of the 55 nursing studies involved in collaboration with one or more nurses, physicians, dietitians, or other professionals. The topics of the studies are shown in Table 1. As can be seen, more articles were related to nutrition support than to any other topic. (Nutrition support may be defined as “the provision of specially formulated andor delivered intravenous or enteral nutrients to prevent or treat malnutrition.”) (Committee on Standards, 1985). It was found that 19 (34%) of the nursing studies and 10 (20%) of the team studies dealt with delivery and tolerance of enteral feedings; 11 % of the nursing studies and 43% of the team studies were concerned with the patient’s receiving total parented