UT Southwestern's Neuroscience Nursing Research Center (NNRC) regularly provides a research boot camp for nurses who are developing a research protocol and are nearing publication.

Protocol Development

The boot camp is a full-day, hands-on workshop that is fundamentally designed to provide nurses with the necessary tools to be the Principal Investigator or lead author of a study.

Boot camp begins with a short informational session that covers:

• history of nursing research
• current practice in clinical research
• institutional review board
• ethics
• consenting process
• data collection and storage

The remainder of the day is spent writing, editing, and submitting research protocols for Institutional Review Board approval or publication.

Typically, boot camp is attended by 6-8 nurses and staff, operated by 2-3 Ph.D. faculty, and 1-2 experienced clinical research coordinators. Throughout the day, the NNRC staff continually circulates to provide one-on-one, just-in-time mentoring and consultation. Leadership, ownership, and responsibilities provide the underlying theme for the training.

Manuscript Development

The manuscript boot camp is a full-day workshop that is designed to guide nurses who have completed data collection and are considering submitting to a peer reviewed journal. The mentors assist you with each section of your manuscript, simple data analysis, table and figure development, and references. The day begins with a brief lecture on the manuscript submission process and the remainder of the day is spent writing the manuscript. Typically, this boot camp is operated by four Ph.D. prepared leaders with a ratio of 8 to 10 nurses. The NNRC staff provide one-on-one assistance throughout the day. It is possible to complete and submit a manuscript during this workshop, but if not, the NNRC team will work with you after the workshop to submit your manuscript.

Abstract Submission

The abstract boot camp is a three-hour workshop designed to guide nurses in submitting an abstract to a conference. These are often designed for a specific conference, but can also be done as a general training. This workshop contains three to four mentors who assist in writing and editing abstracts. Most nurses complete and submit their abstract within the boot camp timeframe.