Home Improvement::Furniture,Beds

Finding and refining an article topic

The first, and most important, step in writing an article is selecting a topic. The topic you choose should fit you as smoothly as a surgical glove. For some, this will be easy. Perhaps you have conducted a research study that you want to share with other nurses, or you recently cared for a patient with an unusual condition in your OR. Many nurses struggle as they attempt to choose a topic, however, and the struggle intensifies as they try to narrow a broad topic down to one they can manage and cover well in an article for publication. Fortunately, some simple strategies will make the process easier.

Nurses often say, "I'd like to try my hand at writing, but I'm not sure what to write about." Ideas are all around you--in your OR, in your hospital, in your home, on your children's playground, and even in your car. One technique that can help you open your eyes to potential topics is to ask seven "W" questions.

* What interests me?

* What can't I find in the literature?

* What does the literature contain that could be adapted to my specialty?

* What is new or improved in my specialty area?

* What could others learn from what I am doing?

* What do non-nursing sources offer?

* What are my colleagues saying?

What interests me? A topic should pique your interest. That interest will sustain you through planning, researching, writing, and revising. Expert authors say, "Write about what you know," but this does not always apply--journalists write about unfamiliar topics all the time. It is often easier to start with a topic you know well, but if an unfamiliar topic interests you, do not be afraid to challenge yourself by writing about it.

What can't I find in the literature? Think about the articles you have read in the past year. What information were you looking for that you were unable to find? Were there other topics of interest to perioperative nurses missing from the journals?

If you have a general idea about a topic, conduct a literature search online at PubMed (ie, http://www.ncbi.nih.gov) to see what has been published recently. If your hospital has a library, talk with a research librarian who can help you access nursing databases such as CINAHL (ie, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), which is free to most medical libraries, and print resources that are not available online. Other good options are a local college library or the library at AORN. If you do not live near a library, you still may be able to call and talk with a librarian for consultation and to request copies of articles, if you are willing to pay a retrieval fee. Some articles also can be purchased online. Look for gaps in the literature and ask yourself how you can contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.

What does the literature contain that could be adapted to my specialty? Do not despair if your search turns up several articles on what you thought was a unique topic. You may be able to redirect the topic to apply to the highly specialized field of perioperative nursing. For example, many general nursing journals have published articles related to the effective use of complementary care in the practice setting. You could focus on how these methods can be adapted in the OR.

What is new or improved in my specialty area? Nurses are always interested in new techniques and concepts. For example, a recent issue of AORN Journal featured an article on photoselective vaporization of the prostate, a relatively new treatment for benign prostatic hypertrophy. (1) Examine your own practice. Your facility may be performing procedures that no one has written about.

Online searching can be helpful here, too. Check associations' web sites to access the schedules for upcoming national meetings since these tend to feature the latest developments in a field. Many national associations also post abstracts from national meetings online. A lag time exists between a new innovation and publication in journals, so these research techniques can give you the edge in identifying a topic that has not yet made it into print.

What could others learn from what I am doing? Like everyone else, nurses seek out ways to improve what they are already doing. Perhaps your specialty is orthopedics, and you have developed a detailed protocol for establishing a team for computer-assisted total knee arthroplasty. Maybe you have fine-tuned a procedure for writing a business plan for managing room turnover and staffing. You may take your innovations for granted, but publishing an article about them can help others avoid "reinventing the wheel."

What do non-nursing sources offer? Expand your horizons. A recent article on balloon sinuplasty appeared not in a medical journal but in The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper. (2) Newspapers, magazines, and radio and television programs can be excellent sources of information for new procedures just waiting to be written about from a perioperative nurse's point of view. Business Week, Discover, and The Wall Street Journal are particularly good sources of clinical and management ideas. Use these types of sources to find ideas, but rely on standard medical and nursing references when you write the article.

No Comment | Posted in » bed, Furniture, Home Tips