Research and Policy
The Florence Nightingale Foundation Academy engages nurses and midwives in strengthening the national and international evidence base agenda by:
- Developing leadership and political acumen amongst clinical academics
- Integrating Quality Improvement methodology and practice into educational programmes
- Undertaking research into the leadership development experiences and impact of nurses and midwives working in specific contexts or roles to influence change
- Supporting nurses and midwives to disseminate their innovation and influence through a range of media channels including peer review publication
- Influencing national and international policy
The independent policy unit within the FNF Academy provides a focus for strengthening and mobilising the nursing and midwifery contribution to national, regional and local health policy agendas and decisions related to care delivery and patient experience. It achieves this by harnessing the intelligence and expertise of the nursing and midwifery FNF alumni network to provide a strong and well informed voice. The key objectives of the policy unity are to:
- Function in a collaborative way to provide expert nursing and midwifery advice and opinion on contemporary issues which affect patient experience, health outcomes and quality of care
- Bring together the best equipped thought leaders with appropriate expertise from within the professions and beyond to inform and provide independent advice on specific areas of policy concern
- Shape and develop responses which can inform and advise on potential solutions to policy issues involving nursing and midwifery care delivery
- Act as the ‘go to’ organisation for the professions by continuing to develop a range of services and frameworks. These will focus on enhancing policy awareness and political acumen and mobilising the policy voice and influence of nursing and midwifery professionals
In June 2021, FNF published its first piece of policy research exploring how Learning Disability Nurses overcame challenges and transformed their ways of working during the first wave of COVID-19.
The research highlights how Learning Disability Nurses turned to collaboration and creativity in a monumental effort to maintain services for people with a learning disability. The nurses were driven by a desire to maintain a sense of normality and stability for those in their care and pulled together to keep people with learning disabilities connected and safe during an intense period of social isolation.
The article has been published by the RCNi and is open access and available in an Easy Read format.