Milestones in nursing research refer to the key historical events, breakthroughs, and developments that have significantly shaped the evolution of nursing as a scientific discipline. These milestones mark the progression from informal caregiving to a structured, evidence-based profession rooted in theory, inquiry, and innovation.
Core Elements of These Milestones
- Foundational Contributions: Early work by pioneers like Florence Nightingale, who used statistical analysis to improve patient outcomes.
- Institutional Recognition: Establishment of journals and research centers (e.g., Nursing Research journal in 1952, NINR in 1993).
- Theoretical Advancements: Development of nursing theories that guided practice and research.
- Methodological Shifts: Transition from qualitative to quantitative and mixed-methods research.
- Integration into Practice: Adoption of evidence-based practice as a standard in clinical settings.
Major milestones of nursing research in Western countries
| Major milestones of nursing research in Western countries | |
| 1950 | There was an increase in federal funding for research in nursing, American Nurses Foundaion was devoted exclusively for the promotion of research in nursing. |
| 1952 | For the first time, there was a publication of nursing research. |
| 1953 | The Insitute of Research and Service in Nursing Education was launched at Colombia University, |
| 1954 | PhD programme was introduced in nursing education. |
| 1955 | American Nurses Association (ANA) established American Nurses Foundation as an independent organization for the, purpose of development of nursing research by conducting and supporting research projects |
| 1957 | A department of nursing research was established at Walter Reed Army Institute, |
| 1960 | The 1960s brought reordering of nursing research. The focus was to target practice-oriented research to improve the quality of patient care. |
| 1965 | The ANA took an official position in educational preparation of licensed nurses in which the need for research in nursing and for educating nurse researchers was recognized |
| 1970 | A content analysis of articles published in nursing research from 1970 to 1975 showed a shift from researach nursing being conducted by a large group of members of other disciplines, especially social sciences ,which served as the basis for much of what nurses do in practice today. |
| 1976 | The ANA Commission on Nursing Research published guidelines for the academic preparation of nurses in participation in research and its utilization. |
| 1986 | National Centre for Nursing Research (NCNR was established at National institute of Health (NIH) under the Health Research Extension Act, 1985. |
| 1990 | The 1990s brought the promise of reducing the gap between practice and research. The publication Healthy People 2000 in 1992 by the US Department of Health and Human Services laid the national health agenda for the future |
| 1993 | National Centre for Nursing Research was renamed National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR). The Cochrane Collaboration was established. In addition, Journal of Nursing Measurements started being published. |
| 1994 | The journal Qualitative Research started being published |
| 1995 | The Joanna Briggs Institute, an international EBP collaboration, was established in Australia. |
| 1997 | Canadian Health Services Research Foundation was established with federal funding |
| 1999 | US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) was renamed as Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). |
| 2000 | The NINR issued funding priorities for 2000-2004; annual funding exceeded US$100 milion. The Canadian Institute of Health Research was launched. The journal Biological Research for Nursing started being published |
| 2004 | The journal Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing started being published |
| 2005 | Sigma Theta Tau International issued a position paper on nursing research priorities that incorporated priorities from nursing organizations internationally. |
| Significant initiatives of National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) | |
| 2005-2006 | Launched a roadmap for the opportunities and gaps in research, which will accelerate the progress of science. The NINR issues a strategic plan for 2006-2010 |
| 2009 | Published a brochure titled ‘Palliative Care: The Relief You Need When You Are Experiencing the Symptoms of Serious Illness”‘, which won the patent award. |
| 2010 | Released its history book titled NINR-Bringing Science to Life. |
| 2011 | Released new strategic plan ‘ Bringing Science to Life”, which specified the NINR’s strategic priorities for scientific research over the next 5 years and beyond. The institute celebrated 25th anniversary and issues a new strategic plan. |
| 2013 | The NINR published a report on trends in end-of-life and palliative care research published during the last 14 years, which was titled as ‘Building Momentum: The Science of End-of-Life and Palliative Care; A Review of Research Trends and Findings from 1997 to 2010″ |
| 2014 | To improve the awareness and communication about paediatric palliative care, the NINR launched a campaign titled as ‘Palliative Care: Conversation Matters@’. Its budget exceeds US$140 million. |
| 2016 | The institute released its new strategic plan, ‘Advancing Science, Improving Lives; A Vision of Nursing Science’ |
| 2017 | It hosted ‘The Science of Caregiving: Bringing Voices Together Summit” to bring together nursing experts from caregiving across the lifespan to deliberate on areas of current and future nursing research to improve health of patients and caregivers. |
| 2018 | It developed the Omics Nursing Science Education & Research (ONSEN) website in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). |
| 2022 | Its strategic plan framework 2022-2026 is under development through following five lenses: 1. Health equity 2. Social determinants of health 3. Population and community health 4. Prevention and health promotion 5. Systems and models of care |
Maior milestones of nursing research in India
Research related to nursing in India has its roots in the philosophy of Florence Nightingale, which stated that the profession is committed to the task of enlarging the professional body of knowledge through a systemic approach to solve problems in nursing.
The statistics on the unsanitary conditions in the Indian Army prepared by Florence Nightingale may be the starting point of nursing research in India, Afterwards, many developments have taken place in India including the emergence of associations, growth of educational institutions and efforts of prominent educators and administrators to directly or indirectly adopt scientific approaches. Some of the main historical milestones that influenced the development of nursing research in India.
Nursing research continues to develop at a rapid pace and will undoubtedly flourish in the 21 st century. Broadly speaking, the priority for nursing research will be the promotion of excellence in nursing practices.
| Major milestones of nursing research in India | |
| Year | Event |
| 1910 | The Trained Nurses’ Association of India (TNAI) published the first issues of a scientific research journal tiled The Nursing Journal of India during the first scientific nursing conference of the TNAI held, at Banaras, Uttar Pradesh |
| 1946 | Bhore Committee (1943) submitted a report in which recommendations were made for the improvement of various aspects of nursing profession, nursing education, nursing research, working conditions, nursing services in both hospitals and community, sending nurses for higher education abroad, etc |
| 1953 | Ms Edith Buchanan. Vice Principal, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (RAK) College of Nursing, New Delhi. was the first nurse from India who was sent to Columbia University to earn her doctorate in education (DEd) under a World Health Organization (WHO) fellowship programme |
| 1955 | Ms Margaretta Craig, Principal, College of Nursing, New Delhi, attended International Council of Nurses (ICN) meet in France to present a paper on the need for nursing research in India |
| 1959 | The TNAI established a Standing Committee for Nursing Research under the chairpersonship of Ms Margaretta Craig to promote the nursing research in the country. |
| 1960 | First 2-year master’s degree programme in nursing was started by RAK College of Nursing, New Delhi, which included nursing research as a full subject with a thesis work on nursing topics Nursing research commenced on an all-India basis along with a master’s programme in nursing in an intensive manner, although nurse leaders had been already participating in research at various levels Clinical studies were even being carried out on short-term basis by the beginner-level postgraduate nursing students. |
| 1963 | A study of health services was carried out in connection with the revision of syllabus of general nursing and midwifery by the Indian Nursing Councilin 1963. The study provided valuable insights into the trends in the health services and implications for nursing |
| 1964 | Dr Marie Ferguson a public health nurse who joined RAK College of Nursing New Delhi, was able to create greater appreciation and understanding and value of the research in nursing for nursing practices, administration and education, With senior nursing leaders of the country, she conducted a research study titled Activity Study to Define Nursing and Non-Nursing Functions of Nurses in Selected Health Institutes of India |
| 1966 | The TNAl established a research section under the guidance of Chairwoman Ms Margaretta Craig. The TNAI conducted Nurses’ Time-Utlization Study with assistance from Ms Anna Gupta, Principal, RAK College of Nursing, under supervision of Dr Sulochana Krishnan. |
| 1971 | The TNAI conducted a study on the socio-economic status of nurses in lndia |
| 1976 | Dr Marie Farrell and Dr Aparna Bhaduri of RAK College of Nursing., New Delhi, conducted seminars on nursing research for educationists at Delhi, Mussoorie (Uttarakhand) and Yercaud (Tamil Nadu) to strengther the nursing research in India |
| 1980 | The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued the Policy Statement on Ethical Considerations Involved in Research on Human Subjects |
| 1981 | Dr Farrell and Dr Bhaduri’s book Health Research: A Community-Based Approach was published by WHO. |
| 1982 | During October, a national conference titled Nursing Research in India: Prospect and Retrospect was organized. which was the first conference in India related to nursing research, and was held at College of Nursing, Bangalore. Some of the recommendations of the participants of the conference were as follows: Each college of nursing should have a research cell.The faculty at nursing Colleges of nursing should encourage student and provide them time for conducting research Central and state governments and private organization should include nursing research in their budget Opportunities should be provided for faculty to visit foreign countries on short-term basis to learn about nursing research. Efforts should be taken to establish collaborative activities in the area of research and scholastic interactions with the nursing colleges in other countries. |
| 1984 | A nursing research workshop was conducted titled Teaching Nursing Research to Nursing College Teachers at Bangalore, which was sponsored by the University Grants Commission. This workshop was open to all the teachers of all the nursing colleges in India. A workshop was conducted on ‘Nursing process’ by Dr Marie Farrell at Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing, SNDT Women University, Mumbai, which was sponsored by WHO |
| 1986 | The Nursing Research Society of Iindia (NRSI) was established to promote research within and related to nursingDr (Mrs) Inderjit Walia was founder president, and Mrs Uma Handa was its first secretary. This association continues to organize research conferences every year.For the first time, MPhil programme in nursing started at RAK College of Nursing, University of Delhi, New Delhi.Introduction of nursing research process was introduced in BSc nursing curriculum by the INC.All colleges of nursing in India have a uniform nursing research course to be taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels developed by the INC.Doctorate in nursing was for the first time started in College of Nursing, Postgraduate Institute of Medica Education &Research (PGIMER), Punjab University, Chandigarh; however, it was later discontinued because of unavoidable circumstances. Later in south India, some private institutions, such as Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal and Sri Ramachandra College of Nursing, Chennai, started PhD Nursing programmes. |
| 1998 | Nursing Research Interest Section was organized under the chairmanship of Mr R. Rajarathnam (Senior Nursing Tutor-National Institute of Mental Helath and Neurosciences [NIMHANS). |
| 2000 | The ICMR released ‘Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Subjects’ |
| 2001 | The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) also released the Indian Good Clinical Practice Guidelines. |
| 2002 | Recently revised syllabus of the INC for General Nursing and Midwifery Course (revised, 2002) and Post-Basic BSc Nursing (revised, 2005) has included nursing research as a full subject. |
| 2004 | Publication of Nightingale Nursing Times was started by Jain & Co., Noida, Uttar Pradesh |
| 2005 | Publication of an exclusive research-based journal titled Nursing and Midwifery Research Journal was started at National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, Chandigarh, under the editorship of Dr Inderjit Walia, an eminent nursing researcher and educationist of north India. National Consortium PhD Nursing has been constituted by the INC under the leadership of Shri T. Dileep Kumar, President, INC, New Delhi, to promote research activities in various fields of nursing in collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, to initiate PhD degree programme in nursing under the Registrar of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. The World Health Organization supports this programme. Six centres were designated as study centres; these were College of Nursing, NIMHANS, Bangalore, RAK-College of Nursing, New Delhi; CMC-College of Nursing, Vellore; CMC-College of Nursing, Ludhiana; Government College of Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram and Government College of Nursing, Hyderabad. These centres are connected by video-conferencing facilities to impart education. |
| 2006 | The ICMR released, revised Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Participants. |
| 2007 | The ICMR launched the Clinical Trial Registry’-India linked to WHo registry, which is free and online public record system for registration of clinical trials, PG theses and other biomedical and health research being conducted in the country.The council and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) jointly brought out Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy.Nursing Research Society of India has launched its official journal titled Journal of Nursing Research Society of India at College of Nursing, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune, on 23 February 2007 under the editoship of Dr Tapti Bhattacharjee. |
| 2009 | Central Institute of Nursing and Research (CIN) was brought into existence under the control of the TNAl in New Delhi. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) started PhD in nursing, |
| 2010 | Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Punjab, started PhD in nursing |
| 2011 | Publication of several nursing scholarly journals started in India, such as Kerala Nursing Forum, Indian Journal of Nursing Studies, Trends in Nursing Administration and Education, Indian Journal of Holistic Nursing, Indian The Journal of Nursing Research, International Journal of Nursing Education, Indian Journal of Psychiatric Journal of Continuing Nursing Education, The Nurse, The Journal of Nursing Trendz, Prism’s Nursing Practice, Nursing. Baba Farid University Journal of Nursing Sciences, International Journal of Nursing Care, etc. Thus increasing number of nurses started publishing their research work in these journals, and these journals helped nurses to disseminate the research evidence generated by them. |
| 2012 | Nursing Research Society of India has-started an initiative to create database of thesis abstracts for the nursing research conducted by the nurses during their postgraduate- and doctoral-level nursing education. |
| 2013 | The ICMR and DBT revised the Ethical Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy.The Ministry of Health and Famnily Welfare, Government of lndia, constituted an Expert Advisory Committe of Nursing Education and Research to work and provide recommendation on starting the Doctoral Nursing Programmes in addition to undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programmes in six new Al India Institute of Medical Sciences (ANIMS) started by the government of india at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh |
| 2015 | Partilly funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program was started by NRSI to promote research among young doctoral nurses. |
| 2017 | The ICMR released revised ethical guidelines for biomedical and health research, namely “National Ethical Gudelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants’, which for the first time included the term health research and clarified ethical guidelines for public health research, social and behavioural sciences research for health including nursingThe council also separately released National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Children (2017) and revised the National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research (2017).Doctoral Nursing (PhD) Program was started at AIIMS Delhi and Rishikesh.NRSI also developed the Standard Guidelines for Conducting Nursing Research in India |
| 2019 | First two FNRS-Fellowship of Nursing Research Society of India was awarded to Prof. Suresh K_Sharra and Dr T.Sivabalan during the annual NRSI conference held at MGM New Bombay College of Nursing, Mumbai. on 28-30 November 2019. |
| 2021 | Fulltime doctoral nursing (PhD) programme was started at the jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical Education & Research, Puducherry, and AlIMS Jodhpur |
REFERENCES
- Al Maqbali, M. (2024). Introduction to Nursing Research. In: Essential Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78298-5_1
- Suresh Sharma, Nursing Research & Statistics, 4th Edition – December 27, 2022, Elsevier India Pulblishers, ISBN: 9788131264478
- Pearson, nursing Research and Statistics, Nursing Research Society of India, 2013 Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd, ISBN 9788131775707
- Danela Cosejo, RNSpeak, Nursing Research Definition: The Importance and Nurses Roles, Updated : July 20, 2024, https://rnspeak.com/nursing-research-definition/
- Barría P RM. Use of Research in the Nursing Practice: from Statistical Significance to Clinical Significance. Invest Educ Enferm. 2023 Nov;41(3):e12. doi: 10.17533/udea.iee.v41n3e12. PMID: 38589312; PMCID: PMC10990586.
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