Volume 41, Issue 4 (December 2009)
Wanted: Less Time and More Space!
Every time I pick up an article published in a peer-reviewed journal, I evaluate how I personally can use the knowledge presented. My decisions are made under the assumption that peer review has ensured that experts agree the published work is significant, well done, and ethical. The review process assures quality, but what about dissemination time and space?
As a nurse, I need information to get to me quickly so I can use it. I also hope page constraints haven't forced authors to omit important details. As an editor, I know that it is important to allow enough time for a substantial review but not too much as to delay dissemination. Furthermore, as Conn and colleagues (2008) documented, not all the information we need to improve care is provided in the articles we read. So we are left with the question of how to shorten process time and increase discussion and dissemination space.
As a discipline, we believe that the time spent in peer review is necessary. Every year, JNS reviewers decide which 56 (or so) manuscripts should be published out of the approximately 350 submitted. Reviewers not only suggest works for dissemination but also ensure through substantive and concrete suggestions that a published article has benefited as much as possible from each reviewer's considerable expertise.
In an effort to decrease the amount of time from submission to dissemination, JNS is now beginning to start a process of "Early View," in which articles will be published online before they appear in print. Early View will shorten the amount of time it takes for information to get from authors to you. We have already decreased the time in the editorial process by increasing the efficiency of our review process. Our committed staff sends manuscripts out to reviewers immediately after submission, and our dedicated reviewers take no more than 3 weeks to provide an in-depth review of each manuscript they agree to read. Just as we have decreased the amount of time a manuscript spends in the editorial stages, Early View will expedite the dissemination stages.
Gaining space for dissemination is a more complex conundrum than shortening publication time. We can publish only 12–14 articles per issue and we have only four issues per year. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to publish special issues (such as the geronotologic issue coming in 2010), but space limitations are very real.
Authors often would like to provide more information than our page limits allow. However, if one article runs longer than our 20 manuscript page limit, we must find the extra space at the expense of other articles. Therefore, our page limitations are strictly enforced.
So, how do we provide more space for dissemination of the information you need such as details of interventions, rich data from qualitative research, full tools for psychometric research, lab details for physiologic research and so forth? How do we increase the discourse and interactive discussions around important topics? One potential idea is to provide space on our Web site for further information that authors would like to share. We will also elicit your feedback for more suggestions.
Starting with this issue, we are posting information at (http://www.nursingsociety.org/JNS). Please visit to view news, read letters to the editors, and ask questions. As we develop an interactive Web site where we will have more space to support the knowledge disseminated in the journal, it is essential that you tell us what kind of information is most valuable to you. With these new tools and your help, dissemination of knowledge can take less time and have more space.
Susan Gennaro
Editor
Conn, V., Cooper, S., Ruppar, T., Russell, C. (2008). Searching for the intervention in intervention research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 40, 52–59.
Editorial References
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Letters to the Editor
Li, Herr, and Chen's (2009) article entitled, "Postoperative Pain Assessment With Three Intensity Scales in Chinese Elders" provided some valuable information. Pain is known as a complicated subjective diagnosis to treat from a nursing and medical perspective. The conclusion that all three assessment tools, the Faces Pain Scale Revised, the Numeric Rating Scale, and the Iowa Pain Thermometer, are acceptable for health care providers to utilize to assess postoperative pain in Chinese elders is generally in line with other studies performed using similar designs (Li, Herr, and Chen, 2009).
In today's diverse American society, culture can influence not only patient's response to pain, but also how a patient prefers to communicate their pain. Fenwick (2006) states, "To ensure cultural safety, it is necessary that nurses adapt pain assessment tools to suit the recipient's culture, ..." (p. 225). As a pain practitioner, the decision to use the tool of a patient's choice may also indicate improved pain assessment.
The Numeric Rating Scale and Faces Pain Scale Revised have been the most favorite among the Dutch, Spanish, and Chinese. Now with this recent study including the Iowa Pain Thermometer, we have another patient preferred tool. This depth and breadth of research gives us clues on how to provide best practice for a culturally diverse population.
Wendy Mortimer, MSN, CRNP
Mohnton, Pennsylvania 19540
Eta Beta and Alpha Nu Chapters
References
Fenwick, C. (2006). Assessing pain across the cultural gap: Central Australian Indigenous peoples' pain assessment. Contemporary Nurse, 22, 218-227.
Li, L., Herr, K., & Chen, P. (2009). Postoperative pain assessment with three intensity scales in Chinese elders. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 41, 241-249. doi: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2009.01280.x
I was very impressed with Susan Gennaro's editorial "What the World Needs Now" and her final determination that "efficiency" is the one thing that would really help the world. That so mirrored my growing conviction that leaning "waste", that is, identifying and dropping non-value added process steps, out of our health care processes, is the secret to decreasing patient risk, decreasing work place stress, and increasing capacity in all of our health care systems. It could also decrease cost, or at least avoid additional costs, that would otherwise accrue from increased capacity. I applaud Ms Gennaro's willingness to share her non-traditional thinking in how she came up with "efficiency" as the answer!! I vote for her for President...o.k., if not that, then at least for the directorship of our Health & Human Services!!!!!
Elaine J. Huggins, RN, MSN, CPHQ Vandenberg AFB, CA Elaine.Huggins@Vandenberg.af.mil |
The world needs efficiency? Efficiency means to centralize health care which limits availability of health care to remote rural and poorer areas of the world. Efficiency means a good monetary return for care. Efficiency means the bottom line more important that the mission of health.
Efficiency means that there is more intervention with natural processes like childbirth and death. This increases the cesarean section rate and encourages assisted suicide. Efficiency takes away individual freedoms and the dignity of the person.
Efficiency means that no one will get that extra time to learn health promotion and self care. No child can need that extra attention to feel safe. No one can be born or die at an inopportune time. No one can take that fourth day to grieve. Human beings become cogs in a machine, parts to move down the line. Efficiency is production not nursing.
What the world needs is love. Not namby-pamby dewy eyed infatuation but a love that respects personhood and their rights to care from start of life to its end, the love that calls each person to healthy lives, the love that is self giving and in service to others, the love that leads us to companion others with compassion in their joys, their sufferings, and their losses. That is the loving care that is nursing. We can be efficient, to be sure. Nursing gives dignity, freedom, and that love that the world needs most.
Mary C. Herendeen, SFO, BSN, CHPN
Kendallville, Indiana
Xi-Nu Chapter at Large
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Susan, On this bright sunny summer morning in the Nation's Capital we woke to the news of questionable election results in Iran and the promise of enriched uranium in North Korea. One can really be left with a "What can I do to make the world a better place?" question in a big hurry.....but with few good answers. As luck would have it, I picked up my new JNS and read your editorial. You are right. What one good person can do, especially one clinical nurse researcher, is to keep-on-keeping-on with the development of efficient, evidence-based, models of practice that will have widespread, perhaps international, impact. That IS what one person can do to make a difference. Thank you for your editorial. Today (as many days), YOU made a difference...just wanted to let you know. Kathy
Kathleen F. Gaffney, PhD, RN-CS, F/PNP
Professor
College of Health and Human Services 3C4 School of Nursing George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
Research: Health Promotion for Mothers & Young Children | |
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