Describing the development of a research study grounded in clinician-academic collaboration: The origins of a study of Manitoba emergency nurses

Background: Significant turnover of nursing staff at a tertiary emergency centre reached a peak in 2019, following significant government reorganization of emergency services delivery beginning in 2016. The loss of experienced emergency department (ED) nurses led to disruption in institutional knowledge, increased stress on remaining staff, and detrimental effects on nursing morale. This prompted a bedside nurse to question the reasons staff were leaving and if those nurses who left would propose solutions for the workplace challenges. Around the same time, a Clinical Chair (Nursing Research) position was created through collaboration between the University of Manitoba College of Nursing, Health Sciences Centre (HSC)-Winnipeg and the HSC Foundation, with the intent of promoting nursing research and evidence-informed nursing practice. Methods: Meetings between the Clinical Chair staff and the bedside nurse identified the optimal approach to investigating this question would involve the use of Chair resources to develop the study, including the literature review, study proposal, survey instrument, ethics submission, access requests for partner organizations who distributed the survey, social media campaign, data collection and analysis, and dissemination. The clinical perspective was embedded throughout the process via an advisory committee of current and former ED nurses, including the nurse whose question led to the academic-clinical collaboration. Results: The outcome of the academic-clinical collaboration was a province-wide study of licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and nurse practitioners who worked in ED and urgent care settings in the preceding three years, titled MENDERS: Manitoba Emergency Nurses: Discovering Effective Solutions for Work-Related ChallengeS. Data analysis is ongoing with results anticipated in early 2026. This partnership between academia and bedside nurses demonstrates the importance of a Clinical Chair program in building bridges, providing opportunities for bedside nurses to participate in research, and operationalizing a practice-based question into a completed research project. The nurse whose initial questions led to this project is now completing graduate studies in nursing and receiving advanced research training as part of the Chair program. Implications and lessons learned: A Clinical Chair program, developed in collaboration between the University of Manitoba, HSC-Winnipeg and the HSC Foundation, has been an effective approach to promoting research grounded in clinically important research questions formulated by bedside nurses, driving nursing engagement in research and innovation in practice, with the pending deliverable of study findings that will be disseminated broadly, including to health and governmental leaders.