Aims and objectivesTo describe the importance of, and methods for, successfully conducting and translating research into clinical practice.BackgroundThere is universal acknowledgement that the clinical care provided to individuals should be informed on the best available evidence. Knowledge and evidence derived from robust scholarly methods should drive our clinical practice, decisions and change to improve the way we deliver care. Translating research evidence to clinical practice is essential to safe, transparent, effective and efficient healthcare provision and meeting the expectations of patients, families and society. Despite its importance, translating research into clinical practice is challenging. There are more nurses in the frontline of health care than any other healthcare profession. As such, nurse‐led research is increasingly recognised as a critical pathway to practical and effective ways of improving patient outcomes. However, there are well‐established barriers to the conduct and translation of research evidence into practice.DesignThis clinical practice discussion paper interprets the knowledge translation literature for clinicians interested in translating research into practice.MethodsThis paper is informed by the scientific literature around knowledge translation, implementation science and clinician behaviour change, and presented from the nurse clinician perspective. We provide practical, evidence‐informed suggestions to overcome the barriers and facilitate enablers of knowledge translation. Examples of nurse‐led research incorporating the principles of knowledge translation in their study design that have resulted in improvements in patient outcomes are presented in conjunction with supporting evidence.ConclusionsTranslation should be considered in research design, including the end users and an evaluation of the research implementation. The success of research implementation in health care is dependent on clinician/consumer behaviour change and it is critical that implementation strategy includes this.Relevance to practiceTranslating best research evidence can make for a more transparent and sustainable healthcare service, to which nurses are central.

BackgroundChildhood injury is a leading cause of hospitalisation, yet there has been no comprehensive examination of child injury and survival over time in Australia. To examine the characteristics, temporal trend and survival for children who were hospitalised as a result of injury in Australia.MethodA retrospective examination of linked hospitalisation and mortality data for injured children aged 16 years or less during 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2012. Negative binomial regression examined change in injury hospitalisation trends. Cox proportional hazard regression examined the association of risk factors on 30-day survival.ResultsThere were 6 86 409 injury hospitalisations, with an age-standardised rate of 1489 per 1 00 000 population (95% CI 1485.3 to 1492.4) in Australia. Child injury hospitalisation rates did not change over the 10-year period. For every severely injured child, there are at least 13 children hospitalised with minor or moderate injuries. The total cost of child injury hospitalisations was $A2.1 billion (annually $A212 million). Falls (38.4%) were the most common injury mechanism. Factors associated with a higher risk of 30-day mortality were: child was aged ≤10 years, higher injury severity, head injury, injured in a transport incident or following drowning and submersion or other threats to breathing, during self-harm and usual residence was regional/remote Australia.ConclusionsChildhood injury hospitalisation rates have not reduced in 10 years. Children’s patterns of injury change with age, and priorities for injury prevention alter according to developmental stages. The development of a national multisectorial childhood injury monitoring and prevention strategy in Australia is long overdue.

Blunt chest trauma is associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Complications in blunt chest trauma develop secondary to rib fractures as a consequence of pain and inadequate ventilation. This literature review aimed to examine clinical interventions in rib fractures and their impact on patient and hospital outcomes. A systematic search strategy, using a structured clinical question and defined search terms, was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library. The search was limited to studies of adult humans from 1990-March 2014 and yielded 977 articles, which were screened against inclusion/exclusion criteria. A hand search was then performed of the articles that met the eligibility criteria, 40 articles were included in this review. Each article was assessed using a quantitative critiquing guideline. From these articles, interventions were categorised into four main groups: analgesia, surgical fixation, clinical protocols and other interventions. Surgical fixation was effective in patients with flail chest at improving patient outcomes. Epidural analgesia, compared to both patient controlled analgesia and intravenous narcotics in patients with three or more rib fractures improved both hospital and patient outcomes, including pain relief and pulmonary function. Clinical pathways improve outcomes in patients ≥ 65 with rib fractures. The majority of reviewed papers recommended a multi-disciplinary approach including allied health (chest physiotherapy and nutritionist input), nursing, medical (analgesic review) and surgical intervention (stabilisation of flail chest). However there was a paucity of evidence describing methods to implement and evaluate such multidisciplinary interventions. Isolated interventions can be effective in improving patient and health service outcomes for patients with blunt chest injuries, however the literature recommends implementing strategies such as clinical pathways to improve the care and outcomes of thesetre patients. The implementation of evidence-practice interventions in this area is scarce, and evaluation of interventions scarcer still.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13049-015-0091-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.