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Nursing Research Foundation, NRF

NRF is a national, non-profit research and development organization. It promotes quality and patient safety of nursing by promoting evidence-based practices (EBP). The NRF coordinates the development of national clinical practice guidelines for nursing and publish them at nationally.

The aim of the NRF is to develop and establish evidence-based nursing in Finnish healthcare so that nursing practices are effective, appropriate, feasible and/or meaningful.

The mission is to be the well-known and reputable institution in producing, disseminating and providing a framework for the use of the best available evidence to inform clinical decision-making to improve health outcomes in Finland.

Tasks of the NRF:
• To synthesize the best available evidence: e.g. national evidence-based clinical guidelines for nursing (Hotus-guidelines), Evidence Tips, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews
• To disseminate the evidence: e.g. publications, statements, lectures in the field of evidence-based health care
• To support the implementation of the evidence: operational models for supporting implementation, such as Consistent nursing practices – a model for developing evidence-based practices (OMEBP) and The Action Model for Expertise (FinAME). In addition,
NRF participates in collaborative projects promoting the evidence-based healthcare (EBHC).

Two international collaboration centres

The NRF is hosting two collaborating Centres, which main mission is improving EBP on both national and international level:
• WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing (since 1978)
• The Finnish Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care: A JBI Centre of Excellence (since 2010)

Examples of Hotus-guidelines (published 2020-2022):

  • Identification of risk circumstances of child maltreatment in families (2022), translation of the content was funded as part ERICA Project by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). GA 856760, and layout by Finnish government Research Funding for Etelä-Pohjanmaa Hospital District. Please look into an application which was also founded as part of ERICA Project by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) called: Family needs checklist
  • Oral care of palliative care patients (2022)
  • Acute dysphagia screening in stroke patients – a guideline for registered nurses (2021)
  • Succeed in laboratory testing – A guideline on selecting laboratory specimen, patient identification and education (2021)
  • Safe discharge of an elderly patient from hospital (2020)
  • Content of health education concerning insulin treatment with adult diabetes patients (2020)
  • Self-care for prevention of urinary tract infections in adults (2020)
  • Breastfeeding education of mothers and families during and after pregnancy (2020)

All Hotus-guidelines are available in Finnish from here.

Examples of Evidence Tips (published in 2022):

  • 1/2022: What factors prevent and promote implementing new practices in the hospital environment?
  • 2/2022: What factors prevent or enable seniors living in 24-hour care units from going out?
  • 3/2022: What is the attitude of nursing staff towards the physical restraint of mental health patients, and how can the use of restraints be reduced?
  • 4/2022: How do people with memory disorders experience non-pharmacological interventions and participation in them?
  • 5/2022: What are the mental symptoms of a health care professional who has made an error that led to an adverse event?

All Evidence tips are available in Finnish from here.