Research within the field of blood and marrow transplantation nursing: how can it contribute to higher quality of care?

Nursing Science and research within BMT started in the early 80s and has been shown to be a useful contribution to obtain and maintain high standards of care. Trial and error are no longer accepted. The first studies were conducted together with the clinical developments and focused specifically on symptom control and management of the treatment. The term "evidence-based nursing" (EBN) is nowadays often used to describe the influence of research on practice. And yet we find that in general, care given by nurses is not yet based according to the guidelines established by research. There are several reasons why care is not (yet) based on results from research, like language barrier, diversity in health care and nursing educational systems, financial restrains and different roles and perceptions of nurses around the globe. Many nursing or multidisciplinary research studies have been conducted worldwide on areas such as the prevention or care for patients with mucositis, fatigue or pain, care for the central venous access devices, outpatient management of care, care for the donor and aspects of quality of life. Results have implications on practice and start to show their impact on quality of care. Many questions remain unanswered. Results from basic science (e.g. the discussion around fetal liver and embryonic derived stemcells and their use in treatment other than hematologic malignancies) and developments in medical treatments (e.g. introduction of tyrosin-kinase inhibitor, biotherapy and genetherapy) have an impact on nursing and should therefore be investigated closely to develop clinical pathways. It is obvious that much more time, finances, collaboration and support is needed to conduct powerful studies that can influence care for the BMT patient. This presentation will focus on developments through nursing research within the field of BMT and discuss gaps that will need to be filled in the near future.