Multicentre research and the WISECARE experience

The benefits of collaborative research are becoming recognized increasingly within the profession of nursing due to the associated increased likelihoo d of funding, variety of practice settings and increased access to resource s that collaboration brings. While such benefits have made collaborative re search one of the most desirable strategies for achieving the goals of rese arch, the potential problems of language and communication, culturally sens itive instruments, access to subjects, availability of technology and lack of research resources have complicated collaborative international research initiatives. Review of the literature, although encouraging such initiativ es, does little to provide information regarding the processes involved in multinational collaboration or the associated advantages and disadvantages to guide those embarking on such large scale, multinational, cross-cultural studies. The diverse meanings of collaboration within research initiatives further hamper this understanding. Positive definitions focus on aspects s uch as sharing expertise, making a valuable contribution to the research an d ultimately shared ownership of the accomplishments of the research. One s uch research project led by nurses was the WISECARE project. WISECARE (Work flow Information Systems for European Nursing Care) was funded by the Europ ean Commission and aimed to improve cancer nursing practice and ultimately patient outcomes through the integration and utilization of state of the ar t information technology. Such a project was developed as a result of nursi ng's apparent invisibility within health care delivery and the problems exp erienced by nurses in articulating their worth within an increasingly cost- conscious health care system. Oncology care was selected as the domain for the project not only because this speciality of nursing already has an esta blished network of nurses throughout Europe in the European Oncology Nursin g Society (EONS) but also because the practice of cancer nursing encompasse s all aspects of nursing care. This paper will address the advantages and d isadvantages associated with collaboration, using the WISECARE project as a n example.