Maria Delgado, BSN, RN, has spent eight years on a busy medical-surgical unit. Colleagues turn to her with their toughest clinical care questions because she never stops asking her own. For months, one question in particular has kept reoccurring to Maria: why do we wake every patient, even the stable ones at 4 a.m. for routine vitals and labs? She had watched confused, exhausted patients decline after fragmented nights of sleep, and she suspected the practice owed more to tradition than to evidence.

Maria knew she had more to offer than bedside care, but she had not yet found a way to turn that into a meaningful contribution. She considered going on in school to become a Nurse practitioner? Yet the questions she kept having weren’t about should we manage nursing care differently these questions were about is there evidence that supports providing nursing care differently. Then she came across the Elevating Healthcare Scholarship blog series, 12 Steps to Becoming a Nurse Scientist, and recognized herself in the series description after reading: 

“Could I be the one to generate evidence that improves patient care?” 

This recognition told Maria that her curiosity had accomplished Step 1 in Becoming a Nurse Scientist. What she lacked was a plan to acquiring the skills to becoming a Nurse Scientist. She scheduled a free consultation with the EHS team, and together they turned the remaining 11 steps into a personal career plan. The following describes how Maria followed a number of these steps

• Step 2 — Learn the role. Maria’s 

• Maria with the support of her mentor identified the socialization pathway to pursing nursing science: coursework, research-team experience, and networking. Maria joined her hospital’s evidence-based practice council that month and registered for her regional nursing research society conference.

• Step 4 — Honest inventory. Using an individual development plan, Maria and her mentor mapped her strengths (clinical credibility, persistence, communication) against her gaps (research methods, statistics, scholarly writing). Maria matched each gap to a concrete experience that would address her gap.

• Step 5 — Name the fear. “Am I smart enough for a PhD?” Maria finally said it out loud. Her mentor reframed the doubt as a marker of growth every nurse scientist experiences and not a verdict on her potential.

• Step 8 — Set the destination. Using career cartography, Maria wrote down a description of the what she actually wanted: to generate evidence that reduces sleep disruption and hospital-acquired delirium in older adults. After writing this down her plan to becoming a nurse scientist and being the one to generate evidence to support nursing care became clear. 

Nine months after that first consultation, Maria has:

• Co-led a unit-level evidence review on overnight vital-sign frequency with the EBP council, with the guidance from her mentor, Maria is searching and analyzing the literature of this topic.

• Completed her first scholarly presentation as aposter at her regional nursing research society meeting. 

• Submitted applications to two PhD programs, with a statement of purpose built directly from her description of what she wants to study

• With the support of her mentor Maria has drafted her first manuscript and learned, per Step 6, to let it be “good enough and submitted” rather than perfect and unfinished

“I thought I had to choose between loving the bedside and becoming a nurse scientist who generates evidence to support nursing care. The 12 Steps showed me the bedside is exactly where nurse scientists come from. I didn’t need to be someone else all I needed was a plan and a mentor.” — Maria

Maria’s next career step was never hidden.  It was buried under uncertainty about the path. The 12 Steps gave her a plan and her mentor gave her momentum. Steps 9 through 12 — expanding her skills, reflecting with trusted partners, seeking new experiences, and protecting the life outside her CV are already on her map for doctoral study.

If Maria’s question sounds like yours, your first step is already behind you.

Ready to plan your next step to becoming a nurse scientist?

Schedule a free consultation: elevatinghealthcarescholarship.com/book-now

This case study is illustrative, drawn from the experiences of nurses the EHS team has mentored. Names and details are fictionalized.