https://www.infirmiere-canadienne.com/blogs/ic-contenu/2026/05/04/potentiel-de-la-recherche-infirmiere-integree
Conducting research within health systems helps generate findings that can be implemented to improve patient care
By Alyssa Indar, Nikki Marks, Salima Ladak, & Pam Hubley
May 4, 2026
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By conducting research in the setting where it will be applied, there are opportunities to generate tailored findings that can be implemented in health care to improve patient care and formalize nursing knowledge.
Why embedded nurse research?
The role of nursing has continued to evolve in response to the increasingly complex care needs of patients, communities and populations. In its latest definition of nursing, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) reinforces nursing as a science-based profession, with roles in enhancing health and health-care systems (ICN, 2025). Health-care systems benefit from nursing perspectives to drive impactful research and shape priorities.
In this article, we highlight the power of positioning nurses to engage in embedded research as an effective strategy to achieve these outcomes.
What is embedded research?
Embedded research, or research led by people employed in health-care systems, is a useful way to co-create knowledge that addresses health-system and patient-care needs, in collaboration with health-care leaders, administrators and teams (Ward et al., 2021). By conducting research in the setting where it will be applied, there are opportunities to generate tailored findings that can be implemented in health care to improve patient care and formalize nursing knowledge.
A critical facilitator of embedded research is strong partnerships between health-care organizations and academic institutions. There are a variety of benefits to embedded research, including: (1) the flexibility to co-design research questions that address real practice problems, and (2) the potential to generate evidence ready to be integrated into practice. However, a potential challenge for embedded researchers is the tension between balancing their dual identities as an employee, upholding the interests of their organization, with their mandate as a researcher to advance knowledge within their area of study, regardless of external interests.
We propose that there is a need to grow our cadre of embedded nurse researchers. To support this perspective, we provide: (1) a professional reflection, (2) an explanation of why the system needs embedded nurse researchers now, and (3) a few real-world examples of embedded nursing research.
Why do nurses need to lead embedded research?
In Canada, embedded research is recognized as critical to driving health systems forward in ways that align with the Quintuple Aim: that is, focused on improved, equitable outcomes for population health, health-care providers, and lower health-care system costs (Nundy et al., 2022). In our network of embedded researchers, many have academic training in disciplines such as economics, policy, artificial intelligence, and other areas with value to health care. Our colleagues expertly work within health-care systems and engage leaders, administrators and clinicians to ensure that they are involved in applied research, with practical knowledge translation strategies.
However, we would like to make the case for valuing and supporting embedded nurse researchers specifically. Although nurses often serve as “knowledge users,” or people likely to use research results to make decisions about patient care in embedded research projects, it is important for nurses to also serve in researcher roles, where they can truly “drive” research projects (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2024). For example, researchers with strong nursing identities can:
- Ask critical research questions, grounded in their experiences in nursing practice and education.
- Connect meaningfully with nurses in practice. A former bedside nurse, for example, will respect the intense clinical demands of the nursing role, collaborate with nurses to allow them to be engaged in the research (e.g., as advisors, participants), and respect their ways of working.
- Assess the readiness of nurses to engage in research and build capacity. Former nurse educators, for example, know that nursing research is built into curricula at undergraduate and graduate levels. Because of this, nurses will not be underestimated; indeed, they will be affirmed as foundational to the generation of research.
- Appreciate the urgency and importance of engaging nurses in research, informed by their knowledge of the breadth and depth of nursing contributions to health-care systems.
Embedded research in practice
In this section, we discuss how we are leading embedded nursing research relevant to the domains of clinical practice, education, policy and administration. We highlight the diversity of our leadership roles and how we’re able to use these positions to translate the knowledge from our research into practice.
Alyssa Indar
Dr. Alyssa Indar is a nurse who has always wanted to learn more about how health-care systems shape nursing work. When completing a PhD in health services research, Alyssa was socialized to the idea of embedded research as an effective way of producing research with immediate relevance in current health systems and in a form ready to be applied by health system leaders and decision-makers. As an embedded postdoctoral researcher at Nova Scotia Health, she led research that was an organizational priority while supported by strong health system and academic supervisors. This experience profoundly shaped her perception of the power of embedded research to shape policy and improve practice.
As the director for scholarship and innovation within UHN’s collaborative academic practice department, Alyssa leads a program of research that is responsive to health workforce needs and engages in strategy work to support health professions scholarship. The blended leadership and research role allows her to understand organizational needs in a way that informs the co-development of applied research projects with nurses and health-care teams.
Salima Ladak
Dr. Salima Ladak is a nurse practitioner and pain quality lead in the department of anesthesia and pain management at Toronto General Hospital, which is part of the University Health Network (UHN). Her leadership is respected beyond UHN; she has transformed interprofessional pain management practices at the organizational level and these have been sustained in the long term. She has used knowledge translation activities to catalyze and sustain change. Her embedded research has focused on clinical patient outcomes as well as nursing educational needs related to pain practice.
Nikki Marks
Dr. Nikki Marks is the interprofessional innovation lead and nurse practitioner in the Ajmera Transplant Centre at UHN. She is a recognized clinical leader who championed evidence-informed programs for our lung transplant recipients. As a graduate of the University of Toronto’s inaugural doctorate of nursing program cohort, her grounding in implementation science positions her to drive system-level changes across clinical practice and research.
Conclusion
We hope this article stimulates interest in exploring what embedded nursing research could look like in your professional context. From our lessons learned, embedded nursing research is initiated by conversations with supportive leadership to build bridges between academic institutions and health-care organizations, and requires supporting nurses to develop skills in leading programs of research through doctoral level education. As the backbone of health care, nurses have a unique opportunity to occupy influential roles in embedded research that will allow us to transform the future of the Canadian health-care system in alignment with our values of equity, diversity, innovation and excellence.
References
Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (2024). Glossary of funding-related terms. https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/34190.html.
International Council of Nurses. (2025). Renewing the definitions of “nursing” and “a nurse”: Final research project. https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/2025-06/ICN_Definition-Nursing_Report_EN_Web_0.pdf.
Nundy, S., Cooper, L. A., & Mate, K. S. (2022). The quintuple aim for health care improvement: A new imperative to advance health equity. Journal of the American Medical Association, 327(6), 521–522. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.2518.
Ward, V., Tooman, T., Reid, B., Davies, H., & Marshall, M. (2021). Embedding researchers into organisations: A study of the features of embedded research initiatives. Evidence & Policy, 17(4), 593–614. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426421X16165177580453.
Alyssa Indar, RN, PhD, is the director of scholarship and innovation, in collaborative academic practice, at the University Health Network (UHN).
Nikki Marks, DNP, NP, CHE, is a nurse practitioner at UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre.
Salima Ladak, NP, PhD, is a nurse practitioner and quality lead in the Department of Anesthesia Pain Program at UHN.
Pam Hubley, RN, MSc, FCAN, is the vice president for health disciplines and chief nurse executive at UHN.
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