A new FREE Journal ranking service: SJR-SCImago

The fee-based Science Citation Index now has some competition from the new, free SJR-SCImago Journal & Country rank system. This new service utilizes data from Elsevier's subscription based Scopus database to provide a free source of scholarly journal rankings. Scholars now have an alternative to the previously unchallenged "impact factor" method of comparing the relative importance of journals. The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) can be used as alternative means of determining the measure of a journal's citation impact. SCImago works by using an algorithm similar to Google's PageRank. Unlike the Impact Factor, SCImago weighs citations from journals according to how highly cited each journal is. Whereas in the standard impact factor approach, every citation has an equal weight. The beauty of the weighted approach by SCImago is that more highly weighted journals such as Nature or New England Journal of Medicine will rank higher. Another difference between the Impact Factor and the SJR is that the SJR calculation looks at citations from a three year period. Because of this, the SJR is a more consistent indicator of trends than impact factors which can vary significantly from year to year.

One major disadvantage of SJR is that the current coverage period for country and journal indicators is only 1996-2007.

You can search SCImago by journal title, keyword, subject and country. You can even create graphs that compare journal titles and export data to Excel.

Here's what the information looks like for the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Here's a comparison of 4 important nursing research journals:
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Nursing Resarch 0.083 0.070 0.097 0.086 0.109 0.111 0.139 0.138
Journal of Advanced Nursing 0.061 0.069 0.069 0.075 0.081 0.083 0.085 0.104
Clinical Nursing Research 0.052 0.058 0.059 0.062 0.063 0.074 0.078 0.091
Western Journal of Nursing 0.050 0.051 0.054 0.055 0.057 0.065 0.079 0.089

Nursing Research Project: Newborn palliative care: experiences of participants in a perinatal comfort care program

Kathryn B. Davies, RNC, BSN, a staff nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, has completed a research project entitled: Newborn palliative care: experiences of participants in a perinatal comfort care program. This research project was completed in pursuit of her Masters in Nursing at California State University, Fullerton. You can view Kathryn's PowerPoint of her poster presentation here. If you have questions, you can email Kathy at Kathy.Davies@stjoe.org

Nursing Research Project: use of anti-emetics and nausea and vomiting in the ambulatory post-operative patient

Lorilee Amlie, Rn, BSN, a staff nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, has completed a research project entitled : A chart audit: use of anti-emetics and nausea and vomiting in the ambulatory post-operative patient. This project was completed in pursuit of her Masters in Nursing at California State University, Fullerton. You can view a PowerPoint of her poster presentation here. If you have questions for Lorilee, you can email her at Lorilee.Amlie@stjoe.org

Our blog recognized as one of the top 100 academic medical blogs!

The ONDD (Online Nursing Degree Directory blog) recently recognized Nursing Research: Show me the Evidence! as one of the top 100 academic medical blogs. Read the entry here and scroll down to the nursing section. Lots of great blogs out there!!

Julie's picks from the literature for April

These recent articles captured my attention as being of special interest to the practice of EBN at St. Joseph Hospital in orange, California.

1. Sawatzky-Dickson DM. Clarke DE. Increasing understanding of nursing research for general duty nurses: an experiential strategy. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. 2008 Mar; 39(3): 105-11. (18 ref) Burlew carries this journal AN: 2009854799 NLM Unique Identifier: 18386697.

2. Thompson DS. O'Leary K. Jensen E. Scott-Findlay S. O'Brien-Pallas L. Estabrooks CA. The relationship between busyness and research utilization: it is about time. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2008 Feb; 17(4): 539-48. (40 ref) Burlew has some online access, no print issues. AN: 2009777688 NLM Unique Identifier: 18205684.

3. Leasure AR. Stirlen J. Thompson C. Barriers and facilitators to the use of evidence-based best practices. DCCN: Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing. 2008 Mar-Apr; 27(2): 74-84. (74 ref) Burlew carries this journal

4. Annells M. O'Neill J. Flowers C. Compression bandaging for venous leg ulcers: the essentialness of a willing patient. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2008 Feb; 17(3): 350-9. (21 ref) Burlew has some online access, no print issues. AN: 2009777665 NLM Unique Identifier: 18205691.

5. Munroe D. Duffy P. Fisher C. Research for practice. Nurse knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to evidence-based practice: before and after organizational supports. MEDSURG Nursing. 2008 Feb; 17(1): 55-60. (21 ref) Burlew carries this journal AN: 2009820287.

6. Owen P. Monahan MF. MacLaren R. Implementing and assessing an evidence-based electrolyte dosing order form in the medical ICU. Intensive & Critical Care Nursing. 2008 Feb; 24(1): 8-19. (54 ref) AN: 2009807209 NLM Unique Identifier: 17686630.

7. Berry AM. Davidson PM. Masters J. Rolls K. Systematic literature review of oral hygiene practices for intensive care patients receiving mechanical ventilation. American Journal of Critical Care. 2007 Nov; 16(6): 552-63. (90 ref) Burlew carries this journal AN: 2009868538 NLM Unique Identifier: 17962500.

8. Fowler S. Leaton MB. Baxter T. McTigue T. Snook N. Research corner. Evolution of nursing research committees. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. 2008 Feb; 40(1): 60-3. (8 ref) Burlew carries this journal AN: 2009803005 NLM Unique Identifier: 18330412.

Vickie's Research Corner

View my guestbook

Welcome to Vickie’s Research Corner. Spring has sprung and so have many research projects here at St. Joseph Hospital. I would like to introduce you to Lorilee Amlie, the new Nurse Navigator for Melanoma. Lorilee has been with the hospital for many years and used to work in the Outpatient Surgery Center in the Pavilion. She has a very exciting study called “Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting Chart Review.”

What is your study about?
My study was to identify medical record findings for ambulatory surgery patients who have received intra-operative or post-operative doses of Zofran. I wanted to look at the effects of antiemetics and to determine how many times this antiemetic is given in the OR.

Is it EBP/Research study?
Research study- Retrospective chart review.

What made you interested in this project?
Since I was in graduate school for nursing administration, I was looking for a research project for my Masters in Nursing. Dr. Rutledge brought this project to me two years ago since I worked in outpatient surgery. Initially in surgery there had been a chart review done by someone else who was trying to identify if certain patients had nausea after surgery, especially with certain anesthesiologists. Once I saw the study I realized this was a good idea. Dr. Rutledge and I decided to look at the effects of the drugs themselves, how often antiemetics (specifically Zofran or Ondansetron) were being given, and if they were being ordered as to the recommendations of current guidelines. I know that nausea is a problem and I wanted to see if we could decrease the amount of nausea that patient’s have pre and post-operatively. According to the literature postoperative nausea and vomiting is a distressing, uncomfortable situation that can increase pain and time in the PACU and sometimes leads to unplanned hospitalizations.

How did you go about your research?
For school I had to write the first three chapters of a thesis, which included a literature review. I examined postoperative nausea and vomiting, medication effects, and recommendations of using drugs. Then I had to go through the IRB at SJH and CSUF. Initially my study was rejected with suggestions from the SJH IRB. After making the adjustments I resubmitted and was accepted. After IRB I began to do chart reviews. With the help of the nursing research staff, who helped me to set up a data collection sheet, I collected all my data. We then put it into a database format and Dr. Rutledge ran the statistics in SPSS for me. I then worked on a poster with more excellent input and help from Dr. Rutledge and you. My poster was disseminated at the Induction Ceremony for Sigma Theta Tau and I was inducted into Upsilon Beta, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.




What are your expected outcomes?
Actually, I expected that patients who received Zofran in both the OR and PACU and who experienced nausea would spend more time in the PACU, my study showed a slight difference between these patients, but it wasn't significant. But, my study did show that those who received Zofran 30 minutes prior to the end of the case spent on average 30 minutes less time in the PACU.


Have you done research before? If so what did you learn?
Nope, never. I learned how important and exciting research could be. I also learned that research is very time consuming. The only real negative part for me was when the IRB initially rejected my study but then when they accepted it I felt fabulous. One great thing about research is when you see the results of your research it’s so much fun.

Will you do research/project again?
I hope so. I met with Maria Gonzales in Oncology and saw all the research projects going on in Oncology. Since I am now the Nurse Navigator for Melanoma I will be working on a research project just on Melanoma.