Manipal International Nursing Research Conclave (MINRC) – Virtual is organised by Manipal College of Nursing (MCON), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal from 19 to 22 January 2022. The event is being conducted as a mega event as part of 75 years of India’s Independence- ‘Bharat ka Amrut Mahotsav’ activity calendar.

The inauguration of the conference was held on 19th January 2022 at 2.00 pm at the Dr TMA Pai Auditorium, KMC, Manipal in a blended mode. The Chief Guest of the program Dr Punitha Ezhilarasu, Consultant, Indian Nursing Council, Former Dean & Professor, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore, in her address, highlighted on translational research in various sectors by adopting best practices and implementing high-quality research. She also stressed the importance of Research in Nursing. She further said, nursing leaders have to involve themselves in nursing research, which in the future will assist in making health care decisions while designing health policies.

Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M.D. Venkatesh, Vice-Chancellor, MAHE, Manipal in his presidential address, accentuated the need for research in academic institutions, especially in the health care sciences. He emphasised that the key to successful research is perseverance, networking, and interdisciplinary collaboration. He encouraged the young health professionals to carry out more innovative research in the health care field and community setup. He congratulated the entire team of MCON for organising the conference, which, he said, is useful and relevant for the current times.

Dr Judith Angelitta Noronha, Dean and Organizing Chairperson – MINRC, MCON, MAHE, Manipal presented the welcome address and introduced the Chief Guest Dr Punitha Ezhilarasu and the Presiding Officer of the conference Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M.D. Venkatesh. Following the traditional lamp lighting by the dignitaries, Dr Mamatha S Pai, Professor & Organizing Secretary – MINRC, Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal elucidated the overview of the conclave.

The inauguration program was concluded with a vote of thanks by Mrs Jeyalakshmi K, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal. The event was hosted by Ms Edith Jovita Bangera, Assistant Lecturer, Manipal School of Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

Day 1: 19th January 2022

Day 1 of the conclave started with the plenary session on “Translational Research” by Dr Anice George, Professor, Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal on 19th January 2022, at 1.00 pm. In her talk, Dr Anice said translational research goes beyond the “bench to bedside” paradigm, enumerating the various aspects of the method of research. She highlighted the roadmap of translation research, phases of clinical research, translational spectrum, and the various models, barriers and enablers of translational research. She encouraged nursing learners and experts in clinical and education areas to collaborate and work towards bringing out the basic research from the vacuum to the family and community requiring health care services. The session was moderated by Dr Linu Sara George, Professor and Head, Department, Fundamentals of Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

Following the inauguration, Oration in memory of Late Dr. Aparna Bhaduri on the topic, “Research Innovation in Nursing” was held. The oration was presented by Dr Simi Jesto Joseph, who is the alumna of MCON, Manipal, now the Advanced Practice Provider and Researcher, North-western Medicine Chicago, Former Director of Clinical Operations, GI Solutions of IL, Chicago, USA. She said that nurses are real-time problem solvers, innovators, and have creativity. She gave a historical overview on research in nursing across the world and in India and the various publications, societies, organisations and research developments in Nursing. She explained that innovation is the novel application of ideas, implementation of something new, improvement to an existing product or process and continued relevance. She emphasized the process of innovation, dimensions, need to conduct innovative research giving examples of the pandemic innovations in nursing which may stay in future healthcare delivery. She further highlighted that to prepare competent nurses- innovation and creativity are necessary for nursing education and practice. Dr Anice George, Professor, Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, moderated the oration by introducing both Dr. (Late) Aparna Bhaduri, and her contributions to nursing at MCON and in India and also the speaker.

The last session of the day was discoursed by Mr Rajiv Kumar, Training and Implementation Manager, Wolters Kluwer on the “Role of e-resources in Nursing Education and Research (Ovid Nursing Edge)”. In his discourse, he mentioned the resources available and the best ways to make use of the resources for enhancing the research in nursing education and practice. He explained regarding Ovid nursing edge and the nursing content available on the database, Ovid Emcare, and gave an online demonstration of how to use the platform. The day’s program was hosted by Ms Edith Jovita Bangera, Assistant Lecturer, Manipal School of Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

The sessions were followed by scientific oral and e-poster presentations by the participants. A total of 16 oral paper presentations and 6 e-posters were presented simultaneously in three halls. Dr Malathi G Nayak, Dr Sulochana B and Dr Jyothi Chakrabarty were the moderators.

Day 2: 20th January 2022

Day 2 of the conclave started with the Oration in memory of Prof. (Late) P. P. Bhanumathi by Prof. Madhu Veeraraghavan, Director, TA Pai Institute, Manipal, India on the topic “Benchmarking: adapting best practices to improve organizational quality” on 20th January 2022 at 1.00 pm. In the oration, Prof. Madhu spoke of creating a culture of quality, focusing on leadership, engaging people and maintaining relationships in order to identify the benchmark required for an institution. He emphasized the principles and benefits of quality management and the strategies for success ie, to enlighten the organizational leadership, provide continuous support to the employees and encourage ongoing learning. He elaborated on the nursing care benchmarking, dimensions of quality and ways to improve quality. He highlighted that in nursing care, benchmarking would be: best care, at the best cost, with the best comparison, at the best context and best outcome. He encouraged nurse leaders and nurses to be more connected, accept and learn fundamental societal requirements, emphasising that nursing care benchmarking has many faces and needs to be addressed based on the standards placed by the accreditation bodies. Dr Elsa Sanatombi Devi, Professor, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal moderated this oration by introducing Prof. (Late) P. P. Bhanumathi and her contribution to the growth of the institution and the speaker.

The second Plenary session of the conclave was on “Analytical Models in Research” by Dr Ravindra Mohan Pandey, Professor and Head, Department of Biostatistics, Prof-in Charge, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, AIIMS, New Delhi, and the session was moderated by Dr Mamatha S Pai. In the session, Dr Pandey gave a general overview of the statistical basics in Research Analysis with relevant examples. He highlighted the types of variables from an analysis point of view including correlation, multivariate statistical methods, and the practical issues in regression analysis. He explained how the analysis is interpreted in research and the implications in the research study under consideration.

The next session of the day was deliberated by Mr Rajiv Kumar, Training and Implementation Manager, Wolters Kluwer on “Role of Evidence-Based Resources in Nursing practice and Clinical Effectiveness (Lippincott Solutions)”. In his discourse, he mentioned the resources available and the best ways to make use of the resources for enhancing the research in nursing education and practice. In the session, he explained the method improving clinical effectiveness. He provided an overview of Lippincott Solutions and gave an online demonstration of how to use the resources available.

The third plenary session was on “Health Trajectory Research”. The session was delivered by a panel of experts from the School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, USA. The panel included Dr Carolyn M Porta, Associate Vice President for Clinical Affairs, Professor & Director of Global Health; Dr Sripriya Rajamani, Clinical Associate Professor; Dr Cynthia Bradley, Assistant Professor, and Dr Erica Schorr, Associate Professor. Dr Porta discussed that pattern of health over time is health trajectory. She discussed the patterns of health trajectory research across individuals, families, communities, being person-focused and time-based across the lifespan and continuum of care and the types of research inquiry with the available studies. Dr Schorr discussed some of the studies that she was involved in and explained the methodology involved in the studies. Dr Rajamani gave her input on the biomedical informatics point of view for health. She explained the standards for data representation and exchanges. The panel encouraged the participants to reach out to collaborate and participate in health trajectory research. The session was moderated by Dr Tessy Treesa Jose, Associate Dean, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

The proceedings of the day was hosted by Mrs Prima Jenevive Jyothi D’Souza, Assistant Professor, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

Day 3: 21st January 2022

The third day of the conclave commenced with the scientific oral and e-poster presentations by the participants on 21st January 2022 at 1.00 pm. A total of 22 oral paper presentations and 8 e-posters were presented simultaneously in three halls. Dr Sonia RB D’Souza, Dr Anjalin D’Souza and Dr Leena Sequira were the moderators.

The plenary session 4 of the conclave was on “Health Policy Research”. The session was presented by Dr Elissa Ladd, Director of Global Health Equity and Innovations, Professor in Nursing, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, USA, and moderated by Dr Shashidhara Y N, Professor and Head, Department of Community Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal. In her session, Dr Ladd highlighted the importance of health policy research in decision making, ways to categorise health service research and different methods using different conceptual frameworks. She focussed that health policy research is an inquiry into structure, process, and outcome. She elaborated on various forms of big data, data sources, the role of big data on health care and health service research, use in decision making, analytics of big data, and AI and Machine Learning. She stressed the challenges in health service research including the cultural, trust challenges, technical challenges and issues in privacy and security of patient information.

The day concluded with the plenary session 5 of the conclave on “Trend Analysis” by Dr Jeyaseelan, Professor of Biostatistics, MBRU of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Health Care City, Dubai, UAE, and moderated by Dr Baby S Nayak, Professor and Head, Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal. In the session, Dr Jeyaseelan focussed on the time-dependent analysis, its medical application and its special features. He elaborated that time series is a collection of observations made sequentially in time that is equally spaced. He highlighted the specifics in the analysis of data including the simple descriptive measures of plotting the data trend and seasonality, explanation of variations in variables using cross-correlation, prediction of future using past observations and the control. Further, he spoke on the different regression models for time series data with examples including harmonic regression and ARIMA model and stressed the suitability of usage.

The proceedings of the day was hosted by Ms Sanju Pant, Lecturer, Department of Mental Health (Psychiatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

Day 4: 22nd January 2022

The last day of the conclave commenced with the scientific oral and e-poster presentations by the participants on 22nd January 2022 at 1.00 pm. A total of 8 oral paper presentations and 5 e-posters were presented simultaneously in three halls. Dr Binil V, Dr Melita Sheilini and Dr Sangeetha Priyadarshini were the moderators.

The plenary session 6 of the conclave was on “Systematic Techniques in Qualitative Research”. The session was presented by Dr Amol R Dongre, Head of Department, Extension Program (SPARSH), Professor in Community Medicine and Medical Education, Pramukhswami Medical College, Bhaikaka University, Karamsad, Gujarat, and the moderator of the session was Dr Mamatha S Pai. In the session, Dr Dongre highlighted that the purpose of qualitative studies is in-depth insights into underlying reasons, opinions and motivations from the subject point of view. He elaborated on the different methods of systematic techniques such as the Free list and Pile Sort which is used in cognitive anthropology in cultural domains, its steps, strengths and weakness with examples. He also focussed on the data analysis methods like multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis and emphasized the rational use of software in qualitative data analysis.

The last plenary session of the conclave was on “Data Sharing in Clinical Research” by Dr Angela Brand, Full Professor, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University; Professional Fellow, UNU- MERIT (United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation & Technology), Maastricht, Netherlands. The session was moderated by Dr Elsa Sanatombi Devi. Dr Brand highlighted the difference between present clinical research with that of the past in creating evidence, quality management, social and technological innovations and its control on health. She focussed on the challenges of clinical research, i.e, how to create evidence from the best available data and the patient’s need to have a proactive role in clinical research. She enlightened on data sharing, digitalization in data sharing, technological advances and the role of AI in data sharing. She also stressed the challenges in data sharing which included technical challenges like the completeness of data, structured, semi-structured and unstructured data, validation and standardisation of data, quality of data and personal/ citizen ownership of data, trust in data security and ethical concerns.

Closing ceremony:

The conclave proceedings concluded with the closing remarks by Dr Anice George, Professor Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal. Dr Anice George briefed about the proceedings of the conclave, appreciated the team efforts of faculty and staff of MCON and MSON, and congratulated the Organizing Secretary Dr Mamatha S Pai and Co-secretary Mrs Jeyalakshmi K for the efforts in smooth conduct of the conclave. Advising the young professionals, she said the future of the nursing profession is in their hands. She also motivated them to be responsible, transparent, sincere, work with commitment, be innovative in professional practice, so that all the stakeholders will be benefitted.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Mamatha S Pai. Feedback was taken from the participants. The proceedings of the day was hosted by Ms Reshma R Kotian, Lecturer, Department of Community Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

The conclave was partially funded by Wolters Kluwer. Credit hours of 13 hours was given by the Observer as per the Karnataka Nursing Council Norms.

A total of 236 participants (57 students and 179 faculty) from national (232) and international (4) attended the conclave and 65 participants (46- Oral & 19- e-poster) presented papers and e-posters. Dr Judith Angelitta Noronha, Dean, MCON, Manipal was the Organizing Chairperson and Dr Mamatha S Pai, Professor, Department of Child Health (Paediatric) Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, was the Organizing Secretary for the conclave.