How to gain research experience?

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I'm a non-trad student. I have absolutely ZERO research experience. Other than that I believe my ECs are pretty solid, but I've grown increasingly interested in research and wouldn't mine participating. I work PRN at a research hospital in Dallas, will not be hard to figure which one, but I don't know who to ask, what to do or anything. There is TONS of research going on, I'm well aware, but the only info I see that's public is the need for participants for the studies. I have access to the directory obviously, but I wouldn't know where to start or what to even say. I have a few areas that I'm interested in such as the hypertension and diabetes, even the toxicology and pharmacology department , and they have tons of studies currently going on now, but I don't want to look foolish and be like hey can I help? They have several research opportunities for students, but I don't meet those qualifications because I'm not currently in school right now etc. I was a nursing major obviously in undergrad so this is all very new to me. I've decided to defer applying until Summer 2016 for other reasons, so this would be a good time I think. There is nursing research going on in my department, but it's clinical stuff on patients such as sleep studies, how to decrease wait times etc, not really on the avenue of what I'm looking for. Also my manager at my other hospital wants to start a project with me on a certain disorder, and try to get it published in the Emergency Nursing Association journal, how does that look? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[NickNaylor]

Will you be returning to school at all for any kind of post-bacc work? That's the easiest way to get experience. Since you say you haven't done any major research before, trying to get a tech position might be a bit of stretch.

Are you close at all to your alma mater? That might be the best way to go if you can. Look up faculty profiles, see if anyone is doing any research that might be interesting to you, and ask if you can work in their lab (for free, of course).

In terms of how a study would "look," any sort of research experience is a positive. From an admissions perspective, though, the key is that you're actually involved in the project. Ideally, you'd like to have some sort of responsibility and independence commensurate with your comfort and skill. The more independent the work, the better. For your first gig, I wouldn't expect to do much beyond very basic stuff. As you gain experience and become well-versed in the research process, though PIs will likely be more comfortable giving you your own project or, at the very least, giving you a longer leash to work with.

There are also plenty of research fellowships available, though, as you said, many of these are limited to current students, and almost all of them will expect some kind of previous research experience in order to be seriously considered.