Article Outline
Pamela Mitchell, RN, PhD, FAHA, FAAN
As I write this last message as President of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), I am cognizant of the many transitions that the autumn season brings—shorter days, brilliant sunshine filtering through the multicolored leaves, and beginnings and endings of academic seasons. In early September, I had the privilege of attending a most stimulating transition event—a “Town Hall” with Francis Collins, MD, PhD, newly confirmed as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Representatives of a variety of healthcare organizations and grassroots patient organizations, as well as university investigators, filled the Natcher Conference Center Auditorium on the NIH campus. In his prepared remarks, Dr. Collins outlined the 5 main areas of opportunity that he sees for the NIH in the coming years. These reflect what he described as a “healthy tension” between basic and clinical science questions. He emphasized that the role of investigator-initiated research will remain strong. A news item in the August 21, 2009 issue of
Science also summarizes these areas
1
1.Applying genomics and other high throughput technologies to understanding fundamental biology and the biology of specific disorders.
2.Translating basic science research into new and better treatments.
3.Putting science to work for the benefit of healthcare reform. Here he emphasized comparative effectiveness research, including comparison of care delivery options. He emphasized the role of social and behavioral sciences in this area in particular.
4.Global health—a greater focus on health disparities and public private partnerships.
5.Reinvigorating and empowering the biomedical research community. This emphasized sustaining funding for innovative research, emphasizing training and new investigators and continuation of roadmap initiatives—all activities funded under the Clinical and Translational Science Awards.
He also noted a new grant searching resource, called Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT), which is more powerful than the older search engine, CRISP, in creating profiles down to the individual grant level of themes in research, dollars awarded, publication, and patents arising from a specific project. The AAN and Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science have been discussing efforts to demonstrate return on investment of nursing research, beyond that funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. This new search engine holds great promise for that. It is available now online at: http://report.nih.gov/.
It is very clear that nursing science and knowledge can contribute a great deal to each of these areas. Here are a few examples:
•The entire July issue of Biological Research in Nursing is devoted to genetics and genomics in nursing, applying such technologies to better understanding of diverse problems such as sleep disorders, hypertension, and peripheral neuropathy.2
•The Academy's Expert Panel on Women's Health has long contributed to the global conversation regarding women's health and the Expert Panel on Global Health has contributed to our understanding of cultural competency in research and care delivery throughout the world.
•Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, and her team have been conducting comparative effectiveness trials of the transitional care model and influencing health insurance reimbursement patterns.3
•The contributions of the nursing perspective to the NIH roadmap initiatives were well outlined by fellows Knafl and Gray in a recent issue of this journal.4
Dr. Collins encouraged external stakeholders to use the NIH's site NIH_LISTENS@nih.gov site to communicate and comment on their priorities to him. We encourage you to take up this offer and send your comments.
Finally, Dr. Collins asked for the organizations' communities to assist the NIH in three ways:
•Be a common and persistent voice for the importance of healthcare research (to the general community and to Congress).
•Help the NIH develop new and compelling ways to describe itself and its impact to decision makers and the public.
•Increase the open communication between the NIH and its constituents.
We can indeed raise nursing's voice to take these messages to the public, using the stellar examples we have about how nursing knowledge and science are at the center of healthcare research.
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References
- Kaiser J. Rejecting “big science” tag, Collins sets five themes for NIH. Science. 2009;325:927
- Conley YP. Genetics and genomics in nursing research. Biol Res Nurs. 2009;11:5–6
- American Academy of Nursing. Making transitional care more effective and efficient: APNs ensure smooth transition from hospital to home, cutting re-hospitalization rates for geriatric patients. Available at: http://www.aannet.org/files/public/APN_template.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2009.
- Knafl K, Grey M. Clinical translational science awards: opportunities and challenges for nurse scientists. Nurs Outlook. 2008;56:132–137
Pamela Mitchell, RN, PhD, FAHA, FAAN, is an Associate Dean for Research, School of Nursing; The Elizabeth S. Soule Professor of Health Promotion, School of Nursing; Adjunct Professor, Department of Health Services; SPHCM Director, Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA
