As one of 27 institutes of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) is responsible for supporting research that improves health and saves lives. Over the past year, it engaged the nursing community as it developed its new strategic plan. The outcome may result in potential shift in research funding priorities while advancing priorities, methods and approaches needed to solve current and pressing health issues.
Penn Nursing dean Antonia Villarruel and associate dean for research and innovation Therese Richmond have published “Reflections on the Future of Nursing” in the journal Nursing Outlook, a commentary about the NINR strategic plan. Nurse researchers who have led research in areas such as violence, firearm safety, evidence-based policy and practice reforms, and implementation and evaluation of models of care are hopeful that this new framework will accelerate efforts to address pressing health and societal issues.
“We do understand the angst that comes with shifts in priorities,” says Villarruel, professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at Penn Nursing. “We have made these shifts before and can make them again. But it is important to note that researchers are well-positioned to compete across a wide variety of federal, state, and private funding sources because of previous NINR investments.”
“We recognize the importance of continued discussions about how existing programs of research and inquiry can and should be positioned to address pressing societal issues and how nursing science should be positioned to be part of the solution,” says Richmond, the Andrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing.
Read more at Penn Nursing News.
