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Nurses' Unique Skills Translate Science into Care
Published November 2004
Associate Professor Terry Beery, PhD, RN, is one of a growing number of
nurses combining their hospital-based training with laboratory research
to improve patient care.
She received a $350,000 grant from the National Institute of Nursing
Research to study genetic predictors of cardiac arrhythmias, which can
produce irregular heartbeats and sudden cardiac death with or without a
heart attack. What to her is the essential "nurse" contribution to
"The nurse researcher provides the 'bedside perspective,'" she says.
"Since nurses spend the most time with patients, they have a great
appreciation for what's going on.
"Being able to bring that perspective to the research bench is
incredibly valuable. That's the translational piece--knowledge from the
bedside, to the bench and back to the bedside as care."
Professor Donna Gates, EdD, RN, is currently setting up a study
involving local health authorities and industry on how environmental
changes in the workplace can reduce obesity, a project funded with
$657,188 from the CDC.
"Nurses bring a breadth of practice and education expertise to the
multidisciplinary research teams needed to solve today's increasingly
complex health problems," she says.
"They're unique, since they have the nursing skills, science background
and interdisciplinary experiences to translate research from clinical
and lab settings to real-life situations.
"As patient care continues to shift from the hospital to the
community," Dr. Gates says, "nurse researchers are embracing the
evolving emphasis on prevention, primary care and quality of life. They
recognize the importance of studying disease and injury within the
family, home, work, recreation and community context, and they're
skilled at it."