Research Agenda
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is coordinating a unique, multi-funder initiative to identify, generate, synthesize and disseminate evidence essential to informing efforts to implement the recommendations outlined in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” and to contribute to Campaign for Action’s goal of advancing comprehensive change in health care for patients and the country. The purpose of this activity is to increase and focus national attention on a common research agenda related to the IOM recommendations and to facilitate and coordinate funding activity across a range of funders of nursing research.
*Please note: The application period for this round is now closed.
Research Questions
Education
- How effective are various inter-professional education models?
- What are the most effective policies to encourage supportive mentoring in nursing schools and in practice settings?
- What is the opportunity cost of adding new, different modules to the nursing curriculum?
- What policy options can best address the goal of doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020?
- What is the range of costs of policy options to address the goal of doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020?
- What is the range of time frames for alternative policies to achieve the goal of doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020?
- Under various scenarios, what is the likely cost and time required to increase proportion of nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing degree to 80% by 2020 given current associate enrollments?
- What is the actual cost to states/federal government for associate, bachelor and graduate nursing education?
- What impact would implementation of recommendation four (increasing the proportion of nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing degree to 80% by 2020) have on community colleges’ bottom lines?
- How can nurses’ engagement in lifetime learning be ensured?
- What competencies are most important to contemporary nursing care?
- What are the core components of effective registered nurse (RN) or APRN residencies? Are these residencies cost-effective?
- What are the pros/cons of alternative ways states measure, on an annual basis, the percentage of new nursing graduates prepared at the associate degree, diploma, baccalaureate or master’s level? How are those measures used in policy/practice?
- What are the relationships between the percentage of newly licensed nurses prepared in baccalaureate or higher degree programs and the adequacy of the nursing workforce or extent of faculty shortages by state?
- What strategies have states used to increase the presence of BSN and higher degree preparation in their nursing workforce. What strategies were most successful? Which strategies had little impact, or were not cost-effective?
Leadership
- How can nurses best be prepared and enabled to lead change to advance health?
- What are the optimal salary and benefit packages to recruit highly qualified faculty away from delivery organizations and into nursing schools?
- Is there evidence that APRNs, given the opportunity to practice independently, will locate to rural or underserved regions?
- What payment mechanisms would incentivize diffusion of care models in which nurses lead care programs or provide coordination and collaborative leadership?
- What new technologies support nursing decision-making and care delivery?
- Is there a value proposition for health plans’ using APRNs in panels? And if so, what value could be passed on to employers and consumers?
Interprofessional Collaboration
- What are the effects of expanding scope-of-practice for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) on physician satisfaction, productivity and income in states? What scope-of-practice is optimal for patients in a fee-for-service world? In a world of bundled payments?
- How do independently practicing APRNs collaborate with primary care or specialist physicians?
- What models are ideal for determining adequate staffing in a range of care settings?
- What policies and incentives foster teamwork and professional collaboration?
- What models of care most effectively utilize the skills/expertise of RNs and/or APRNs in primary care?
Data
- What percent of APRNs go into primary care?
- Are there differences in documented care errors, never events or malpractice claims between states with independent APRN practice and those with barriers to independent practice?
- Do states with broad nurse practice acts have better or poorer outcomes (e.g., health, health resource utilization) among patients with particular chronic illnesses like diabetes or asthma, or among underserved and Medicaid populations, than states with more restrictive practice acts?
- What concepts of behavioral economics offer the most promise for provider/provider interactions and patient/provider interactions?