Haley Nursing Forum: Essential Partnerships for Nursing Science
Lichuan Ye, Kate Gregory, Steven and Kathleen Haley and Patty Dykes |
BWH nurses and faculty from the Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing gathered for the second annual Haley Nursing Forum in Bornstein Amphitheater Nov. 17 to celebrate and share the new knowledge generated through the Haley Nurse Scientist Program, made possible through the generosity of Steven and Kathleen Haley.
“Nurses are the only members of the health care team who practice in close physical proximity to patients over contiguous amounts of time,” said Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN, senior vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer, in welcoming the audience. “Our perspective generates unique research questions and informs questions asked by other disciplines.”
Somerville and Susan Gennaro, DSN, RN, FAAN, dean and professor at the Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing, spoke of the many ways that practice-academic partnerships improve outcomes for patients and foster innovation in care.
During the event, three Haley Nurse Scientists, in partnership with BWH clinical nurses, shared their unique research projects as examples of the contributions made this past year to nursing science and patient care. Cynthia Loring, MS, RNC, CWN-10 nurse educator, the NICU’s JoAnn Morey, BSN, RN, and Tina Steele, RN, IBCLC, and Rachel Pozzar, BSN, RN, of Tower 14CD, an intermediate care unit, are among the nurses actively involved with the Haley Nurse Scientists.
“The Haley Nurse Scientist Program puts educators in a clinical environment,” remarked Steven Haley. “But just as important, their research findings translate to practice very quickly. We are all looking in health care today for applied research. And the work presented at the forum represents that.”
Kate Gregory, PhD, RN, the first Haley Nurse Scientist appointed in 2009, working with a team of CWN clinical nurses, presented on the effects of different bathing techniques on the thermoregulation of late pre-term infants and on a study of the effects of pasteurized donor human milk on selected aspects of infant growth and health. In a third study, Gregory and the team found that stress caused by having a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit decreases after the parent attends a nurse-led NICU class. This study was accepted for publication in the well-respected Journal of Maternal Child Health Nursing.
Lichuan Ye, PhD, RN, 2010 Haley Scientist, spoke of leading inter-disciplinary research to identify factors that affect quality of sleep in hospitalized patients. Ye introduced her Sleep Interest Group initiative, which she launched this year to engage BWH clinical nurses in sleep research and to promote better sleep quality for inpatients. With the feedback she collects from the group, Ye hopes to begin a study testing the efficacy of a tailored intervention to promote sleep in hospitalized patients.
Innovative ideas on the use of technology to promote safe patient care closed out the program. The third Haley Nurse Scientist Patricia Dykes, RN, DNSc, was introduced, along with Pozzar. Together they presented their research on using health information technology to create a tool kit for use by patients and clinicians to ensure safety and excellence in care. They plan to create and test an electronic Bedside Communication Center that would improve provider and patient access to health information at the bedside. This work is an extension of Dyke’s previous study published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association, which found that utilizing health information interventions (i.e., bed posters, patient education materials, care plans) significantly reduced patient falls in the hospital.
“I am truly grateful for this joint initiative between BWH and Boston College,” said first-time forum attendee Maria-Feliza Funtanilla, RN, of the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit. “The Haleys’ support of nursing initiatives to improve the quality of care that we deliver to our patient population is truly commendable.”
The Haley Nurse Scientist Program began in 2009 and is a collaborative between BWH and the Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing. Through the program, nurse scientists from Boston College have the opportunity to lead clinical nursing research, as well as mentor BWH clinical nursing staff on issues concerning patients, families and nurses.