Wanda Gibson-Scipio, PhD, NP
Nurses are at the heart of the growth of interdisciplinary approaches toward treatment and research, so today’s “Nursing Year in Review” will emphasize that trend with “Interdisciplinary Research: Moving From Silos to Synergy.”
The session will highlight recent research efforts, and nurses will team with representatives from other disciplines to discuss end-of-life care, rehabilitation and pulmonary research, pediatric asthma and health status assessment. It will be presented from 2 to 4 p.m. today in Rooms 3001-3003, West Building (Level 3), Moscone Center.
“What we wanted to highlight is the diversity—in terms of the research—that nurses are engaged in,” said Wanda Gibson-Scipio, PhD, NP, session co-chair. “We also wanted to show how nurses often work with other disciplines and the value they add to the research that is being conducted.”
The program is filled with a selection of top researchers and the collaborative teams comprising various disciplines.
“Many funding agencies have said that they are looking for more interdisciplinary research because they understand that it broadens what they are going to be able to look at and how they look at it, and the outcomes tend to be better.”
Doranne Donesky, PhD, RN
The first presentation, “Communication About End-of-Life Care: It Takes a Team,” will focus on the team approach and what each discipline focuses on in this difficult situation, said Doranne Donesky, PhD, RN, assistant adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Integration of Rehabilitation and Pulmonary Research Programs” is important because of the increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and the success of multidisciplinary treatment, Dr. Gibson-Scipio said.
“Pediatric Asthma: Interdisciplinary Strategies for Management of Asthma in Underserved Children” will address the need to focus on changes in behaviors, she said.
In “Health Status Assessment: An Era of Novel Developments and Applications,” two researchers from the United Kingdom will discuss the development of a questionnaire for patients with dyspnea.
“Nurses are fortunate because we have our assembly, but there are plenty of pharmacists, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other disciplines who attend these sessions and do not have their own assemblies, so we are very interested in collaborating with all of them,” Dr. Donesky said.
Dr. Gibson-Scipio agreed. “There is increased diversity in research, but some people don’t know what that means,” Dr. Gibson-Scipio said. “We want to give them a flavor of what we are doing and highlight what nurses bring to an interdisciplinary team.”
The Nursing Year in Review is supported by educational grants from Gilead Sciences Medical Affairs, Pfizer, Inc., and Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc.