News
September 24, 2007
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Caroline Broder or Janet Firshein, Burness Communications, 301-652-1558
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards $3.6 Million
To Identify Ways To Keep Patients Safe, Improve Quality
Twelve Interdisciplinary Researcher Teams
To Expose Link Between Nurses and Advances in Patient Care
Princeton, N.J., September 24, 2007 – The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced it will provide $3.6 million over the next two years to fund a dozen research projects designed to reduce medical errors and improve patient care in hospitals. The 12 projects represent the second round of grants awarded through RWJF's Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) program, a $10 million, five-year program that will generate and disseminate research showing a link between what nurses do and the contributions they make to advancing better and safer care for patients. The first round of nine grants, totaling $2.7 million, was awarded in September 2006 (visit www.INQRI.org).
Nurses account for more than half of all health care providers in the United States. But little research exists to demonstrate the link between what nurses do and the effect of those interventions on patient care and safety. INQRI is trying to fill the gap by applying rigorous science to expose that link.
This is the first project of its kind to involve teams of researchers from many disciplines, not just nursing, in projects related to the work of nurses. Another unique aspect of the program is that it engages the end users of the research — hospital administrators, policy makers, patients and others — in the design of research projects that examine and identify solutions to help nurses, doctors, pharmacists and the health care team save lives and keep patients safer and healthier (See attached list).
"We have high hopes that our INQRI grantees will produce rigorous results that will inform health and healthcare policy and practice," said Lori Melichar, Ph.D., senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "By funding interdisciplinary research that is informed and guided by the end users of the results, we expect this program to improve the safety, reliability, quality and efficiency of healthcare practiced in the United States."
"It takes a nurse to make a difference in the quality of care we get in hospitals, but if that nurse is overworked, under-motivated or lacks adequate support to keep patients healthy and safe, we all suffer," said INQRI co-director Mary Naylor, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. "Without evidence linking nurses to better patient care, their contributions often go unrecognized. This project aims to supply that evidence."
"As well as highlighting improved methods of nursing, we are trying through rigorous research to transform the way health care is delivered," said Mark Pauly, Ph.D, the Bendheim Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and co-director of the INQRI program.
Teams of scholars from institutions around the U.S. each received up to $300,000 for this round of projects, which will focus on interventions to prevent falls, improvements in care for patients with heart failure, the effect of nurse staffing and work environment on hospital performance, the costs and benefits of supplemental nurses, the quality of pediatric nursing care, the effect of nurse staffing on neonatal care, the prevalence of medication errors and other issues.
A third call for proposals will be issued in October 2007 for the next round of grants, which will be awarded in September 2008.
###
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
Read About the Grantees: http://www.inqri.org/ReseRoun-1316.html
