The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing has a new research HUB.
The Nursing Education Research and Scholarship HUB debuted in late summer 2023, becoming the school’s eighth research and scholarship HUB.
“This HUB provides a place for our clinical faculty to collaborate on research around what they do best: educate students who enter the workforce as highly prepared nurses,” said hub director, Amy Bowser, PhD, MEd. “Our graduates are ready to care for patients from diverse populations; reduce health disparities in medically underserved areas and populations; advocate for quality health care and patient safety; and advance the nursing profession. Our gap at the School of Nursing is publishing rigorous studies that show that what we do is supporting student learning. We want to provide examples to the health care education community of what we do to have such successful graduates.”
The field of nursing education is undergoing a dynamic transformation to meet the evolving needs of healthcare. Currently, the nursing profession is confronted with a shortage of nurses at the local, regional, and national levels, leading to a scarcity of nursing faculty. Moreover, patient care has become increasingly intricate due to prolonged life expectancy, the prevalence of multiple chronic conditions, and a pressing focus on addressing health disparities.
Nursing education is moving toward competency-based education emphasizing clinical judgment processes, interprofessional collaboration, and care for patients from medically underserved areas or populations. With improved technologies, simulation education is shown to enhance students learning, and with changes in teaching, research is needed to ensure that innovations support the teaching and learning of nursing competencies.
The Nursing Education Research and Scholarship HUB bridges the gaps among the expectation of faculty scholarship, training in the scholarship of teaching and learning in nursing, and the need for increased robustness of nursing education research. Faculty collaborate to develop research questions focused on problems of practice in day-to-day teaching in several core areas.
“Dean Emeritus Jacqueline Dunbar Jacob created the Center for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Nursing to provide research support to clinical faculty,” said Bowser. “Transitioning the Center to a HUB provides the opportunity for more collaboration across all departments on grant writing, research projects, and manuscript development. There is more of a school-wide team feel within a HUB. The Jane E. Knox Award for research in undergraduate clinical will continue in the HUB, and the HUB will be able to give pilot money up to three projects.”
Bowser said the HUB will also bring in expert speakers for educational research methodologies and current topics in nursing education research. Core faculty will be involved in research projects supporting the initiative to increase simulation, clinical judgment, Social Determinants of Health and health disparities, and online teaching.
“This is an exciting HUB because clinical faculty with DNPs are trained to be exceptional clinicians, not research scientists,” said Bowser. “Yet, Universities like Pitts expect excellence in research and scholarship This new HUB provides the platform for our faculty who do incredible innovations in teaching to publish more.”
For more information about the hub click HERE.