INQRI Grantee Wins NIH Grant for Improvement Science

Kathleen Stevens, Ed.D, R.N., A.N.E.F., won a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance health care improvement projects. Stevens is a professor of nursing and director of the Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice at the University of Texas in San Antonio and an INQRI grantee, with Robert Ferrer, M.D., as co-principal investigator.

The two-year grant will enable Stevens to create the first national research network for research teams to test improvement strategies in an inter-professional context. Nurse scientists and collaborating researchers and clinicians will use the network to evaluate improvement strategies across multiple sites, share resources and results, and move the most effective strategies quickly to bedside care.

"Improving the quality of health care and patient safety has been a major goal of the federal government, accrediting bodies, regulatory agencies and patient-advocacy groups for at least 10 years, but progress has been slow in actually moving research into improvements that benefit patients," Stevens said in a statement. "Nurses are in a strong position to transform the care given in hospitals. This network provides a national laboratory in which to rapidly test and implement improvements in health care."

Under the project, research teams will be supported through a coordinating center at the University of Texas Health Science Center and a unique web-based collaborative. An improvement science web site was launched earlier this month. The inaugural improvement science summit, supported by the NIH, will be held in July in San Antonio, Texas. Registration fees are supported by the NIH.