INQRI Grantee in the Inaugural Class of HPNA Research Scholars

Congratulations to INQRI grantee Gail Towsley, PhD, NHA, who was one of five scholars recently selected by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association as the inaugural class of HPNA Research Scholars.

The HPNA Research Scholars Program supports funding to participate in the 4th Annual Kathleen Foley Palliative Care Retreat and Research Symposium of the National Palliative Care Research Center, co-sponsored by AAHPM, American Cancer Society, and HPNA. The Retreat will be held October 12-14, 2010 in Sundance, Utah. The goal of the Retreat is to advance the scientific endeavors of those who are or will become independent investigators actively involved in palliative care research through development of attendees' individual works in progress and improvement of specific competencies and core methodologies essential to conducting palliative care research.

Dr. Towsley was a member of the INQRI team at the University of Utah whose project was entitled, "Measuring Nursing Care Quality Related to Pain Management."  Led by principal investigator Susan Beck, the team developed and tested a questionnaire that can be used to measure opinions of patients about how their nurses manage their pain. The information from this project will provide researchers with an understanding of how patients with pain understand and interpret questions related to the quality of their nursing care. This measure is likely to prove salient to consumers interested in selecting hospitals that can best address their care needs, as well as to hospital administrators and policy makers interested in improving the quality of nursing-related care.


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