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APPENDIX D 46 The future of cost- effective, high quality and accessible health care for the American people requires excellence in nursing practice, which in turn depends on knowledge established through research. The small proportion of nurses with doctoral preparation as investigators, in contrast with the large demand for more researchers to generate nursing knowledge, necessitates a plan to revitalize funding for nursing research training. Specific Recommendations: ⢠Funding for nursing research training should triple in the next three years if we are to have an adequate cadre of investigators trained to work in academia as well as service settings who can link new scientific breakthroughs in the biological and behavioral sciences with the ever changing complex clinical problems. ⢠The mix of predoctoral and postdoctoral awards should remain fluid as new developments in science and the needs of specific areas of science dictate, be it state of the art molecular technology or new behavioral techniques. The need for nursing research to focus resources in postdoctoral training is critical; at the same time there is a continuing need to increase the number of nurses receiving predoctoral training. ⢠Institutional training awards should be encouraged where there are well developed interdisciplinary programs of research. Trainees should be exposed to a variety of approaches to a particular problem, and encouraged to explore the behavioral and biological underpinnings of complex health problems. Trainees should be able to study with multidisciplinary teams. Nurse trainees should be included in the institutional training grants funded in the other biological and behavioral sciences. ⢠Training mechanisms need to be restructured to increase flexibility and access to scientific careers, especially for women and minorities who frequently have other responsibilities and begin their studies later in life. ⢠There should be a continued effort to recruit minority nurses into research careers. Linkages between minority institutions, organizations, and research intensive institutions should be developed. ⢠Stipends for predoctoral NRSAs and postdoctoral positions should be increased. Current dollars are below the poverty level for predoctoral NRSA, and the stipends for postdoctoral positions are not competitive with beginning faculty salaries. ⢠Various mid-career training mechanisms to accommodate shifts in scientific focus and new technologies should be encouraged. Todayâs scientific breakthroughs require opportunities to learn new technologies as well as to undertake novel, innovative science that crosses traditional disciplines. REFERENCES American Nurses Association 1985 Directions for Nursing Research . Kansas City, MO. Bednash, G. , L. E. Berlin , and O. Alsheimer 1993 1992-1993 Enrollment and Graduation in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing . Washington, DC : American Association of Colleges of Nursing . Division of Nursing , HRSA , USPHS 1992 1992 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses . March, unpublished data . Moses, E.B. 1986 The Registered Nurse Population: Findings from the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, November 1984 . USDHHS, Bureau of Health Professionals, Division of Nursing : 32 . National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 1985 Personnel Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1985 Report . Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel, Institute of Medicine . Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press , p. 144 .
