by | Mar 30, 2013 | Magazine
The Indian Health Service (IHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, recently agreed to continue their partnership initiative to include American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AIs/ANs) as participants in and beneficiaries of the research and training supported by the NIH.
Shortly after, the IHS and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the NIH Institutes, announced that they are the recipients of approximately $3 million in grant funds to support AI/AN medical research efforts.
Eight Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) programs have been selected to receive grants for proposals submitted during fiscal year 2001: the Northwest Portland Area Health Board, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona American Indian Research Center for Health, the Five Civilized Tribes, the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the New Mexico Tribal Healthcare Alliance and the California Indian Health Council.
“These grants are critically important in our efforts to improve the health status of [Native Americans],” says HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. “These funds will help address the underrepresentation of AI/AN researchers and their perspectives in medical research, and will empower tribes to influence research projects relevant to Indian communities.”
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“These funds will increase the capacity of tribes and universities to work in partnership to reverse a trend of Indian communities frequently being the subject of research and not benefiting from that research,” adds Michael H. Trujillo, MD, MPH, MS, director of the IHS. “Additional benefits from the NARCH program will be culturally sensitive research, research influenced and sanctioned by tribal communities, and the encouragement of AI/AN youth to consider research, science and public service as career options.”
In related news, the IHS recently relocated its headquarters functions to 801 Thompson Avenue in Rockville, Md. after residing at the Parklawn Building in Rockville for the past 31 years. The new IHS headquarters building is newly renovated and contains 50,918 square feet. This headquarters will house all of the Office of the Director functions and most of the programs of the Office of Public Health and the Office of Management Support.
“This building represents a commitment to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the IHS headquarters staff in support of our mission to provide the highest quality health care services to Indian people,” says Trujillo.
by | Mar 30, 2013 | Magazine
The University of Florida (UF) College of Nursing in Gainesville found itself $1,531,000 richer this year after receiving three separate grants to pursue research in cancer, asthma, infant mortality and other health problems that disproportionately affect minorities.
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Nursing, came $831,000 to help the school expand its nurse-midwifery program, with an emphasis on reducing infant mortality. The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) gave $670,000 to the college to create an interdisciplinary Biobehavioral Research Center. And the American Cancer Society is awarding a $30,000 scholarship to Carmen Rodriguez, ARNP, MSN, a clinical nursing instructor at the college, to help finance her studies related to evaluating pain in elderly cancer patients.
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“The infant mortality rate . . . ranges between 8.3 and 16.8 deaths per 1,000 live births for whites and between 12.2 and 28.7 for nonwhites,” reports Alice H. Poe, CNM, assistant professor and coordinator of the UF nurse-midwifery program, citing the results of studies done at the school’s program sites in Jacksonville, Tampa and Gainesville. Compare these numbers with nationwide figures of six deaths per 1,000 live births for white infants versus 13.7 deaths for racial and ethnic minority infants and it’s easy to see why UF believes in the necessity of finding ways to reduce this serious disparity for minority families living in medically underserved areas, particularly in Florida.
The college’s nurse-midwifery program will use its federal grant money to encourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds, medically underserved areas and underrepresented minority groups to seek careers as nurse-midwives. An educator/recruiter will be hired with the sole purpose of visiting culturally diverse and medically underserved areas, local elementary and high schools, and colleges with large minority enrollments to discuss the advantages of this career.
“Nurse-midwives from such populations often have a special sensitivity and awareness of the needs of minority patients and are more likely to seek employment serving these groups,” says Poe.
The three-year Advanced Nursing Education grant will expand the UF midwifery program through its traditional master’s degree program, the accelerated RN-to-BSN/MSN program and a cooperative degree program with the University of South Florida in Tampa.
The Biobehavioral Research Center’s initial undertaking will be to conduct four new federally funded pilot studies aimed at assessing the effectiveness of asthma education, as well as exploring the links between autism and diet, exercise and bone density, and herbal remedies and osteoarthritis. UF is one of only seven to nine colleges in the United States expected to receive the three-year NINR Nursing Research Exploratory Center Grant this year.
According to Carolyn Yucha, RN, PhD, associate dean for research at the UF College of Nursing, “the Biobehavioral Research Center will oversee pilot research studies with both biological and behavioral outcomes.The infrastructure of the new center will allow us to further develop the research program within the College of Nursing and help our investigators collect sufficient data to pursue specific areas of inquiry through other funding mechanisms in the future.”
Nurse researchers will work alongside co-investigators in biostatistics, exercise physiology, health education, medicine, nutrition, pharmacy, physical therapy, psychiatry and radiology.
Faculty member Carmen Rodriguez is one of only eight nurses in the country–and the only nurse in Florida–to receive this year’s American Cancer Society Scholarship in Cancer Nursing. Rodriguez, who is working on her doctorate in nursing at the University of South Florida, will use the funds to investigate the most effective method for evaluating pain in older patients with head or neck cancer and speech and language impairments.
“Health care providers working with patients with communication impairment face significant challenges when attempting to obtain information related to the measurement of pain,” explains Rodriguez. “Information obtained from this study will contribute to nursing knowledge and facilitate understanding of the experience and impact of pain on this special population.”
Graduate students pursuing doctoral study in cancer nursing are eligible for the American Cancer Society’s cancer nursing scholarships, which are awarded for up to four years with a stipend of $15,000 per year. Rodriguez will receive two years of funding.
by | Mar 30, 2013 | Magazine
The inclusion of cardiovascular disease as one of the six target areas of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health has created a heightened need for more culturally sensitive nurse researchers who can investigate the causes of unequal heart disease outcomes between Caucasian Americans and the nation’s rapidly growing minority populations.
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One academic institution that is taking an aggressive approach to filling this research gap is the School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) in Jackson. Each year, in conjunction with the Jackson Heart Study, the school conducts the Jackson Heart TRAIN (Training for Research Awareness in Nursing), a nine-week summer program for minority nursing students enrolled in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the TRAIN Program is designed to increase the pool of minority nurse researchers by providing theoretical and practical learning activities related to the research process and to minority cardiovascular health concerns. Perhaps even more important, the program also focuses on providing students with special instruction and training to facilitate their entry into graduate nursing study.
Students selected for Jackson Heart TRAIN participate in an intensive, structured learning experience designed to develop their knowledge of research issues, clinical trials, clinical care and methodologies affecting ethnic minority communities. The program provides students with financial support, including a stipend, a housing allowance and travel reimbursement for domestic travel to and from Jackson.
Who is eligible to apply to the program? You must be an undergraduate ethnic minority nursing student enrolled at UMC or at an HBCU anywhere in the country, and must be in your junior year at the time of application to TRAIN. Students are selected on the basis of their GPA, academic transcript, three letters of reference and an essay on “Why I am Interested in Cardiovascular Research and How I Will Use the Experience Gained in the Future.”
Next summer’s Jackson Heart TRAIN Program will be held June 2 to August 1, 2003. The deadline for submitting applications and support documentation is March 15. To obtain an application, or for more information, contact Dr. Rosie Lee Calvin, principal investigator and director, UMC School of Nursing, at (601) 984-6222 or [email protected].
by | Mar 30, 2013 | Magazine
Because America urgently needs more minority nurse researchers who can investigate the causes of racial and ethnic health disparities and test preventive interventions, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $2.4 million grant to the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA) to help increase the number of nurses of color prepared to pursue careers as nurse scientists. The grant is funded by NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).
NCEMNA is a non-profit professional organization of minority nursing associations incorporated in 1998 to provide a unified voice for the nation’s racial/ethnic minority nursing professionals and to advocate for equity in health care for minority populations. Its five members are: the Asian American/Pacific Islander Nurses Association (AAPINA), the National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association (NANAINA), the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) and the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA).
NCEMNA will use the federal grant to launch a five-year program focusing on (1) creating a network of minority nurse researchers, (2) developing mechanisms to support minority nurse researchers at all career levels and (3) encouraging minority nursing students to consider nursing research as a career path. Several strategies will be utilized to achieve these goals, such as the creation of a national database of minority nurse researchers and students to help promote communication and exchange of ideas among current and potential NCEMNA researchers.
The funding will also enable the coalition to launch several initiatives aimed at developing the next generation of minority nurse scientists. Nursing students of color interested in research careers will be able to take part in mentoring sessions, attend scientific symposia and NCEMNA’s annual national conferences, and interact with leading nurse scientists from across the nation. For more information about this landmark initiative, visit www.ncemna.org.
by | Mar 30, 2013 | Magazine
Are you a nursing student who is interested in the “why” and “how” of health care issues? Do you frequently wonder if there is a better, faster, more productive way to accomplish nursing tasks? Would you like to play a direct role in helping to eliminate minority health disparities? If so, a career as a nurse researcher may be just what you are looking for.
A research career provides exciting opportunities to develop new knowledge and influence future nursing practice. If you are interested in pursuing a teaching career in academia, research is an important expectation of the faculty role. But whatever your long-term goals may be, gaining hands-on experience in the research process while you are still in nursing school can help you lay the foundation for a successful future as a research professional.
To encourage more minority individuals to pursue careers in health care research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers an exciting program, Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities. Although it was launched in 1989, many potential student researchers may be unaware of this program, which provides monetary support for minority students to work with researchers whose studies are currently funded by NIH. The student becomes part of the research team and receives research training and mentoring. High school, undergraduate and graduate students are eligible. The program is also available to support post-doctoral training.
Making the Match
If the Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program sounds interesting to you, your first step should be to visit NIH’s web site at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-01-079.html. There you’ll find everything you need to know about the program’s eligibility requirements, application procedures and funding levels.
Next, you need to find an NIH-funded researcher to hook up with. Be sure to do this early in your schooling, because participation in the program generally lasts for at least two years. To locate nurse researchers with active NIH grants, access the Web page of the National Institute of Nursing Research (one of the NIH institutes) at www.nih.gov/ninr/. Once you have found a researcher whose work interests you, talk with him or her to see if there is a good fit between the two of you and to determine whether you will be able to work well together.
Once the student and nurse researcher are matched up, the researcher should consult the NINR staff prior to completing the application process in order to receive suggestions for successfully applying to the program. The phone number to call is (301) 496-0207.
The application includes portions to be completed by both the researcher and the student. A step-by-step guide to application procedures can be found on the NIH Web site (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-01-079.html). The structure and goals of the research training need to be clearly presented, along with evidence that the student will develop research skills as a result of participating in the project. Accepted and rejected applicants are notified in approximately eight weeks.
Danica’s Story
When I was growing up, I always thought nursing was limited to the clinical setting. My first exposure to nursing in an academic setting exploded that myth. In the spring of my senior year, my high school placed me as an intern at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. Originally I was dismayed; as an aspiring pediatrician, I did not think a school of nursing was the place for me. But I accepted the internship and the following summer I participated in a research apprentice position with the Minority High School Nursing Research Experience, a program funded by the NIH.
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This initial exposure to research opened my eyes to an aspect of nursing that I never knew existed. During my research apprenticeship, I worked with Dr. Gayle Timmerman, who had received an NINR-funded grant for a study on “Dieting, Deprivation, and Nonpurge Binge Eating in Women.” This experience inspired me to pursue a career in nursing rather than medicine. I chose the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing to earn my nursing degree, not only because it is one of the top nursing programs in the country but also because I had established good working relationships with some of the faculty and staff.
During my sophomore year of nursing school, Dr. Timmerman asked if I would be interested in applying for another NIH-funded program designed to promote minority involvement in research–the Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program. As part of the program, I would be an integral part of her research team while receiving research training. It sounded like a wonderful opportunity for me to gain further research experience, while receiving a salary to help with my school expenses.
Since receiving the supplement, I have learned about the research process from the inside out. Through intensive training based on role playing and case study scenarios, I learned how to conduct telephone interviews to screen potential study participants and collect data during initial and exit meetings. My experiences in the community collecting data taught me how to interact with unfamiliar people in unfamiliar surroundings. This has helped me hone my interpersonal communication skills, an essential asset for a successful research career.
I have also learned how to work as a member of a research team. I attended team meetings where we problem-solved and brainstormed. This helped me learn that each team member’s input is important because each of us has something unique to contribute to the study. Knowing how to be a team player is another invaluable skill that I will carry throughout my life.
Participating in the Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program also helped me develop and hone my technology skills. I received training in several computer programs used to conduct the study. For example, I use Food Processor almost daily to calculate participants’ daily caloric and fat intake by entering data from daily food diaries. I have created Excel databases to make computations easier. For example, I created a spreadsheet that computes the average caloric and fat intake for the 14 days that the participants keep the food diaries. I also use SPSS, a statistical analysis software program, to enter and analyze data.
In addition, I learned to formulate and answer my own research questions based on the data from the study, which helped sharpen my analytical skills. I presented my preliminary findings at a poster session at an undergraduate research symposium. This gave me the opportunity to see the entire research process from beginning to end while learning how to explain the data and answer questions about the study. This was valuable practice for future presentations and for building my networking skills.
Attending research conferences was still another important aspect of my research training. I traveled to Nashville to attend the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s annual meeting, where I heard presentations by researchers from numerous disciplines that focused on health and behavior. I was even able to have an expert consultation with Norman B. Anderson, PhD, former director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at NIH, who offered suggestions about various NIH programs geared towards nursing. He applauded me for getting an early start in my research career and encouraged me to continue in the path I had chosen.
I also participated in a summer research institute sponsored by the NINR-funded Center for Health Promotion Research at my nursing school. This conference focused on how to prepare grant proposals, grant-writing tips and other key issues about seeking funding and conducting research. Here, too, I gained information that will help me throughout the rest of my career.
All of these intensive training experiences have increased my comfort level with research and provided me with essential research skills. Most important of all, I have been able to see first-hand the enormous importance of nursing research, especially in the area of minority health issues and the need to have more minorities conducting research.
Because of my participation in the Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program, I plan to become a nurse researcher and faculty member. The solid experience in research I have gained will give me the edge I need to transition smoothly from undergraduate to graduate school, as well as the confidence of knowing that I am well-prepared to be a successful nurse researcher with a long and thriving career.
Authors’ note: Experiences in the Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program described in this article were supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research grant R15NR04481-01A1S1.
