Interdisciplinary nursing quality research initiative

Assistant Editor-In-Chief: Michelle Lew

Overview
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) is a $19 million program to generate and disseminate research showing a link between what nurses do and the contributions they make to advancing better and safer care for patients. We hope to show that hospitals and health care settings where nurses are valued, where they have a say in quality improvement, and where they are supported in their efforts to keep patients safe and healthy are where you want to receive care.

Background
We take for granted that when we enter the hospital or other health care setting, the nurse will be there to manage our care. But little research exists to demonstrate the link between what nurses do and their impact on patient care and safety. Because we lack solid proof of such a direct link, hospitals and health care leaders often ignore or undervalue nurses’ contributions to patients and quality. The truth is, most nurses are overworked, under-motivated, underused, and practice in environments that can set them up for failure. Too often, nurses are seen as dispensable when hospital budgets become tight and, as a result, their work environment has deteriorated.

Program Leadership
INQRI supports interdisciplinary teams of nurse scholars and scholars from other disciplines to develop, test and validate new quality measures that capture nurses’ contributions to patient outcomes–including care coordination, pain management and medication management. The program is led by Mary Naylor, a nurse and health services researcher, and Mark Pauly, a health care economist, both at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with Lori Melichar and colleagues at the RWJF.

INQRI's Research
Since 2006, INQRI grantees have conducted research into a range of important health care areas, with research teams from institutions around the country examining ways to stem preventable medical errors, improve how we measure quality and provide better care to people with chronic illnesses, among other areas. For example, a study at Johns Hopkins has identified a series of best practices that nursing are leading to minimize deadly blood-stream infections. INQRI teams will share their research with policymakers, hospital administrators and others who determine how nursing resources will be distributed to improve the quality and outcomes of patient care.

INQRI Grantees
Cohort 1

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
RWJF is committed to playing a leading role in enhancing health care quality for all patients. The Foundation's current goals include transforming the way care is delivered at the bedside, reducing the shortage of nurses and advancing the science to improve health care quality. INQRI will serve this goal by advancing the science of nursing through rigorous, interdisciplinary research as it focuses on new methods to improve care for patients.