Philadelphia, Pa. (March 18, 2012) – Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals and have the most interaction with patients.  Yet previously, there has been limited research regarding nursing’s contributions to improving the quality of care.  A special April supplement to Medical Care provides an update from the Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) — an ongoing program, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), to “generate, disseminate, and translate research to understand how nurses contribute to and can improve patient care quality.”  Medical Care is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

The INQRI program was launched in 2005 to help address the lack of evidence linking nursing to the quality of patient care.  The INQRI program is led by Mary D. Naylor, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Mark Pauly, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, in collaboration with RWJF senior program officer Lori Melichar, PhD.

How Do Nurses Contribute to Health Care Quality Improvement?

“Over two and a half million registered nurses provide care in a diverse range of settings across the United States,” according to an introductory article by Drs Naylor, Pauly, Melichar and coauthors.  “Yet there is limited understanding about nurses’ specific and distinct contribution to the quality of care provided to patients, families, and communities.” 

The special issue assembles invited contributions from experts working on various INQRI-funded initiatives, providing an update on the accomplishments of the INQRI program.  The supplement papers discuss timely issues in research design and implementation, placing INQRI research in the context of advances in quality improvement, health policy and health services research.  Naylor and colleagues write, “This edition of Medical Care provides an overview of some of the key discoveries made by INQRI grantees, examines cross-cutting issues experienced by research teams, and describes recommended approaches to advance this line of inquiry and its impact.”

Dr Naylor is also lead author of a comprehensive review of research through the first five years of INQRI.  The review shows significant advances in research supporting nursing’s impact on the quality of care, “reflected in higher rates and quality of publications, enhanced methodologic rigor, and evidence of stronger interdisciplinary collaboration.”   While this progress can’t be wholly ascribed to the INQRI project, “[T]he evidence supports the increased importance of changes consistent with INQRI’s goal of measuring and enhancing nursing’s contributions to the quality of patient care.”

The supplement also presents reviews and updates from INQRI experts in five key areas:

• New tools for quality measurement—A report on four INQRI projects designed to develop “simple, feasible, affordable” tools for measuring health care quality.  INQRI teams are focusing on measures that can be integrated into the health care delivery system and the growing use of electronic health records.
• Challenges to conducting interdisciplinary research—Collaborative efforts across nursing, medicine, economics, engineering, statistics, and other disciplines are viewed as essential, using “the entire continuum of care to provide value-added and cost effective care.”
• Challenges in implementation science—New research methods from the emerging field of implementation science can provide the critical link between effective interventions, clinical practice, and patient outcomes.
• Dissemination and implementation—The experience of INQRI-funded projects to implement new quality improvement initiatives is presented, illustrating the key issues in achieving widespread adoption of effective innovations in care delivery.
• Building the “business case” for nursing.—Experience from INQRI studies highlights the challenges of demonstrating the value of investing in nursing, with the ultimate goal of achieving better patient outcomes in a financially sustainable manner.

“To achieve better care and outcomes while ensuring the efficient use of finite resources, it is essential to advance our understanding of the causal linkages between nurses and the care they deliver,” Dr Naylor and coauthors conclude.  Together with the editors of Medical Care, they hope the special issue will draw attention to INQRI’s role in building the evidence base for nurses’ contributions to “the quality of health delivery and the improvement of that care.”

About Medical Care

Rated as one of the top ten journals in health care administration, Medical Care is devoted to all aspects of the administration and delivery of health care.  This scholarly journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers documenting the most current developments in the rapidly changing field of health care.  Medical Care provides timely reports on the findings of original investigations into issues related to the research, planning, organization, financing, provision, and evaluation of health services.  In addition, numerous special supplementary issues that focus on specialized topics are produced with each volume.  Medical Care is the official journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association

 About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher of trusted content delivered in innovative ways to practitioners, professionals and students to learn new skills, stay current on their practice, and make important decisions to improve patient care and clinical outcomes.

LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2012 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.6 billion).

Contacts:

Robert Dekker
Director of Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health
+1 (215) 521-8928
Robert.Dekker@wolterskluwer.com

Connie Hughes
Director, Marketing Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research
+1 (646) 674-6348
Connie.Hughes@wolterskluwer.com

Philadelphia, Pa. (November 27, 2012) – The Taiwan Nurses Association announced today that its official publication, The Journal of Nursing Research, is now recognized by the 2011 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) and is the first Taiwan nursing journal to receive an Impact Factor ranking . The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a Wolters Kluwer Health business.

The Journal of Nursing Research has achieved an initial Impact Factor of 0.688 and a ranking of 73 out of 97 journals in the Nursing Science Category, and 70 out of 95 journals in the Social Science Category.  Impact Factor rankings reflect the frequency of citations in the research literature. 

First Taiwan Nursing Journal to Achieve Impact Factor

The Journal of Nursing Research becomes the first nursing journal in Taiwan to be included in the JCR. “This is a great honor for the journal as well as the Taiwan Nurses Association,” said Kwua-Yun Wang, RN, PhD, President of the Taiwan Nurses Association.  “This recognition indicates that The Journal of Nursing Research produces high-quality, scholarly work that is contributing to the science of healthcare and nursing.”

“We’re very pleased to partner with the Taiwan Nurses Association to advance the reach and influence of its journal’s content globally,” said Jayne Marks, VP Publishing Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research. “With this significant milestone recognized in the JCR, will make it easier for researchers to find, use, and cite articles from The Journal of Nursing Research.  

The Journal Citation Reports®, a registered trademark of Thomson Reuters. Impact Factor (IF) is a measurement of the frequency by which an article in a scholarly journal is cited in a particular year. It is considered by many to be a measure of a journal’s influence and prestige. 

About the Taiwan Nurses Association

The Taiwan Nurses Association (TWNA) is the leading nursing organization within Taiwan.  Established in 1914, the TWNA operates for the purposes of promoting professional nursing services, improving nursing-related academic research, upgrading standards of nursing education, enhancing the health of all citizens, and enhancing the Association’s international Status.  Besides providing services for more than 70,000 members, TWNA publishes a variety of publications, including the Journal of Nursing Research, the Journal of Nursing and the Journal of Nursing and Healthcare Research.

About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher of trusted content delivered in innovative ways to practitioners, professionals and students to learn new skills, stay current on their practice, and make important decisions to improve patient care and clinical outcomes. LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2011 annual revenues of €3.4 billion ($4.7 billion).

Contacts:

Robert Dekker
Director of Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health
+1 (215) 521-8928
Robert.Dekker@wolterskluwer.com

Connie Hughes
Director, Marketing Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research
+1 (646) 674-6348
Connie.Hughes@wolterskluwer.com