Giving Voice to Nursing Research
For people facing imminent death—and for those who love them—having critical end-of-life conversations can be hugely therapeutic. It’s equally important that the person sharing those conversations be skilled and empathetic. Finding nurses who can bear that weighty responsibility isn’t easy. That’s where Cathy Campbell, PhD, RN, comes in. A Fulbright Scholar and UVA associate professor of nursing, Campbell is researching what patients need and want in end-of-life, hospice care.
“Some patients are thinking deep thoughts and are relieved to have someone to talk to,” says Campbell. “They are anxious to help future patients and know that their contributions can be a legacy to others.”
Campbell is one of the recipients of the School of Nursing’s Scholarly Dissemination Award (SDA), created by an anonymous donor. The award allowed her to travel to London, where she met other nurses interested in end-of-life care. She also earned the Joanna Mugridge Research Award for her team approach to recruitment in hospice research. Ultimately, Campbell will use her findings to educate professional nurses and home-based caregivers on how to best assist patients in hospice care.
The Scholarly Dissemination Award fund is critical in giving nursing faculty the opportunity to share their discoveries, create new collaborations, and bring back new ideas from professional conferences.
Associate professor Randy Jones, PhD, RN, used SDA funds to travel to Australia to present the results of his NIH-funded study on decision-aids for cancer patients. There, he was able to share ideas with a broad variety of researchers—all passionate about helping cancer patients make informed decisions about their care. Assistant professor Bethany Coyne, PhD, used her SDA to present UVA’s undergraduate nursing research approach at an American Nurses Association meeting.
The highly sought-after awards are competitive and have supported everything from diabetes and breast cancer care to research in intimate partner violence. The SDAs allow faculty members to share their research and give voice to their findings. It’s within that exchange that research begins to grow and take shape, redefining the future of patient care in real and meaningful ways.
