Our vision includes developing doctorly prepared nurses while also engaging advanced practice nurses and clinical nurses in the process of research and the promotion of clinical inquiry, resulting in the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice.

Current and past programs of research within the Department of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice are investigating unique clinical issues confronting children and their families including:

• family readiness and preparation for discharge
• mHealth to promote communication and health for pediatric complex chronic illness populations
• nursing care interventions to improve hospital outcomes
• pain relief and sedation
• individual and family self-management and chronic conditions
• prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, with a specific focus on children with developmental disabilities and the role of the family
• energy expenditure and assessment of overweight and obesity
• quality of life for children and families at the end of life
• implementation science
• child and family coping skills
• interventions for premature infants that improve growth and development
• infant feeding
• enteral feeding devices, modalities and outcomes
• developmental and psychosocial implications of chronic illness for children and families
• exploration of epigenetic alterations in NICU families related to stress
• serious illness communication among children with life-threatening conditions, their families and clinicians
• multi-site national registry collaborative to improve care and health outcomes for children with Spina Bifida
• multi-site national collaborative to improve the urinary health of infants with Spina Bifida
• development of instruments to measure areas of interest, such as adolescent and family self-management, family quality of life, adolescent and young adult communication, and problem solving self-efficacy

Nursing Research Council

The Department of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice supports the Nursing Research Council to facilitate the use of evidence and the discovery of new knowledge for practice. Department-supported initiatives include:

• the visiting scholars program
• mentorship for proposal development or dissemination
• the EBP education series
• the EBP fellowship program
• research fellowships
• coordination of nursing research processes

National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative

The director of the Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Department, Rosemary White-Traut, founded the National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative in 2012. She is joined by Karen Gralton, Karen Kavanaugh, Kathleen Sawin, Michele Polfuss, Eileen Sherburne and Stacee Lerret to represent Children’s Wisconsin within the Collaborative. The Collaborative includes over 140 nurse scientists from across the country.

Mission statement

The mission of the National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative (NPNSC) is to improve the health and healthcare of children through the advancement of nursing science.

Vision statement

Our vision is to contribute to pediatric science from the unique perspective of nursing as it relates to the health care needs of children and their families. The NPNSC is in the process of developing a support network for pediatric nurse scientists to promote nurse-led, collaborative research across disciplines and sites. Work groups have been formed to develop and lead topic focused pediatric research. The NPNSC meets monthly by phone and annually in person to provide a forum for communication among pediatric nurse scientists with the goal of fostering academic and clinical partnerships. Senior members of the NPNSC are poised to mentor pediatric nurse scientists, clinical nurses, and advanced practice nurses (APNs) to support knowledge development, translation, and dissemination of robust research, and to support the development of a cadre of pediatric nurse scientists as leaders in healthcare research, safe patient care, and evidence based nurse practices.