Current Research

Children’s is committed to nursing research. That commitment is alive and well today, further fueled by the quest to achieve Magnet status. Children’s encourages nurses to be actively engaged in cutting-edge nursing research to achieve excellence in evidence-based nursing practice. We therefore offer many avenues for nurses to become involved in nursing research projects.

Children’s Research Institute (CRI)
Ranked ninth in the United States for National Institutes of Health (NIH) pediatric research funding, CRI brings research discoveries from the lab to the clinics of the hospital and to the community. It is comprised of research centers that work together towards cures and better care for childhood diseases.

Clinical Improvement and Nursing Research Council
This council originated in 2006 with the goal of fostering performance improvement and additional clinical research activities. Meeting each month, the council presents quality improvement projects from many clinical units, discusses new research studies and provides a forum for updates and educational sessions on research topics.

Children’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Children’s Institutional Review Board reviews, evaluates, approves, and monitors all proposed biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. It ensures that appropriate steps are taken, based on mandated federal guidelines, to protect the rights and welfare of people participating as subjects in research studies. Nursing representatives serve on Children’s IRB.

Nursing Research Scholar Award (NRSA)
This program, being developed by the Department of Nursing Research and Professional Practice in collaboration with CRI, provides eligible master’s or doctoral-prepared research trained registered nurses with qualified mentors and a period of time away from clinical responsibilities for two years. The program educates and mentors highly qualified clinical nurse researchers to enhance the clinical outcomes and overall health and well-being of pediatric patients.

Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)
In 2006, the Department of Nursing at Children’s became part of the grant application for the NIH-created Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). This award focuses on ways to translate clinical research into tangible benefits for people. Children’s has partnered with several institutions in the Washington Metropolitan area in the grant application to create the Washington Regional Institute for Clinical and Translational Science.

Washington Regional Nursing Research Consortium
Nurses at Children’s have brought together nurse researchers from several participating CTSA institutions to create the Washington Regional Nursing Research Consortium. It is expected that the group will serve a key role in providing the nursing vision to the CTSA grant application, as well as furnishing some of the educational offerings and nursing research mentors required for the CTSA curriculum.