Creating a national network of research networks

Since 2008, the National Association of School Nurses has been prioritizing the creation of regional research networks to further the NASN research agenda. School nurses typically require mentoring and expert advice from nurse researchers at academic institutions for many of the steps of scientific inquiry. At the same time, school nurses have meaningful practice questions that cannot be addressed in the current research literature. Yet, school nurses have access to voluminous, detailed health information within their electronic school health records databases. Partnering universities with grass roots school nurses for practice based inquiry is a win-win situation. NASN has conducted annual meetings at its national conference to bring regional groups together to share strategies and resources. The ultimate goal was to create a national network of regional research networks to conduct multisite studies that will utilize school nurse sensitive critical indicators. School nurse caseloads and delivery models differ significantly across the United States. Conducting multisite studies that offer variability on school nurse credentials, intensity, supervision and leadership will provide evidence toward an exemplar school health services delivery model. This session will provide background on the creation of a network or networks and describe strengths, barriers and lessons going forward. Creating a network of reserach networks is a model that may work well for other public health nurse subspecialties.