UK nursing body embraces new medical technology roles with research and development agreement:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has formed a "strategic research partnership" with the University of Warwick, in a move that reflects the significant shift in the role of nursing towards increasingly high-tech areas of care, driven by NHS modernisation plans. The arrangement will see the RCN Research Institute based at Warwick university. The initiative is being branded by Professor Gillian Hundt, chair of the university's school of health and social studies, as important in helping expand national knowledge of issues that are "crucial to UK healthcare", including the evidence base for innovation in nursing care and knowledge transfer from research into practice. RCNI head Professor Kate Seers says that the institute will continue to develop national and international R&D collaborations, with the ultimate aim of "influencing heath policy".