School of Nursing News

Three researchers from the Dalhousie School of Nursing (SON), Faculty of Health were among a group affiliated with Dal, the IWK and the Nova Scotia Health Authority to receive $7.2 million in funding from the Government of Canada. The announcement was made this week.

The funding is provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant Program, which is one of CIHR’s flagship funding programs. These multi-year grants are designed to support researchers at various stages in their careers as they conduct health research and knowledge translation projects that cover the full range of health research topics. Recipients are leaders in their fields and their projects tackle pressing health issues that matter to Canadians.

The SON's world-leading researchers will be studying a wide range of topics, including the views of First Nations peoples towards biological health research.

Amy Bombay

First Nations views towards biological health research: Before and after participation in a two-eyed seeing curriculum

Over the past two years, a team made up of First Nations knowledge holders and researchers in Canada have been coming together to discuss advances in biological health research and how they may be relevant to First Nations health. In order to address some of the barriers to First Nations-led biological health research, the team is developing an educational curriculum to provide communities with an opportunity to learn about how biological health research can help address their health priorities.

It is expected that this curriculum can serve as a tool that can be used in the initial stages of First Nations led research projects to build Ethical Space for culturally safe knowledge exchange between First Nations communities and researchers that is beneficial for everyone involved.   

Dr. Bombay’s research will assess the expectations that participation in the curriculum will result in a number of positive outcomes related to support for First Nations-led biological research and in relation to certain aspects of well-being and capacity building.

Sheri Price

Health Professionals Learning About, From and With Each Other to Enhance Collaborative Practice

Effective teamwork and collaboration among health professionals is a well-recognized strategy toward enhancing care delivery and patient outcomes. However, there are many challenges in creating collaborative teams, including overlapping scopes of practice and health professionals’ lack of understanding of each other’s roles. Interprofessional education, where health professionals learn about, from, and with each other, is a key strategy towards ensuring collaborative teams.

Building upon a current CIHR study, Dr. Price’s research will undertake a longitudinal and qualitative exploration of professional socialization among students in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physiotherapy programs. Her findings will be used to enhance interprofessional socialization and prepare future health professionals to identify as strong team players and ultimately improve health care delivery and patient outcomes.

Janet Curran

Co-designing discharge communication interventions for pediatric emergency care

Discharge communication in a pediatric emergency department can be a challenging time for parents, youth and clinicians. Most discharge communication interventions that have been evaluated in the literature target parents, but few consider how the chaotic nature of an emergency department might impact communication. Inadequate discharge communication can lead to poor health outcomes and can result in unnecessary return visits to the emergency department.

Dr. Curran and her team aim to evaluate a strategy for partnering with parents, youth and emergency department clinicians to co-design discharge communication interventions for asthma and minor head injury.

The SON would like to congratulate fellow Dal Faculty of Health researcher Dr. Brenda Beagan (School of Occupational Therapy) and the other successful CIHR Project Grant recipients.