‘Each day’s work improves tomorrow’s care’: How systems can capitalize on nurse scientists’ work

Nurse scientists are gaining popularity in hospital settings, but many systems are struggling to find the right structures and resources to support them. “The question is not whether hospitals can afford to invest in nurse scientists,” Kathryn Connell, PhD, RN, assistant professor of biobehavioral health sciences at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and clinical nurse on the surgical ICU at Penn Medicine Pennsylvania Hospital, both based in Philadelphia, told Becker’s. “In an era demanding rapid innovation, workforce resilience and public trust, the question is whether they can afford not to. The infrastructure we build now determines whether nursing’s unique insights, gathered through hours at the bedside, transform healthcare or remain untapped.”

Nurse scientists fill the gap