Abstract
Engaging in clinical inquiry is a natural foundation for a nurse's critical thinking strategy and application to practice. Transforming clinical inquiry into a formal research question designed to improve patient care and/or the practice environment can, however, sometimes seem overwhelming to clinical nurses. It may even be seen as out of scope for their daily practice. As a result, aligning the trifold mission of service, education, and research at an Academic Health Sciences Center can be challenging unless there exists a purposeful strategy to achieve this goal. Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine "Future of Nursing Report" in 2010, Emory Healthcare Nursing and the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (SON) have sought to advance the vision and mission of strengthening and sustaining a culture of clinical inquiry to advance nursing science through nurse-led research. This vision also aligns with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to identify paths for achieving enhanced partnerships between academic nursing and academic health centers. This goal has been conceptually important since then. In the last 2 years, there has been a renewed and invigorated commitment between Emory Healthcare Nursing and the Emory School of Nursing to forge a path for improving and sustaining a rigorous culture of collaborative and interprofessional research. This article describes the journey of the "One Emory Nursing" initiative, which spans from bedside/chairside to bench and back again. This work is built on a foundation of clinical nurses engaged in leading research that is designed to transform care in partnership with SON.