A nurse scientist is trained to conduct research, often as a primary investigator on federal or private foundation grant-funded studies in the lab (bench sciences) and at the bedside (clinic, hospital, and home settings). Nurse scientists lead research teams, including hired research assistants and members of other disciplines. They also provide mentorship in research for graduate and undergraduates students. We serve as expert members on interdisciplinary teams for other studies that align or parallel our own work. Nurse scientists provide a necessary and often underutilized perspective to team science traditionally led by physician scientists or others with research training (e.g., psychologists, health services researchers, or epidemiologists). PhD nurse scientists are doctorly prepared and learn qualitative and quantitative methodologies and nursing theories to ground research in future trials. Once a PhD degree is earned, many nurse scientists work collaboratively with expert researchers during 1- to 3-year postdoctoral research fellowships to continue development of needed research skills.

I began my research fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in February 2020-which was the first week of the COVID-19 pandemic closures. I entered the role with expectations that had not yet been altered by the pandemic. I envisioned a structured work schedule of Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the office, with meetings scheduled throughout the day with Dartmouth College and DHMC colleagues. This is far from the current reality, which is almost entirely self-directed around a 24/7 schedule. There are some required "in-person, synchronous" meetings with various research teams, but these are mostly conducted virtually. My mentor has been an indispensable resource in navigating an essentially virtual postdoctoral fellowship, guiding me in the leveraging of research networks and making connections at DHMC and beyond that have provided me with opportunities to grow my research portfolio. The support of Dr. Bruce and Dr. Lyons, as well as a wealth of departmental support, have been crucial in my development as a nurse scientist in addition to my secondary role as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the hospital.

My primary research is centered on the development of a home environment sleep survey for use in older adults. Previously, a college sleep environment tool was used to assess college students' sleep, but to-date, no validated or reliable tool has been developed to assess sleep in home environments. The need for a survey to assess older adult sleep became increasingly evident during my work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner. It is common for my older adult patients to present with sleep disturbances, with typical/traditional first-line treatments being psychotherapy (cognitive behavioral therapy) or psychopharmacology (i.e., sedative hypnotics which are psychotropics). There are downsides, however, to each of these treatment modalities, with limited cognitive behavioral therapists resulting in access issues and many medications having side effects that can increase fall risk in older adults.

Another team I am supporting focuses on the source of burnout in healthcare workers and creating interventions to build resilience and encourage continued employment in the nursing workforce. In this role, I visit nurses at home healthcare agencies and hospitals to conduct stakeholder interviews and interviews with nurses independently or alongside research members from my team. This has helped me build rapport with healthcare providers and like-minded researchers with whom I can consult on my research studies.

As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I have been able to reflect on my earlier work experiences when I went into patient homes as an emergency medical technician and registered nurse in community-based healthcare. As a result, I am aware that my current patients might have poor home environments (such as lack of a mattress, bed linens, or window coverings) contributing to poor sleep, that I am not otherwise privy to as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the hospital/outpatient office. If I was able to assess the maladaptive conditions in the home sleep environment, I could intervene earlier in the course of a poor sleep diagnosis, before needing to prescribe psychotherapy or pharmacological interventions.

I am building two versions of the home sleep environment survey, one where a healthcare provider encourages the patient to complete a self-assessment survey and another in which home health nurses assess patient sleep environments during home visits. After evaluation of the survey, healthcare providers could target areas for improvement so that better sleep is possible. As a healthcare visionary, I want future healthcare providers to be able to submit reimbursement requests/payments to insurance companies to request improved home sleep supplies (supportive mattress and pillows, window coverings, etc.). The International Homecare Nurses Organization (IHCNO) and Rockefeller University have demonstrated their interest in my research through their financial support in my receipt of the IHCNO Research Award (2021) and Rockefeller University Heilbrunn Nurse Scholar Award (2022).

Over the past 3 years, my postdoctoral fellowship has focused primarily on research. Now that I am transitioning to an Assistant Professor role, I will be balancing my research, teaching, and clinic responsibilities. Managing competing needs in clinic and teaching, which involves day-to-day time constraints (seeing patients and writing notes, and teaching classes), and research that tends to have longer deadlines (grant and manuscript submissions) is a process that I will be working on with guidance from my mentorship team. They will also be supporting me throughout my submission of the Career Development Award K99/R00 to the National Institutes of Nursing Research so that I am able to continue my journey toward leading my own research lab one day. Even with the added stresses of having to create my own research agenda and conducting patient care in a virtual world, I am completely satisfied with my decision to become a nurse scientist and I highly recommend this career to anyone with a joint interest in nursing and research. There are not enough nurse scientists compared to other disciplines. I am confident that we can help shape evidence-based practice and improve patient care and health outcomes by increasing the number of nurse scientists in this line of work.

Screening newborns for deadly immune disease saves lives

NIH: Introducing widespread screening of newborns for a deadly disease called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), followed by early treatment boosted the five-year survival rate of children with the disorder from 73% to 87%. Among children whose disease was suspected because of newborn screening rather than illness or family history, 92.5% survived five years or more after treatment. SCID is a rare disorder caused by mutations in genes involved in the development and function of infection-fighting immune cells. Infants with SCID appear healthy at birth but are highly susceptible to severe infections. The condition is fatal, usually within the first year or two of life, unless the infant receives an immune-restoring treatment such as a stem-cell transplant, gene therapy or enzyme therapy.