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Impact of federal funding increase for research
Research
Impact of Federal Funding Increase for Research
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ANY EXPERTS contend that federal funding for M health-related research will experience at least a 50 per cent increase between now and 2002. Is your school ready to capitalize on this federal largess? More nursing schools are competing for federal research funds. Does the profession have sufficient, qualified researchers to ensure that it continues to receive its market share of federal funds and, even better, to expand our market share? The answer will be obvious by 2002. Is there a sufficient infrastructure within your school to support such an increase? What will occur when more faculty receive release time for their funded research? True, the school would receive monies from the grant to cover the release time. But will there be enough qualified faculty remaining to assume teaching responsibilities? In many schools the outstanding teaching faculty also are the ones competing for research funding. What are the implications? Competitive senior faculty are usually involved in the school's decision-making committees and faculty mentoring. What are the implications if they are not available to provide guidance? What about support to faculty during the grant development stage? The amount of conceptual time necessary for developing ideas and transferring them to a proposal is considerable. If the current teaching assignment is extensive, when will this type of contemplation occur? In many universities, considerable time must be spent to meet university requirements before a grant can be submitted. These requirements are necessary for legal reasons, but the process decreases the time available for generating competitive proposals when the principal investigator is responsible for meeting them.
CAROL DEETS, EDD, R N AssociateDeanfor Research CollegeofNuning University of Cincinnati William CooperProcterHall PO Box 210038 Cincinnati, Oh 45221-0038 Copyright © 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/99/1502-0002510.00/0
70
Another infrastructure issue has to do with business responsibilities at the school. How would your business office handle a 50 per cent increase in awarded grants? How much more extensive would the problem be if your school increased its share of federal monies? Interdisciplinary grants are a major emphasis now and will continue to be so in the next 5 years. Has your university developed policies to support interdisciplinary efforts? What are the incentives for faculty to become involved in interdisciplinary studies? There will be fewer principle investigators and more investigators per grant. What impact will that have on promotion, tenure, and salaries? Thus far this column has been only a series of questions. What are some things that can be done? A careful analysis of the school's situation is essential. Areas to assess are policies (academic and research), resources (personnel, equipment, and space), and the need for additional research-oriented faculty. When addressing policies, consider carefully those that do and do not support interdisciplinary research. In addressing the adequacy of personnel, be sure to include the business staff, administrative secretarial-type support, technical support people (especially research design and statistic expertise), the number of qualified graduate assistants and the financial resources to provide for them until grant monies are more plentiful. What about clinical research sites and basic science laboratories? Is there a clinical research center that allows nursing faculty access? In terms of equipment, is there hardware and software necessary to transfer data directly to the computer from the data collection instrument? Are there enough offices with highpowered computers for faculty and graduate assistants? Is there faculty and administrative committment to move the research program to the next level? Most places will find that their needs far exceed their financial resources. Careful consideration is needed to determine the accuracy of the projection for increased federal research monies, the competitiveness of faculty in the school and university, and the probability of receiving grants. If the results of this analysis are positive, administration may need to consider seeking a loan from the university or monies through some other source for financing the expansion of current resources and meeting necessary the needs in order to seek additional grants.
JournalofProfessionaINursing, Vol 15, No 2 (March-April), 1999: p 70
Impact of Federal Funding Increase for Research
i% "[!!!ii!!ril~iiiiiiiiiiiii .~!iiii]]]iiiiii.-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ANY EXPERTS contend that federal funding for M health-related research will experience at least a 50 per cent increase between now and 2002. Is your school ready to capitalize on this federal largess? More nursing schools are competing for federal research funds. Does the profession have sufficient, qualified researchers to ensure that it continues to receive its market share of federal funds and, even better, to expand our market share? The answer will be obvious by 2002. Is there a sufficient infrastructure within your school to support such an increase? What will occur when more faculty receive release time for their funded research? True, the school would receive monies from the grant to cover the release time. But will there be enough qualified faculty remaining to assume teaching responsibilities? In many schools the outstanding teaching faculty also are the ones competing for research funding. What are the implications? Competitive senior faculty are usually involved in the school's decision-making committees and faculty mentoring. What are the implications if they are not available to provide guidance? What about support to faculty during the grant development stage? The amount of conceptual time necessary for developing ideas and transferring them to a proposal is considerable. If the current teaching assignment is extensive, when will this type of contemplation occur? In many universities, considerable time must be spent to meet university requirements before a grant can be submitted. These requirements are necessary for legal reasons, but the process decreases the time available for generating competitive proposals when the principal investigator is responsible for meeting them.
CAROL DEETS, EDD, R N AssociateDeanfor Research CollegeofNuning University of Cincinnati William CooperProcterHall PO Box 210038 Cincinnati, Oh 45221-0038 Copyright © 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/99/1502-0002510.00/0
70
Another infrastructure issue has to do with business responsibilities at the school. How would your business office handle a 50 per cent increase in awarded grants? How much more extensive would the problem be if your school increased its share of federal monies? Interdisciplinary grants are a major emphasis now and will continue to be so in the next 5 years. Has your university developed policies to support interdisciplinary efforts? What are the incentives for faculty to become involved in interdisciplinary studies? There will be fewer principle investigators and more investigators per grant. What impact will that have on promotion, tenure, and salaries? Thus far this column has been only a series of questions. What are some things that can be done? A careful analysis of the school's situation is essential. Areas to assess are policies (academic and research), resources (personnel, equipment, and space), and the need for additional research-oriented faculty. When addressing policies, consider carefully those that do and do not support interdisciplinary research. In addressing the adequacy of personnel, be sure to include the business staff, administrative secretarial-type support, technical support people (especially research design and statistic expertise), the number of qualified graduate assistants and the financial resources to provide for them until grant monies are more plentiful. What about clinical research sites and basic science laboratories? Is there a clinical research center that allows nursing faculty access? In terms of equipment, is there hardware and software necessary to transfer data directly to the computer from the data collection instrument? Are there enough offices with highpowered computers for faculty and graduate assistants? Is there faculty and administrative committment to move the research program to the next level? Most places will find that their needs far exceed their financial resources. Careful consideration is needed to determine the accuracy of the projection for increased federal research monies, the competitiveness of faculty in the school and university, and the probability of receiving grants. If the results of this analysis are positive, administration may need to consider seeking a loan from the university or monies through some other source for financing the expansion of current resources and meeting necessary the needs in order to seek additional grants.
JournalofProfessionaINursing, Vol 15, No 2 (March-April), 1999: p 70