Conference Highlights Connection Between Nurses’ Research and “Better Health Care for All”

More than 220 Yale New Haven Health System nurses and Yale School of Nursing faculty and students attended the 16th annual Janet Parkosewich Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference May 1 to share their scholarly work to advance nursing practice and improve patient outcomes.

The event, held at Yale University’s West Campus, featured 40 posters outlining nurses’ research projects on a wide range of topics, including care quality and safety, patient throughput and nurse retention and resiliency.

Keynote speaker Azita Emami, RN, PhD, dean, and the Linda Koch Lorimer Professor of Nursing at Yale School of Nursing, discussed the advantages of an academic-clinical partnership in nursing.

“Clinical care nurses are central to scholarly research and transferring research findings into practice,” she said. “Collaboration is the foundation on which we build better research … and ultimately better health care for all.”

Emami presented courtesy faculty appointments to YNHHS nursing leaders Diane Kelly, RN, DNP, YNHHS chief nurse executive and Greenwich Hospital president; Anna Cerra, RN, DNP, Greenwich Hospital chief nursing officer (CNO); Mary Christoffersen, RN, DNP, Bridgeport Hospital CNO; Judith Hahn, RN, PhD, executive director of Nursing Professional Practice and Education, YNHHS; and Ena Williams, RN, PhD, Yale New Haven Hospital CNO.

An event highlight was the presentation of the annual research awards. Jaygrut Patel, RN, Lawrence+Memorial Hospital; Bethany Gingerella, RN, nurse manager, Westerly Hospital Emergency Department; and Ashly Vorio, RN, clinical outcomes leader, Yale New Haven Hospital, each received the Marita Titler Evidence Based Practice Award. Cerra and Cheryl Green, RN, PhD, administrative manager, Bridgeport Hospital, each earned the Marge Funk Nursing Research Award.