Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS)

Rigorous environmental health science methods are underutilized in research relevant to nursing practice. This underutilization is a unique and important gap as the nursing discipline represents the largest proportion of all health care providers. The Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS) is designed to build the nursing discipline-wide capacity and rigor for translational and clinical research methods in environmental health. The goal of this program is to enhance the discipline-wide capacity of nurse scientists and their interdisciplinary clinician scientist collaborators for advanced research methods in environmental health through a flipped classroom, train-the-trainer and mentorship program.

This program is timely to build upon the American Academy of Nursing’s 2019 declaration of environmental health as one of the discipline’s five topical priorities. The flipped classroom model will be utilized as the best-practice pedagogy to achieve higher order learning objectives with pre-recorded, online didactic lectures provided for participant preparation, followed by a synchronous 5-day training and post-course mentorship follow-up. The objectives are for the participant to 1) Design clinical research studies and research education with advanced environmental health methodologies, 2) Mentor other peer, student, and early career nurse scientists in environmental health methodologies, 3) Examine broader theoretical, philosophical, ethical, and legal contexts related to environmental health exposure science with implications for clinical policy, practice, education, and research, 4) Analyze strategies used for clinical environmental health interventions, 5) Describe trends in environmental health molecular approaches of symptom science, 6) Acquire new analytic skills applied to environmental health data, and 7) Compare and contrast the strengths, weaknesses, and applications of environmental exposure science measurements and methods in clinical research. We will recruit participants who have already achieved their terminal doctoral degree and those currently enrolled in a graduate nursing program who educate, train, and mentor registered nurses in research trajectories.

Recruitment and retention strategies will focus on sustained engagement with communities of research practice in environmental health. Course topics will include 1) Theoretical conceptualization, 2) Intervention Study Designs, 3) Participatory Action Designs, 4) Physiologic Measurement with Spirometry, 5) Biomarker Measurement, 6) Personal and Area Exposure Measurement, 7) Informatics and Analytics, and 8) Health Disparities and Vulnerable Populations. Aligned with the NIH/NIEHS 2018-2023 strategic goal to “Enhance environmental health science through stewardship and support,” the impact of this successful program will include developing a discipline-wide, highly qualified research workforce dedicated to solving environmental health problems relevant to nursing practice.

Grant Number: 5R25ES033452-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Jessica Castner