Page 550 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH n 517

be maintained that are incongruent with A new direction for scholarship on tran-
the demand for new identities and life pat- sitions and health is translational research.
terns (Chick & Meleis, 1986; Schumacher & Translational research is needed to move T
Meleis, 1994). knowledge from the controlled environment
A primary goal of nursing is to facilitate of research to the real-world environment of
healthy transition processes and outcomes clinical practice. Collaboration on many fronts
(Meleis & Trangenstein, 1994). Ongoing will best facilitate this work. For example,
knowledge development focuses on strat- collaboration with health care administrators
egies that nurses use to prevent unhealthy and advanced practice nurses is needed to
transitions, to support individual and fam- effect changes in health care delivery across
ily well-being during transitions, and to pro- the continuum of care, ranging from large
mote healthy outcomes at the conclusion of health systems to long-term care to home
the transition process. Models of care devel- care and nurse-managed community clinics.
oped by nurses to assist clients during a Collaboration with experts in policy develop-
transition include transitional care, role sup- ment is needed to align clinical practice pat-
plementation, and debriefing (Meleis, 2010). terns and reimbursement mechanisms with
The transitional care model is a model of nurse-led transition interventions. Such col-
choice for older adults and those with chronic laborations provide opportunities for link-
conditions. Nursing strategies include ongo- ing research with improvements in health
ing assessment, coaching, and interdisci- care quality. For example, Naylor et al. (2009)
plinary collaboration (Naylor, 2002; Naylor are collaborating with a large u.S. insurance
et al., 2009). The role supplementation model organization to develop policies, procedures,
involves a partnership in which a nurse with and reimbursement mechanisms to give
knowledge, skill, and experience with a role patients access to a transitional care model
(e.g., parenting, caregiving, or chronic ill- that was developed and tested in a large,
ness management) assists an individual new long-standing program of research.
to the role in acquiring the necessary knowl- In summary, more than 40 years of the-
edge, skill, and experience. This is a dynamic ory development and research about transi-
partnership in which the nurse steps in when tions and health has resulted in an extensive
supplementation is needed and steps back as knowledge base, which provides a founda-
the partner becomes able to manage inde- tion for future intervention and translational
pendently (Meleis, 1974). Debriefing includes research. Emerging new directions include
reflection, dialogue, recreating situations, integrating theory, research, policy, and prac-
and reminiscing. It is a strategy to enhance tice into a comprehensive approach to schol-
awareness of the meaning of a transition arship with global, real-world applications.
and to cope with its implications (Steele &
Beadle, 2010). Afaf Ibrahim Meleis
Despite progress in developing and Karen L. Schumacher
testing nursing interventions to assist indi-
viduals during transitions, much additional
knowledge development is needed in this
area. For example, identification of transition TranslaTional research
outcomes most sensitive to nursing inter-
ventions is needed. Interventions specific
to different transition stages, critical peri- The wonderful thing about translational
ods, and milestones need to be developed. research is that everyone knows exactly
Interventions tailored to the needs of specific what it means—the only trouble is that
populations are also needed. none of them have the same definition and