The Nation's population is shifting to the upper decades of life. With longer lives, we can expect an increase in chronic illnesses, which will require longer and more costly health care. The demand for innovation through nursing research discoveries has never been greater. Nursing research is an emerging science that adds a vital and necessary perspective to the conduct of research. Although the search for cures continues, research on improved care is a parallel necessity.
Nursing research focuses on the patient in the pursuit of answers.
This, in turn, can lead to basic laboratory studies or clinical research, as well as to research on prevention of disease and promotion of healthy life choices. Pain generates nearly 40 million visits to health care providers, can prolong hospital stays, and may impede recovery. Pain research is complicated, because while we all share a basic common physiology, we do not react to pain the same way. Recent findings from an NINR-supported study on pain have generated national, scientific and media attention. When completed, the study showed that women could obtain pain relief, with fewer side effects, from commercially available but seldom used painkillers known as kappa-opioids, such as nalbuphine or butorphanol.