MSFHR Welcomes Pat Atherton as Manager of the New BC Nursing Health Services Research Network

The Executive Director of the MSFHR-funded BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network has been hired to coordinate a new research network funded through the BC Nursing Research Initiative (BCNRI). The BC Nursing Health Services Research Network (NHSRN) is one of several funding strategies implemented through the BCNRI, a research and capacity-building initiative supported by MSFHR with funds provided specifically for that purpose by the BC Ministry of Health Services.

“I’m looking forward to applying and building on what I learned in my five years with the BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network,” says Pat, who has more than 20 years' team leadership experience in the not-for-profit, public and private sectors and holds a Master's degree in public administration. “The idea of a research network in health services is exciting, because it presents an opportunity to take research right to the ‘front line.’”

Health services research, broadly, is the study of how health services are delivered within and across health systems. The purpose of the network is to advance such research – with the focus on nursing – by uniting the academic, practice and policy communities and providing a mechanism for provincial planning and action.

“I think of networking as the activity of breaking down silos and connecting people and their knowledge,” says Pat, who was initial administrative director of the Vancouver Island Medical Program (part of the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s distributed medical undergrad program, in collaboration with the University of Victoria). “We’ll kick things off by bringing people together face-to-face, and we’ll be using new and emerging information technologies to keep people connected.”

Initial network activities include developing both a website – for collaboration and knowledge exchange on nursing health services research – and a database of research expertise and research activity.

“In my experience with the BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network, these elements were key to building momentum,” says Pat. “That Network has researchers listed in the database in addition to all their project information and a lot of ‘grey literature’ unavailable elsewhere which turned out to be extremely valuable to users.”

For more information about the BC Nursing Health Services Research Network, please contact Pat directly at bcnursingnetwork@gmail.com.