The next generation

A new approach to assisted conception, in vitro maturation, could offer some women the chance to become pregnant without large doses of drugs.     

Teaching biomedical photographic communications into the next century

The Biomedical Photographic Communications Department of the Rochester Institute of Technology, offers the only Bachelor's Degree in this field in the USA. With over 80 students, the curriculum and its delivery have been continually challenged by the 'New World' of imaging and the demands from the industry where the graduates will work. This paper will examine the programme's recent strategic decisions about curriculum and the future directions for educating tomorrow's professionals. The paper specifically assesses aspects of what is taught, how it is taught, and other relevant issues specific to equipment, networks, ethics, expansion, and extracurricular activities that have been put in place.     

Inspiring the next generation of physician-scientists

As academic physician-scientists, one of the most important things we do is mentor young trainee-scientists. There obviously is no one right way to mentor or a set of rules one can follow; it’s a very personal matter, and very much depends on one’s personality. For much of my career, I gave very little thought as to how I mentored my trainees or to whether I was any good at it. Like many investigators, perhaps, I was just too busy with the daily activities of research to consider how I was guiding my students. Here, I take a look back and reflect on my experiences as a mentor and the factors that I believe contribute to the success of trainees as independent scientists.     

Mentoring the next generation of systems researchers

As we consider our next generation of researchers, we need to be sure that we are doing the "right things" to position them for success. Surely their education will help, but we must go beyond the academic experience to insure that they have the opportunity to become accomplished and contributing professionals. It is incumbent upon us to become mentors for those promising researchers in the academic and practice pipelines to provide the guidance and opportunities required to prote ge s to situate them on a successful trajectory.     

Social support in cyberspace: the next generation

The goal of the Women to Women Project (WTW) is to help chronically ill rural women to adapt to their long-term illnesses by providing support and health information via computers. The specific aims are to (1) assess the impact of the computer-based intervention on psychosocial health (self-efficacy, self-esteem, empowerment, social support, stress, depression, loneliness), computer literacy skills, and health knowledge; and (2) analyze the computer exchanges for insights to explicate the complex process of adapting to chronic illness within the rural context. Participants are 240 rural women with a chronic illness who reside in rural areas of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Preliminary data analysis suggests that the intervention is helping to improve the women's ability to adapt to their chronic illnesses. The WTW intervention model has the potential to effectively connect these women in a program of support and education.     

Preparing the next generation of scientists in translation research

AIM: Four questions about translation research are considered in this article. (1) Why should there be concern about preparing nurse scientists for translation research? (2) Are current research-intensive doctoral programs in nursing preparing graduates for translation research? (3) Should targeted efforts be made to systematically prepare nurses in translation research? (4) What strategies would be useful? QUESTION 1: It is argued that translation research is needed in order to increase the odds that interventions found to be efficacious can be effectively translated into practices that will produce desired outcomes. Thus, evidence from translation research is a very important component of the science base needed to guide innovation in practice. Another reason of concern in preparing translation researchers is the growing pace of research into the efficacy of interventions, which accelerates the need for translation research. Furthermore, the emergence of clinical doctoral programs in nursing that will be seeking faculty with expertise in translation research supports the need for preparing scientists in translation research. QUESTION 2: To determine whether translation research was visible in current research-intensive doctoral programs, a Web-based review of these programs offered by colleges and universities in the database of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) was conducted in the fall of 2003. The search revealed that in the 79 programs surveyed, no school identified an area of emphasis in terms that suggested a component of translation science such as research dissemination or utilization, knowledge transfer, diffusion of innovation, or technology transfer. Less than a dozen courses could be located that focused on topics related to translation research or translation science. QUESTIONS 3 AND 4: The case is made that more attention should be given to preparing translation scientists in research-intensive doctoral programs in nursing, and several strategies were suggested for moving toward that goal.