$1 Million Gift to Provide Major Benefits for Nursing Science and Well-Being Programs

$1 Million Gift From Anonymous Donor to Provide Major Benefits for Nursing Science and Well-Being Programs at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

Several key programs and initiatives supporting nurses and their patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford are receiving a big boost, thanks to a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor.

The donor has specified that three-quarters of the gift—$750,000—be in the form of an ongoing endowment to support nursing research, evidence-based practices, and nursing-related science programs (covered in this article). The remaining amount of the gift will be a direct contribution to support nursing-related health literacy, wellness, ethics, and resilience programs (to be covered in a follow-up article).

“This generous gift will offer our nursing staff additional support they need to contribute valuable research for our profession and the patients we serve,” said Annette Nasr, Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

“The importance of nursing research cannot be understated,” added Nasr. “Nurses bring a unique and crucial perspective to science, as we are at the patient bedside 24/7, we interact closely with patients and family members, and we gain valuable perspectives into the cultural, psychological, and psychosocial dynamics impacting patient care.”

Benefits of the endowment will include the ability to offer more research-oriented writing workshops for nurses and increased opportunities for nurses to present at local, national, and international conferences in an effort to disseminate their findings.

In addition, the endowment will fund an increase in the number of Research and Evidence-Based Practice Fellowships and Nursing Research Internships awarded to nurses each year. These programs allow nurses time away from the bedside to answer clinical questions occurring in their clinical area, develop a better understanding of nursing research, and contribute to the science. Currently five to six fellowships and internships are awarded annually; with this donation the Department of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice hopes to double the number of nurses who can participate in these educational opportunities.

The $750,000 endowment will earn substantial interest annually, generating important additional funding for these programs on an ongoing basis. The new funding source comes at an important time for the Department of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, which is led by Nasr and was launched approximately two years ago. “We are thrilled about the news of this endowment gift, which will support our nurses in their research and benefit our patients far into the future,” said Nasr.

Next week, a follow-up article will cover the impact of this donation on the areas of nursing-related health literacy, wellness, resilience, and ethics at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.