The Johns Hopkins Nursing Science Incubator for Systemic Solutions (N-SISS): Preparing Innovators to Address the Conditions of Daily Living and Redesign Health

The Nursing Science Incubator for Systemic Solutions (N-SISS) at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing will support nurse scientists and scientists in aligned fields in developing innovative and rigorous programs of research focused on addressing health system gaps and the conditions of daily living. Because we intend to deliver N-SISS educational materials to two important but distinct audiences—that is, three annual cohorts of 10 core N-SISS Innovators as well as a national audience of nursing or aligned researchers and students (ancillary N-SISS network trainees)—we organized the N-SISS program into two tailored sets of activities and resources. At its core, the program will consist of a 10-month-long structured training curriculum of individualized research training, applied, hands-on, mentored research experiences, scientific mentoring, and career support, which will be offered to core N-SISS Innovators and which will culminate in the submission of an NIH (R, K, or F) grant proposal at the end of the program. Secondarily, the ancillary N-SISS network trainee program will provide a variety of training resources for self-directed learning via a dedicated web platform open to all researchers and students at no cost. The N-SISS program design is innovative in several respects: the curriculum draws upon the project team's integrated conceptual framework to provide the requisite theoretical and methodological skills to address health system gaps and the conditions for daily living; the program uses a three-pronged mentoring approach grounded in the literature of effective scientific and career mentoring for independent research; and the didactic and collaborative learning opportunities are additive, providing flexibility and enhancing the reach to national audiences. Program materials and events will be accessible to ancillary NSISS network trainees, who include members of the broader nursing and aligned scientific workforce (we estimate at least n=3,600 ancillary network trainees will use the program over the project period). N-SISS will leverage Johns Hopkins University's extensive research and training infrastructure and the program directors' national network of researchers committed to addressing health system gaps and the conditions of daily living to strengthen the scientific nursing workforce's capacity to conduct impactful, innovative research to redesign health.