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Merging Nursing Education with Research and Policy-An Expanded Role for CNHS
By Patty Snellings
In 1989, the seeds for the Center for Health Policy, Research, and Ethics (CHPRE)
were planted to bring George Mason into the forefront of health services research
and health policy analysis. CHPRE today is gaining national and international
recognition as a leading research center in health policy, health services research,
and health care ethics.
“Health services research—a discipline that explores the cost, access,
and quality of health care—is a niche for George Mason,” says Mary Wakefield,
center director since 1996. Under her leadership, CHPRE has become a highly visible
contributor to the formation of health policy nationally and internationally.
She also emphasizes that its work with the World Health Organization and other
international health agencies is building the university’s reputation globally
in health services research and policy analysis
Peggy Jo Maddox, director of the master’s program in health systems management
in the College of Nursing and Health Science (CNHS), leads CHPRE’s multidisciplinary
research effort, which covers public policy analysis, education, and health services
issues. Maddox says the need is great for program managers and lawmakers to have
timely research before deciding on a course of action. “Because of our resources
and proximity to the federal agencies where health policy decisions are being
made,” CNHS Dean Rita Carty points out, “we are realizing our potential
in the health policy arena.” For example, as the nursing work force shortage
climbs to record levels in the United States and around the world, CHPRE faculty
members are taking an influential role in educating state and U.S. legislators
about the crisis.
A major initiative of the center is the annual Washington Health Policy Institute,
which “offers an insider’s view of how Washington works, as well as
a broad understanding of the many forces and players that affect our lives and
how we receive and pay for health care,” says Wakefield. The institute also
provides participants the opportunity to interact with high-level players in the
health policy-making process. The Capital Area Rural Health Roundtable is another
initiative developed by CHPRE, which provides a forum where representatives of
Washington, D.C., area organizations, agencies, and institutions that have a strong
interest in rural America and rural health care can exchange ideas. The program
is supported through a federal grant from the Office of Rural Health Policy, Health
Resources and Services Administration and guided by an advisory board of public
and private health care leaders. George Mason is the only institution in the area
to examine rural health care issues, says Wakefield.
Much of CHPRE’s work also involves collaborations between George Mason
and state government agencies. CHPRE has worked with the Virginia Department of
Medical Assistance Services on evaluations of various aspects of the Medicaid
program and with state administrators on an assessment of the type of health care
program that best serves children with special needs.
In addition, Carty, as secretary-general of the Global Network of the World
Health Organization Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Development,
has been an international ambassador of George Mason’s expertise in health
policy. “To be chosen for this key responsibility is a great honor for the
university,” she says. “It means we are being recognized for our leadership
and enhances the globalization of the university to hold such an influential role
in international health care policy.”
Wakefield and Maddox are quick to explain the relationship of health services
research and health care policy analysis to CHPRE’s academic mission. “Our
master’s program in health systems management prepares graduates for executive
positions in the health care industry as managers, health policy analysts, and
consultants in electronic commerce and technology,” Maddox says. Students
are employed by the center as graduate researchers or to work on projects related
to ongoing research. In addition to learning valuable research skills, techniques,
concepts, and methods, students are exposed to compelling problems and have a
chance to examine them from different perspectives, she says. “Students discover
the complexities of the environment rather than just hearing about them in a classroom,”
she says. “At the same time, they discover the bigger context for health
care, which is the policy-making arena.”
Wakefield adds that CHPRE programs and initiatives distinguish the center as
the “largest supplier of health services content for graduate students across
the nation.” George Mason is competing nicely with other institutions, she
says, because students are attracted by the health policy emphasis in CNHS. “Our
plans are to expand into other areas of state and federal program evaluation,”
Wakefield says. “Building this critical mass will make George Mason even
more competitive for graduate nursing education and health services research.”
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