In an initiative to build collaborative partnerships that enhance evidence-based practice, Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research has joined the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia in establishing a new nursing research scholarship program, according to a news release.

“CHOPR has a long history of working collaboratively with hospitals in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital System,” J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, assistant professor of nursing and a member of the initiative’s project team, said in the release. “This partnership with Presbyterian represents an important addition to this tradition, particularly given Presbyterian’s presence as a community hospital located in West Philadelphia and CHOPR’s commitment to improving nursing care for vulnerable populations.”

The scholarship program is designed to provide clinical nurses with compensated time over 18 months to participate in nursing research by conducting guided work and receiving mentoring in how research is conducted, disseminated and integrated into clinical practice. Penn Presbyterian nurses Kerry Gamble, RN, and Helyn Rothwell, RN, CCRN, CPAN, WOCN, were selected from a highly competitive pool of 10 applications as the first scholarship recipients, according to the release.

“I am looking forward to working with PhD-prepared nurses in an academic setting, being inspired and having the opportunity to seek out knowledge that will enhance my practice and that of other nurses worldwide,” Rothwell, a staff nurse in the postanesthesia care unit at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, said in the release. “I love the idea of this opportunity at this time in my career, and this scholarship award will be part of the legacy of my life’s work.”