A nursing faculty practice for the severely mentally ill: Merging practice with research

Abstract

This Faculty Practice developed in response to increasing medical complexity among severely mentally ill adults in community programs. It represents collaboration between an academic nursing program and Progress Foundation, a residential care provider in San Francisco for the severely mentally ill (SMI). Over ten years, the practice and research agenda have evolved together, through a commitment to mutual collaboration by clinicians and researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing, and the mental health community. Initial efforts at research focused on description of clients and practice. Research efforts have broadened and evolve to include an on-going clinical trial that tests the value of adding active health promotion to primary care. Factors contributing to success included trust among research and clinical faculty and community partners, use of clinical data in the service of practice and education, and relative freedom from fiscal administration. The merging of practice and research increases visibility of nursing contributions and will allow testing of models for care.