Conference Intent:

The rich growth in nursing knowledge at the beginning of the 21st Century was marked by increased understanding of the focus of nursing knowledge and of how to create knowledge for practice. The depth and breadth of these developments was noted at the Emerging Nursing Knowledge 2000 International Conference. Over 150 participants from 15 countries attended and offered the richness of their cultural and ethnic diversity to the development of a global perspective on the beliefs and values of nursing. At the same time the new century is plagued with the unresolved concerns with health care systems and care delivery. The intent Knowledge Impact Conference 2001, Action Plans: Linking Nursing Knowledge to Practice Outcomes is to face the juxtaposition of these developments and challenges. Participants will capitalize on the growth and consensus in nursing knowledge and address care delivery issues by developing exemplars that link knowledge perspectives to practice outcomes.

Knowledge Impact Conference 2001 builds on a rich heritage. Nurse scholar-practitioners in the Northeastern United States in the last two decades of the 20th Century moved decidedly toward consensus on the nature of knowledge in nursing and exploration of the links of nursing knowledge to practice outcomes. In the three series of conferences held at Boston University, University of Rhode Island, and Boston College, speakers, panels, and participants explored the linkages of philosophy, theory, and research as the basis of outcomes for practice. They compared and contrasted philosophical and theoretical perspectives for clinical and ethical reasoning and applied this knowledge using case analysis. Knowledge Consensus Conference 1998 used a totally participatory process to generate a value-based position paper that identified common assumptions, principles and values about persons, nursing, theory and practice. The resulting USA Knowledge Consensus Position Paper 1998 became the basis for Emerging Nursing Knowledge Conference 2000. Ten major speakers and scholars presenting in concurrent sessions, responded to the Consensus Position Paper from the perspective of their country or nursing practice.

This cycle of conferences will conclude with invited papers, reaction panels, participant discussion, and poster sessions in which colleagues will expand the dialogue about knowledge development as problem solving, middle range theory, process, and cosmic imperative to exemplify the links to practice. The goal is to respond to the challenge articulated by Peggy Chinn, PhD, RN, FAAN, who proposed that "conscious engagement with the world is fundamental in order to transform the world." Conference activities are focused on the social responsibility that isa t the heart of the discipline of nursing.

Join us in Boston to continue the process of transformation!

Dorothy Jones, EdD, RN, FAAN and Sr. Callista Roy, PhD RN, FAAN, Co-Chairs

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