It has become increasingly apparent that solutions to our
health and health care challenges require a collaborative
teamwork approach that is interdisciplinary and inter-
professional. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that
although we havemade great strides forward in scientific
research, we have been less successful in translating this
research into health and health care improvements. As
highlighted by the state of the science briefs, nurses and
nurse scientists will play increasingly important roles in
the coordination of interdisciplinary and interprofes-
sional teams both in research and in health care practice.
In addition,wemust redouble our efforts to accelerate the
translation of research advances into health and health
care improvements. This means we must embrace every
opportunity to provide leadership in translational initia-
tives and to encourage collaboration and partnership.