Bhubaneswar, Oct 1: Policy, practice and research should move in tandem if health care professionals are to bridge the gap between research and practice in India’s health care sector, a prominent expert in the field said on Friday.
“We must ask ourselves as to why the malnutrition level was not improving in spite of the Integrated Child Development Scheme, which has been under implementation since long,” Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, Director, Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) here said while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day National Conference on ‘New Horizons in Nursing Research- Qualitative Research’ which began at the SOA University.
Dr. Pati, who was the chief guest at the inauguration of the conference organized by the Sum Nursing College (SNC), faculty of Nursing of SOA University, said India was currently experiencing a rapid health transition while being confronted by infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies and suboptimal maternal and child health besides the challenge of escalating graph of non-communicable diseases.
“The need today is that research must get into practice and practice should be backed by research. Qualitative research, yet to grab the attention of health professionals, educationists and researchers, needs to get amalgamated more with the health care system to bridge the critical gap,” she said.
Prof. Santanu Kumar Kar, Director of Medical Research at the SOA University and Dr. Nancy Fernandez, Principal, Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing, SNDT University, Mumbai, attended as guests of honour. Prof. Pravati Tripathy, Dean of SNC, presided.
Dr. Fernandez supported the idea of mixed research comprising both qualitative and quantitative research while Prof. Kar said research was needed to improve the link between the care taker and the recipient.
“The focus of research should be patient safety and care for the older population,” Dr. Kar said adding the need was to go for indigenous and small research initiatives at less cost which could lead to effective changes on a large scale.
Prof. Sasmita Das, Associate Dean of SNC, also spoke while Ms. Geetarani Nayak, Assistant Professor at SNC, proposed the vote of thanks.
