Nurses Furious As Dentist to Lead Nursing Research Institute

[J.Adderton]

A dentist, Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, has been appointed interim director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). The dentist previously served as the National Institutes of Health’s principal deputy director. On October 1st, he will assume the helm of the federal research organization, currently held by Ann Cashion, RN. Tara Schwartz PhD, a biologist, will fill the position of deputy director.

Facing backlash from nurses, NIH added a job listing encouraging qualified nurses to apply for the director position the same day Business Insider reported the interim appointment. The job will remain posted until November 18, 2019 and you can check out the details here.

The NINR’s Mission

The NINR is one of the 27 institutes making up the National Institutes of Health. It is also the country’s largest federal nursing research institute. According to their mission statement, NINR “seeks to extend nursing science by integrating the biological and behavioral sciences, employing new technologies to research questions, improving research methods and developing scientists of the future”. The institute’s research encompasses health promotion and disease prevention, quality of life, health disparities and end-of-life.

Failed to Find a Suitable Person?

An NIH representative provided Business Insider the following statement:

Quote

“NIH has every intention of filling the director position of the National Institute of Nursing Research with a highly qualified leader in nursing research. Earlier this year, NIH conducted a nationwide search that unfortunately failed to identify a suitable person to fill this important role.”

Reporting the inability to identify a qualified doctorate prepared leader in nursing research is a difficult pill to swallow for many. According to the September 13th job posting, the NIH is “looking for applicants with a commitment to scientific excellence and the energy, enthusiasm and innovative thinking necessary to lead a dynamic and diverse organization”. The nursing profession has an abundance of nurses that spent years obtaining doctorate degrees and go on to pursue research that would strengthen and support NINR’s mission.

What Message is Being Sent?

Nursing organizations across the country argue that a nurse is more qualified than non-nurses to evaluate grants for nursing research. The appointment of a non-nurse has evoked anger among nurses who fear it damages the public’s perception of the profession. Also, the decision may send the message that qualified nurse researchers aren’t valued as educated science professionals.

Enforcing Negative Stereotypes

The nursing profession is currently plagued by negative stereotypes. This includes the perception of servitude and is reinforced with heavy workloads, poor and stressful working environments and lack of professional gratification. The healthcare environment lacks respect for nurses, often undervaluing their skills and contributions. But, nurses are found in other professional roles, such as administrators, nurse practitioners, educators and researchers. It is worrisome that the appointment of a dentist to lead the NINR reinforces negative stereotypes that are already a burden to the nursing profession.

The Truth About Nursing has created a petition asking the NIH to recall the appointments of both Dr. Tabak and Dr. Swartz. You can access the petition here.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think a nurse should hold the NINR director position?

Let us hear from you!

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Additional Resources

Business Insider Article- Nurses Criticize Move to Appoint Dentist to Head NINR

[rockchickrn, ADN]

This is appalling! This position should be filled by a Nurse. Just another slap in the face to our profession.

[protos frontida 9, BSN]

Most colleges and universities have Ph.D. level nurses teaching research classes. They can't teach these classes unless they have some degree of knowledge of how to conduct research. I call foul on the decision and hope most if not all nurses send the letter. Please

[Secretperson]

19 minutes ago, protos frontida 9 said:

Most colleges and universities have Ph.D. level nurses teaching research classes. They can't teach these classes unless they have some degree of knowledge of how to conduct research. I call foul on the decision and hope most if not all nurses send the letter. Please

Good point, however it could be that none of the nursing folks at that level wanted to take a pay cut for this gig ?

[protos frontida 9, BSN]

You have a good point and that area of the United States is high dollar living and overall expenses. They need to pay the person for the job! How can a dentist take the pay cut though?

[Secretperson]

1 hour ago, protos frontida 9 said:

You have a good point and that area of the United States is high dollar living and overall expenses. They need to pay the person for the job! How can a dentist take the pay cut though?

Odds are if a dentist took the job, they weren’t content as a dental professional. Additionally, it’s government, so nepotism probably played an extremely high part in this ?

[protos frontida 9, BSN]

That may be true on both counts. That doesn't lead to a very good resolution for nursing who are serious about their jobs and investment into nursing.

[PoweRNursing]

Yeah, this is pretty dumb. How can someone make decisions on where grants and funds should be allocated if they don't even know the importance of nursing functions? I would be gravely disappointed if this person stayed in this position. Nursing research is essential to improving healthcare, and understanding basic nursing principles is necessary in discerning where research funding should go to. In this case, business would not help as much because the problem at hand deals with understanding nursing. Therefore, they should be hiring someone with BOTH a nursing and accounting/business background. There are plenty of nurses out their who have gone through dual MSN/administration programs.

[AnonymousSuper]

I think it should be open to nurses to apply but not a requirement.

Leadership positions are different. Having nursing experience would be helpful but not necessary. There is other valuable experience besides nursing.

I see non-clinical, non-nursing leaders run clinics and they do just fine.

Dentist + Biologist + Previous Director Experience

This decision isn't really that surprising.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I just can’t imagine that there aren’t plenty of perfectly qualified PhD RNs — in the disciplines of nursing, research, AND nursING RESEARCH

I’m sure the dentist in question is highly accomplished in his/her own field, and dentistry depends on EBP as well. They should be seeking a leadership role in dental research.

[MarkMyWords]

This looks political. It's not about who is best qualified. For a long time librarians were upset that a nonlibrarian academic was head of Library of Congress which is the biggest job in the field. Librarians have a low reputation much worse than nurses. But the public does not know or care about who runs the nursing or library organizations

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

Why am I not surprised.As long as "nurse "is in your name and job description,it does not matter what alphabet soup initials you have after your name.Means nothing.We still can not say "we have come a long way ,baby."

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 9/21/2019 at 1:59 AM, fibroblast said:

The reason why there is heavy workloads and poor staffing is because it's predominately women. They take advantage of women until they can't do any more.

I really fail to see who is 'furious'. Maybe those who applied for the job and didn't get it, but one nurse can't speak for all. To me it doesn't matter if a 'non-nurse' holds the position. It is who's qualified.

Do you think a nurse would ever be appointed to head a dentist or physician organization?

On 9/21/2019 at 11:49 AM, Future_NICU_Nurse_Casti said:

I do not know what qualifications the NIH is requiring for such a position, but I imagine the bar must be set high. Just because there are many nurses who are in the research field does not necessarily mean they all meet the criteria to be director of NINR. I would give the NIH the benefit of the doubt and believe they did look for a suitable replacement. Perhaps they found qualified individuals, but those individuals did not want the position. I do believe a nurse should be appointed to head the NINR, but finding someone to fill a position like this cannot be easy. I would also like to point out Dr. Tabak’s position is as interim. So, it isn’t meant to be a permanent appointment.

And the moon is made of green cheese, my friend.

Wake up and smell the coffee.