Description of the video:

Hi, I'm Eric Vachon. I'm an assistant professor in the IU School of Nursing, and I also have a joint appointment as a research scientist in the Center for Health Services Research at the Regenstrief Institute. So, I initially got interested in research as an undergrad nursing student. So, as a part of the program that I went to at Hope College, we were required to do a research clinical. And so, I was paired with a clinical nurse specialist, and I worked with her in a community hospital, where we developed a tool to help clinicians determine if patients needed central line access. So, I was a part of the development of that questionnaire and that tool to be used in a clinical setting, and the act of going through problem solving and really getting understanding of how research worked and seeing the potential impact on a wide range of patients really got me interested in how I could have a larger impact beyond the bedside of being a nurse. So my primary area of research is focus on cancer survivorship. So I work with patients who are actively going through treatment, primarily individuals who have been prescribed oral chemotherapy agents or chemotherapy pills, and so I work with them to try and help them manage the symptoms and side effects that come along with that treatment in their home, as well as with my appointment in Regenstrief, focusing on health services utilization. So, through effective symptom management, the hope is that we try to either reduce the need for having to go to the emergency room or be hospitalized, or completely eliminate that through helping them manage their symptoms in the home. Yeah, I think what nurses bring to the research field, we have a strong clinical background and have a lot of interaction with patients, and most of us that are nurse researchers practice for quite some time before getting into research, and so we understand the real-world challenges that patients are facing. And I think most of us go into the research field to try and make a larger, more global impact to try and be able to touch as many patients and families as possible through our research. Why would I describe the IU School of Nursing as impactful is because of all the great research work that we're doing, as well as training the next generation of nurses that are going to work across Indianapolis, as well as work across the country. We have research going on in a wide range of topics, working with a number of patients all across the state and across the country, and even some projects across the world. So I think what we are doing as faculty and staff are trying to have the greatest impact on patients and students as a whole.