A roadmap for the nursing scientific workforce to eliminate health and healthcare inequities.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Ending Unequal Treatment report emphasizes immediate actions to eliminate health inequities (i.e., solutions-oriented health inequity research), versus incrementally advancing health equity. Nurse scientists are uniquely positioned to lead national efforts to eliminate health inequities.To outline nursing science's contributions to solutions-oriented health inequity research, highlight opportunities and challenges for nursing leadership, and key competencies for which workforce support infrastructure is needed.We draw on the landmark 2024 Ending Unequal Treatment report, supplemented by a review of the literature on scientific nursing-specific workforce challenges.We identify strategies for sustaining and advancing nursing science's leadership in solutions-oriented health inequity research, including objectives, competencies, and programmatic elements needed to support current and future nurse investigators.Bolstering the nursing scientific workforce in solutions-oriented health inequity research will elevate the role of nursing science in eliminating health inequities and improving population health.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael Paul Cary School of Nursing

Author Marissa Abram School of Nursing