Executive Merit Review Panel
Maryse Pelletier-Hibbert (Chair) (New Brunswick), Louise Jones (Newfoundland), Louise Racine (Saskatchewan) and Elaine Gallagher (British Columbia) form the core membership of the 2006 Executive Nursing Care Partnership Merit Review Panel. The NCP panel has access to external reviewer expertise as required.
Click here to download Merit Review Panel Terms of Reference.
Merit Review Principles
- Research supported with funds from the NCP will have undergone a review by the partner agency that includes positive assessment by nursing and other peers of its scientific merit and capacity of the research team. Reviewers will include scientists who have expertise in bio-ethics, statistics and research methodology.
- Research supported with funds from the NCP will have undergone a review that includes positive assessment by decision-makers of its potential impact on nursing practice and health services delivery (either through the originating agency and/or through the CNF).
- CNF strives to streamline the dual review process as much as possible in the interest of enabling partners to make timely funding decisions. To this end, CNF encourages partners to integrate NCP review criteria into their review processes. The NCP Executive Merit Review Panel (NCP panel) reviews the partner’s review panel and process and assesses for gaps. If there are gaps in the partner’s process, CNF may review proposals from the perspective of the gap(s).
- The NCP panel provides constructive feedback—from the perspective of meeting NCP criteria—to CNF partners on their review processes with the objective of developing stronger, more collaborative review processes that eliminate the need for dual reviews.
- The NCP panel provides constructive feedback to researchers, through the partner organization, on every proposal submitted, with the objective of developing stronger research projects and proposals.
What NCP Funds
The goals for NCP are to support research on nursing care issues and build nursing research capacity by funding research on nursing care issues.
To this end, NCP only funds research on nursing care issues. NCP defines nursing care research or clinical nursing research as research that is practice-based or that will provide the groundwork for future practice-based studies.
NCP does not fund health system research (e.g. nursing recruitment, retention, management, organization, leadership and the issues emerging from health-system restructuring). However, there is often a fine line between health system research and nursing care research. For NCP to contribute funding, the panel must be comfortable that there is a potential impact on nursing practice, whether direct or indirect.
Research funded by NCP must be relevant to decision-makers – people who control health care resources and/or influence clinical practice.
Proposal budgets should reflect only costs directly related to research (e.g., laboratory materials and supplies, hiring research/technical assistants and related travel). The purchase of equipment, up to a maximum of 50% of the value of the first year's budget, is permitted. Stipends for research trainees (e.g., graduate students, post-doctoral fellows) are allowed. Funds may not be used as salary for the grantees or for indirect costs of research (e.g., library, heat and light, office furniture, overhead, administrative charges and fees). NCP does not fund the costs of program delivery, incremental or otherwise.
Research must address at least some of the NCP priorities:
- Making the program truly national. For example, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and/or Canada’s north are high priority areas in 2005.
- Supporting research that takes place in "clinical" settings—where nurses provide care—including non-acute settings, e.g. in the community.
- Supporting research that involves novice researchers.
- Supporting research teams that are interdisciplinary.
- Moving towards larger grants.
Quality monitoring/improvement projects are not funded by NCP.
Program evaluations are funded by NCP if the study involves the creation of broadly applicable new knowledge for nursing practice.
NCP does not fund personnel awards.
Click here to download:
Guidelines for partners submitting proposals
Data collection sheet
NCP Checklist |
