If you have ever (a) been a baby or (b) had a baby you probably used a product made by Johnson and Johnson.

If you are an RN, you may have seen a poster or two from the Johnson and Johnson “Discover Nursing” campaign

If you are a nursing researcher, you may be well aware of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

If you are like me and have just realized that nursing research isn’t dry, boring statistical work done in ivory towers, you may not be aware of the support behind those researchers.

It often comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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The distinguished-looking gentleman in the photo is Robert Wood Johnson. His story is an amazing one of accomplishment and generosity. Let me quote the biography found on the RWJF website:

General Johnson also had an intense concern for the hospital patient whom he saw as being lost in the often bewildering world of medical care. He strongly advocated improved education for both doctors and nurses, and he admired a keen medical mind that also was linked to a caring heart.

When he died at the age of 74, he left the majority of his fortune to the foundation bearing his name. Through his support of nursing research, he has facilitated the improvement of health care for millions of our patients.

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Grants from the RWJF focus on four distinct goals:

• Access to quality health care at reasonable cost

• Improved quality of care and increased support for people with chronic health conditions

• Promotion of healthy communities and lifestyles

• Reduction of personal, social and economic harm of substance abuse (tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs)

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If you are a researcher, your proposal must address one of the following program areas

• Building Human Capital: Supporting scholars and leaders to ensure a diverse, sufficient workforce to meat health care needs, done through leadership development, training and research

• Childhood Obesity: The goal of reversing the epidemic by 2015 by increasing access to health foods and promoting increased physical activity in schools

• Health Insurance Coverage: Polices and programs to (a) expand coverage and (b) maximize enrollment in current programs leading to stable, affordable coverage for all Americans

• Pioneer: Acceleration of critical breakthroughs through funding of innovative projects

• Public Health: Strengthening the practice to protect the health and safety of Americans

• Quality/Equality: Set and achieve ambitious goals to promote health and safety for all patients, specifically groups who often experience lower-quality care

• Vulnerable populations: Promotion of ideas to help those bearing an excess burden of disease overcome health challenges

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I heartily recommend subscribing the the RWJF Nuring Digest. A brief description of the latest in nursing research comes right to your mailbox. You can scan the topics or read in depth. Sign up on the Nurses and Nursing page of the website.

If money is the wind beneath the wings of nursing research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a virtual hurricane of support.

Take a look at the website. See for yourself the amount of nursing research going on every day. You’ll be amazed.

I was!

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Resources: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2007). Our founder. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from http://www.rwjf.org/about/founder.jhtml; Our mission. http://www.rwjf.org/about/mission.jhtml; Program Area Overview. http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/programareas.jhtml