Health care reform and nursing's window of opportunity: an interview with Connie Curran. Interview by Terran Warren Sims.

The debate over how changes expected in health care reform will affect the role of nursing in providing patient care is the hottest topic in nursing circles this year. Clearly, patient care will not be delivered in the same manner 5 years from now as it is today. In this interview, Connie Curran, EdD, RN, FAAN, editor of Nursing Economic$ and a highly regarded nursing consultant, discusses many aspects of the health care reform debate, including the future of academic health centers, nursing's and medicine's role in shaping the language of health care reform, the battle for fewer jobs, paths of professional development, and effects of reform on nursing research. Dr. Curran, who will serve as keynote speaker for ANNA's 25th Anniversary National Symposium in Dallas, TX this June, was interviewed by ANNA President Terran Warren Sims at the Nursing Economic$ office in Washington, DC. The former executive director of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), Dr. Curran has lectured on the effects of health care reform to audiences around the country. She is currently serving a 1-year appointment as a senior scholar in residence at the Institute of Medicine, which is studying various aspects of health care reform.