Integrating research and practice for optimal clinical outcomes: an interview with Tim Porter-O'Grady. Interview by Gail S Wick.

Dr. Porter-O'Grady has written over 125 articles and book chapters and has published eight books and is completing a ninth. He has consulted with over 500 institutions and has spoken in 1300 settings in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia and logs about 350,000 miles a year. Dr. Porter-O'Grady is listed in six different categories of Who's Who in America, serves on 7 editorial boards, and is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. He has served on a number of community boards and has been an elected officer in a variety of health related agencies and organizations. He is currently a health systems expert for the National Health Policy Council and is a member of the Georgia Health Care Reform Project. In this interview, which took place in Atlanta by ANNA Past President Gail Wick, Dr. Porter-O'Grady shares his wealth of knowledge and experience by challenging us to move beyond the old thinking of caring for a specific patient population to managing lives on a continuum of care in an interdependent relationship with other providers, to refine the term "patient care," letting go of the medical sickness model and returning to our life-centered, health-oriented nursing roots and to broaden our educational preparation to a systems perspective and a continuum of caring.