Dr. Maria Teresa Moreno-Casbas obtained her MSc from the University of Montreal Canada in 1993 and PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health in 2007. Dr. Moreno-Casbas currently serves as a Scientific Researcher on nursing and healthcare at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities. Additionally, she has served as the Nursing Director of the Spanish Nursing and Healthcare Research Unit (Investén-isciii) since 1996, which currently focuses on the improvement of the Spanish healthcare system through the application of nursing research into the daily practices of Spanish healthcare professionals.
As of 2009, she also holds the position of Chair in Health Services and Policy Research. Dr. Moreno-Casbas’ work has directly resulted in a significant increase in nursing primary research in Spain, with her contributions integral to the establishment of international strategic alliances across Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia and Latin America. Her efforts also led to the creation of the Spanish collaborating centre of the Joanna Briggs Institute for Evidence-Based Health Care in 2006, of which she is now the Director, and which has the financial support of 16 Spanish provinces.
Dr. Moreno-Casbas’ greatest scientific achievement was her research contribution demonstrating that nurses hold the key to providing safer, more effective care and achieving better outcomes for hospitalized patients. Her research on nursing throughout Europe has shown the importance of a lower number of patients per nurse, nurses possessing bachelor’s or higher qualifications, and the improvement of working environments for nurses. Her efforts have transformed the nursing profession in Spain, enabling nurses to access previously unobtainable master’s and doctoral level studies. As a result of this expanded training, nursing research progressed to reach the same level of development as other health professions, and now includes comprehensive and robust training in research methodology.