Nursing Staff in Hospitals and Nursing Homes: Is It Adequate? (1996)

Institute of Medicine (IOM) studies frequently rely on liaison panels to broaden the expertise of the committee, to inform interested and concerned parties about the study and its activities, and to provide a forum for discussion of the issues. In some studies, liaison panels may be given specific charges and asked to provide the committee with specific products. Other studies may never formally convene a meeting of the liaison panel, per se, but may work with the members of the panel informally and individually. Organizations nominate members of a liaison panel to speak on their behalf and to provide advice and assistance about the issues under consideration; because liaison panel members serve in an advisory capacity to the IOM formal committee, they may have known biases and conflicts of interest.

The IOM convened a liaison panel, comprising representatives of professional associations of nurses, related professional groups, hospitals and nursing homes, unions, and organizations that serve as advocates for nursing home residents. The panel met formally for a one-day meeting on August 1, 1994. It served in a consultative and information exchange capacity. Several members of the panel provided the committee with results of special surveys, specific informational material, and other background information from their organizations throughout the period of the study. They also helped to identify datasources, potential witnesses for the public hearing, and contacts for the committee's site visits.

Organizations represented on the liaison panel are listed below: