Symptom assessment and management continues to be a priority issue for nursing science and practice. However, as the complexity of symptom etiology and expression becomes clear, new approaches and technologies are needed to better address biology and context, common data sources need to be built and shared, and addressing the impact of empirical findings on health policy becomes essential. In this article, we provide a forum to reflect on the future direction of symptom science, with the goal of stimulating further dialogue and improving outcomes for patients and families around the world and for years to come.
Keywords: Common data elements; Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Special Topics Conference; Nursing research; Nursing science; Symptom context; Symptom data repository; Symptom science.
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