Workforce Research

Workforce Research / en Fri, 04 Apr 2025 09:27:03 -0500 Thu, 29 Aug 19 14:52:02 -0500 Research Grant History /foundation/research/history Thu, 29 Aug 2019 14:52:02 -0500 Workforce Research Research Grants /foundation/research-grants &nbsp; The �� provides research grants to nurse leaders who are looking to shape&nbsp;a better tomorrow for patients and nurses of&nbsp;all levels. Thu, 29 Aug 2019 14:15:30 -0500 Workforce Research Research Participation Opportunities /research &nbsp;Contribute to building the evidence base for nursing leadership by participating in research studies and surveys.<h3>Current Research Studies and Surveys</h3>&nbsp;The Relationship Between Nurse Manager Span of Control and Engagement You are invited to participate in a research study to explore the relationship between Nurse Manager Span of Control in their area of oversight and work engagement.&nbsp;Your participation in this study involves completing an online survey that will take approximately 15 minutes.Participants must be Nurse Managers in an acute care hospital setting with at least three years of recent experience In the manager role.<a href="https://cwru.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6VyBf7xrOLu67Y2">Click here</a> to learn more and participate.This posting will close after June 2, 2025.&nbsp;&nbsp;<hr>Please reach out to Lori Wightman at <a href="mailto:lwightman@aha.org">lwightman@aha.org</a> to have your study featured. Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0600 Workforce Research Current Researchers Funded by the �� /foundation/research/currently-funded-research Fri, 11 May 2018 00:00:00 -0500 Workforce Research Interview with Valerie Moore /foundation/research/moore <h2>Dynamic Patient Events from a Novice Researcher</h2> An interview with Ms. Valerie Moore, Nursing Informatics Specialist, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and 2013 recipient of the Michael Warner Nurse Staffing and Outcomes Research Grant sponsored by Cerner Corporation. The Michael Warner Nurse Staffing and Outcomes Research Grant was sponsored by Cerner Corporation and granted in 2013 to support a research project by a novice nurse researcher related to the adoption of innovative technology in nurse staffing and scheduling to meet patients’ and families’ needs and the relationship to quality and cost outcomes in the practice setting. Ms. Valerie Moore was awarded this grant for her study, Dynamic Patient Events: Impact on Nursing Workload, Staffing, Adverse Events and Omissions of Nursing Care. Valerie is very excited as she is putting the finishing touches on her research and preparing for upcoming publication. We sat down with Valerie as she wraps up this chapter of her research. <h2>Here is some of our conversation:</h2> AONL: You’re in the home stretch with your research and are just about ready to publish. What are you thinking about right now? Valerie Moore (VM): We are so close! I’m very excited about this research and our findings. I’m working with Dr. Laura Szalacha, the statistician on my team, and we’re so close to publishing! Right now that submission deadline is front and center in my mind, and we’re putting all the last pieces together. AONL: What do you think of the almost final outcome of your research? VM: I think we had a good hypothesis going into this research. The data is validating the hypothesis, and we have actual numbers to support the study aims. AONL: What would you like to see happen as a result of your research? VM: As a nurse and a nurse manager, we know things happen on the floor that impact scheduling. A dynamic event is anything that happens on the floor that changes nurse staffing and nurse to patient ratios suddenly, such as, a patient coding or a bedside procedure. Any time an event like that happens it increases the overall workload for the unit. For the study we looked at how many times nurses see dynamic events occurring and how those events influence staff scheduling and workload. We want to give supervisors another way to look at staffing variables. Are we currently capturing all the variables we need in order to have the right number of nurses on the floor in a unit. To do that, we have to have a concrete understanding of what variables really influence nursing workload. It was actually very interesting. Before we could even begin collecting data, we had to define a dynamic event. In our conversations with nurses, we found a wide range of opinions as to what types of care qualified and what did not. I would like to see my research done on a larger scale. I’d also love to see my research trigger additional research – perhaps about how staffing levels can be a predictive model for missed care. AONL: What has your experience doing this research been like? VM: Overall, I have had a wonderful experience, and it’s been a pretty exciting process. It has also been a lesson in patience! I learned a lot going through the grant application process – both working with AONL&nbsp;Foundation and within my own organization. Talking to the nursing staff on the floor was an integral part of this research. It was very interesting hearing their thoughts and perceptions. These experiences helped me realize just how varied opinions and definitions can be among different people, and helped me to refine my research plan. Throughout the course of this research, I have been continually awed and inspired by the passion nurses have for our patients and their passion for being an advocate for their patient. It is all about the patient. It’s pretty amazing when you stop to think about all the demand they have to juggle each shift. AONL: Why is it important for organizations like AONL&nbsp;Foundation, with support from individuals and organizations like Cerner Corporation, to support and promote research in nurse leadership? VM: There are so many questions we have in nursing that we still need to answer. Research is the only way to get the concrete answers that we can utilize in practice. It’s amazing how things have changed throughout the years while I’ve been in nursing. Some things that were best practice when I started nursing are no longer done. The evolution of technology in healthcare will have a big impact on everything we do, including nurse staffing. Research is necessary to identify and prove what will become new best practices for the future. AONL: Who has been on your team as you’ve done this research? VM: Many people have helped and supported me through this project. Dr. Esther Chipps has been a wonderful mentor and supporter. Dr. Laura Szalacha has helped immensely with the data analysis and evaluation. Drs. Mary Nash and Jackie Buck have both been incredible supporters. And I cannot forget the students who were so helpful with the data collection. AONL: Congratulations, and we’re looking forward to seeing your published research! Would you like to share any last thoughts today? VM: This has been a tremendous opportunity for me as a novice researcher. It’s been an excellent process to go through. I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without the AONL&nbsp;Foundation, Cerner Corporation and the Michael Warner grant. I am very grateful. Fri, 19 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Workforce Research Interviews with Nurse Researchers /foundation/research/interviews To date, �� has awarded more than $94,000 in small grant funds to researchers studying issues impacting nursing leadership. Every year �� awards grants up to $10,000 to projects aligned with the Foundation Research Priorities. For more information about our small grants program, <a href="/aone-foundation/research/smallgrant.shtml">click here</a>. Here are some of the researchers who have received funding through the AONE Foundation discussing their research. <div data-embed-button="media" data-entity-embed-display="entity_reference:media_thumbnail" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;thumbnail&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="803e2be6-e6f4-42f2-a76f-db87c3cb18cb" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/jeffrey-adams.jpg?itok=ZRQao7_p" width="190" height="210" alt="jeffrey-adams.jpg"> </div> &nbsp;Jeffrey Adams, RN, PhD: In all seriousness, in addition to the funding from the AONE Foundation, a big part of the success of this study will be due to the AONE members and their organizations. The members involved are committed to understanding nursing leadership in their own organizations as well as in the profession as a whole. We are tremendously grateful to them for taking the time to do this study and help with this research. Without the two pieces of funding from the AONE Foundation and the AONE constituency, we would not be able to do this research. We are so thankful. <a href="/aone-foundation/research/adams.shtml">Continue Reading</a> <div data-embed-button="media" data-entity-embed-display="entity_reference:media_thumbnail" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;thumbnail&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="6f2ef00b-e8c2-4a5c-8f71-a00db4f92b2c" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/moore.jpg?itok=aDv2UM8I" width="120" height="139" alt="moore.jpg"> </div> &nbsp;Valerie Moore: For the study we looked at how many times nurses see dynamic events occurring and how those events influence staff scheduling and workload. We want to give supervisors another way to look at staffing variables. Are we currently capturing all the variables we need in order to have the right number of nurses on the floor in a unit. To do that, we have to have a concrete understanding of what variables really influence nursing workload. <a href="/aone-foundation/research/moore.shtml">Continue Reading</a> <div data-embed-button="media" data-entity-embed-display="entity_reference:media_thumbnail" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;thumbnail&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="41159b52-d50d-4b13-8855-56d5ec5e9a5c" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/havens.jpg?itok=hOu-zrJ9" width="190" height="210" alt="havens.jpg"> </div> &nbsp; &nbsp;Donna Sullivan Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN: There still is a fairly high number of nurse executives who are stepping down or retiring in the next 5 years. This may be partly due to age, but our findings also suggest that there are other possible factors driving this exodus of key leaders who direct the delivery of health care. We as a profession need to understand those factors and intervene when possible. This type of research will illuminate the key factors that need to be addressed. <a href="/aone-foundation/research/havens.shtml">Continue Reading</a> Fri, 19 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Workforce Research Interview: Donna Havens /foundation/research/havens <h2>Why succession planning is critical to the future of nurse leaders</h2> With a large number of nurse executives transitioning out of their current roles in the coming years, this exodus of key leaders heightens the need for succession planning to prepare the next generation of leaders. The AONL&nbsp;Foundation plays a critical role in funding important research that addresses these issues. The recent study CNO Turnover – Is the crisis still brewing? is a great example of how the AONL&nbsp;Foundation is funding important research. Recently, the AONL&nbsp;Foundation interviewed the lead author of the study, Donna Sullivan Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN, who is interim dean and a professor at Healthcare Systems &amp; Outcomes, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and associate CNO for academic affairs at UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC. <h2>AONL: Why is research critical to building a strong foundation for nurse leaders?</h2> Donna Havens (DH): It allows them to practice based on evidence, based on the latest knowledge that’s available, and researchers need to develop that knowledge so leadership practice can be sound. There are researchers that help develop the knowledge, but I work closely with the nurse leaders to help them translate it into their everyday practice. There are a few nurse leaders, such as AONL&nbsp;members, who both develop and use the knowledge. AONL: Where are you in the process of publishing your study on CNO turnover? DH: My colleague, Dr. Cheryl Jones, also from UNC-Chapel Hill, and I have completed the data collection. We presented it at the last AONL&nbsp;annual meeting in March, and now we’re working toward publications and more presentations. AONL: What are some of the key findings from your study and what are their implications on nurse leadership and career planning? DH: The findings from our most recent study showed that CNO turnover is still a major issue, just as it was six years ago when we conducted our initial research.* Our latest study lays out a pathway for what nurse leaders are telling us they need to be successful. We asked them if they find themselves in a position where they are voluntarily leaving a position or being asked to leave a position, what kind of support they need and what kind of support works. We asked them about the most important skills they felt would make them successful in their career. These nurse leaders reported the first one was knowledge about informatics and technology. That is not at all surprising when you consider what’s going on in health care organizations with technology today. That was one area they felt they needed more knowledge.The other top areas they identified were developing the ability to understand and deal with finances; teamwork, in particular being part of the C-suite team; and communication skills. AONL: How do you think the results of your study will impact academia? DH: We’re hoping that the findings are disseminated widely so that graduate and nursing programs will incorporate some of this into their curricula. AONL:&nbsp; Can you tell me about the role the AONL&nbsp;Foundation played in supporting this research? DH: The AONL&nbsp;Foundation was the sole sponsor of the research, so they funded the conduct of the study. Without the AONL&nbsp;Foundation, this important study would never have taken place. AONL: Could you describe how CNO turnover is evolving? DH: There still is a fairly high number of nurse executives who are stepping down or retiring in the next 5 years. This may be partly due to age, but our findings also suggest that there are other possible factors driving this exodus of key leaders who direct the delivery of health care. We as a profession need to understand those factors and intervene when possible. This type of research will illuminate the key factors that need to be addressed. AONL: Is there a line of leaders ready to take over those roles? DH: We found that generally, succession planning is not happening to the degree that we might like.&nbsp; There is a greater need for nurses in general in certain areas of the country and in certain practices. Some of our respondents didn’t know if their organization had a succession plan. There’s a need for well-planned succession planning. That doesn’t just mean filling the role but it also involves how a person gets ready to take over the role and how you support them once they have moved into it. AONL: Why is it important for organizations like the AONL&nbsp;Foundation to support research in nurse leadership? DH: They help us ascertain the important knowledge we need to have to improve the quality of patient care and the quality of nursing work. These are incredibly important foci and intricately related to one another. There are actually not many organizations funding this type of research. For instance, NIH or NINR does not fund this type of nursing research. So it’s essential that the AONL&nbsp;Foundation and other organizations support this important work. AONL: What was the response from nurse leaders at the 2014 AONL&nbsp;annual meeting where you presented your key findings? DH: The response by the nurse leaders at the meeting was overwhelmingly positive. Many came up to speak with us and offer encouragement about this important research after our presentation. My colleague, Cheryl Jones, and I invited the attendees to ask questions and offer insights to help us better understand what some of the findings meant. They enthusiastically suggested additional studies that they believed needed to be conducted. We would like to conduct additional studies to better understand this important area. Six years passed between our first CNO turnover study, also sponsored by AONL, and this one. We feel it would be important to continue this particular line of inquiry more often, perhaps every 3 years. We would love to partner with the �� to do this because every time you conduct research you learn how you could do the work better and what critical new questions are on the horizon. Reference: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18421994" target="_blank">*Chief nursing officer retention and turnover: a crisis brewing? Results of a national survey.</a> Jones CB, Havens DS, Thompson PA. J Healthcare Management. 2008 Mar-Apr;53(2):89-105; discussion 105-6. Fri, 19 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Workforce Research Interview: Jeffrey Adams /foundation/research/adams <h2>Cracking the Code of “Good Nursing Leadership”</h2> An interview with Jeffrey Adams, R.N., Ph.D., Center for Innovations in Care Delivery Massachusetts General Hospital, a Robert Wood Johnson executive nurse fellow, and a 2015 �� Small Grant Recipient. What makes a good nurse leader? What effect does good nursing leadership have on the patient? On quality outcomes? On staff satisfaction? What makes nurses loving leaders? How do we put the best nurses possible in those leadership roles? Jeffrey Adams, R.N., Ph.D., and the team of researchers he works with are working to help quantifiably answer those questions and more in their research, Multi-Site Analysis of Nurse Leaders’ Influence Over Professional Practice Environments. We recently sat down with Jeff to check in and see how the research is progressing. <h2>Here’s some of our conversation.</h2> AONL: You’ve talked in the past that one thing you want to do with this research is to “Quantify Love.” What exactly does that mean? Jeff Adams (JA): The idea that “leadership is love” is not new. Jean Watson and others have been talking about it for a while now. We’ve all been in situations where we’ve learned from a real leader who cares and truly demonstrates that. With this research, we want to begin to learn how leaders who feel and express love influence the practice environments they work in. We want to be able to quantify love. AONL: What do you see the possible outcomes of this research being? JA: Well, that’s a big question! (laughs) There are so many ways this research will benefit the nursing profession, and health care overall. We are really at a starting point. We hope our research will fuel additional research. While we’re working to answer some questions, other questions are popping up. We hope that we, and other researchers, will have the opportunity to continue to build upon this study. Initially though, we want to be able to say, or at least start to say, “This is what great nursing leadership looks like.” We already know that great nurse leaders are influential. They need to be able to have their voice heard, and they need to be around the table with other leaders to do so. They need to lead both the nursing profession and their own organizations. We want to begin to quantify those intangibles. We want to begin to build a profile of a person who fits those roles and what educational programs help them do so effectively. We also know there is a relationship between great leaders and positive outcomes and successes. Health care organizations spend a lot of money on leadership development to achieve more and better positive outcomes and successes. There are over 400,000 nurses in middle management in the acute care settings in the United States. There are 5,000 hospitals and 5,000-6,000 CNOs and over 3.1 million nurses. That is a lot of people, and a lot of hospitals investing in leadership development. As of right now there is no quantifiable data on the outcomes of those leadership development dollars. There is also nothing quantifiably linking leadership development with the impact on patient outcomes. We want to change that. AONL: Where are you currently in the research process? JA: We finished collecting data at the end of August. Now we are analyzing and evaluating what the data tells us. We’re planning to present our findings at the 2016 AONL&nbsp;Annual meeting in Texas. Everyone should attend to hear us! In all seriousness, in addition to the funding from the AONL&nbsp;Foundation, a big part of the success of this study will be due to the AONL&nbsp;members and their organizations. The members involved are committed to understanding nursing leadership in their own organizations as well as in the profession as a whole. We are tremendously grateful to them for taking the time to do this study and help with this research. Without the two pieces of funding from the AONL&nbsp;Foundation and the AONL&nbsp;constituency, we would not be able to do this research. We are so thankful. AONL: Can you tell me about the role AONL&nbsp;Foundation played in supporting this research? JA: The thing is, there’s really no other place to start besides the AONL&nbsp;Foundation when it comes to funding research into nurse leadership. There are other organizations that offer funding, but the AONL&nbsp;Foundation is the primary place researchers in nurse leadership can go. This is because �� is committed to the same things the researchers are – what makes nursing leaders excellent. There have been great researchers who have committed their lives to helping grow and develop the nursing profession and nurse leaders, and they have had to work so hard to fit their research into the current funding paradigm. With the ��, researchers like us do not have to jump through such complicated hoops. AONL&nbsp;Foundation is the centerpiece of nursing leadership research, and ��is known for being the place where nurse leaders congregate. It’s a wonderful opportunity that AONL&nbsp;Foundation has taken to develop research around the AONL&nbsp;member constituency and how to make them better. And this is why people have to give to the Foundation because there is no other vehicle to fund research in nursing leadership right now. (Can you tell I’m passionate about this?) The �� also helped to identify great collaboration opportunities. I have the privilege of working with an amazing team of both emerging and leading researchers from top academic institutions who are equally committed to understanding and quantifying great nursing leadership. That idea that “Leadership is Love” might sound corny, but starts right at our core! We’re going to be able to accomplish our long-term goal to crack the code of “good nursing leadership” (or at least make giant leaps), because we really like each other! AONL: Who are the members of your research team on this study? JA: I am so privileged to work with an amazing team of researchers. They are: Matt Gregas, Ph.D. Senior Research Statistician Boston College Maja Djukic, Ph.D., R.N. Assistant Professor Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar (2012 - 2015) New York University - College of Nursing Ashley-Kay Fryer Doctoral Student in Health Policy Management Harvard Graduate School of Arts &amp; Sciences | Harvard Business School And we’re so appreciative of the advisement we receive from Drs. Linda Aiken, Jeanette Ives Erickson, Chris Kovner, and the support we’ve received from each of the nurse leaders and the organizations participating in our study. AONL: Can you share any tidbits or insights you’ve gleaned so far? JA: No spoilers! Come see us in Texas next year at the 2016 AONL&nbsp;Annual Meeting in Fort Worth. We’ll share more there! Fri, 19 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Workforce Research