MSU awarded grant to study link between nursing and patient care
Midwestern State University Awarded $299,953 as Part of National Effort to Study Link Between Nursing and Patient Care
Research Team to Study the effect of off-peak work environments on nursing care
Midwestern State University has been awarded $299,953 over the next two years to research ways to improve nursing care. The grant is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI), a $19 million program that will generate and disseminate research showing a link between what nurses do and the contributions they make to advancing better and safer care for patients.
The grant will enable researchers to understand more about nurses' work at night and on weekends when there are fewer services, more inexperienced staff, and less supervision available, and the potential impact on care delivery. For 30 years, studies have shown a negative effect on patient outcomes associated with weekend and night shifts. By interviewing nurses from hospitals in Dallas and Houston and by examining hospital policies and procedures, the researchers will explore aspects of the nurses' work environments at nights and weekends that could impact patient outcomes.
"The majority of nursing care in hospitals is delivered outside of the Monday through Friday work week, however, we know little about how the care is delivered æafter hours'" says Hamilton. Studies have shown that cardiac arrests and deaths are more likely to occur on nights and weekends and we are hoping that asking front-line care givers such as nurses will help us understand what is different about the hospital environment on night and weekend shifts.
Nurses account for more than half of all health care providers in the United States. But little research exists to demonstrate the link between what nurses do and the effect of those interventions on patient care and safety. INQRI will fill the gap by applying rigorous science to expose that link.
"It takes a nurse to make a difference in the quality of care we get in hospitals, but if that nurse is overworked, under-motivated or lacks adequate support to keep patients healthy and safe, we all suffer," said INQRI director Mary Naylor, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. "Without evidence linking nurses to better patient care, their contributions often go unrecognized. This study helps to supply that evidence."
The interdisciplinary research team also includes Drs. Patti Hamilton, a nurse researcher from Midwestern State University, Gretchen Gemeinhardt, a health care administrator, Sondip Mathur, an economist at Texas Southern University, Teresa Walsh, a nurse at Texas Woman's University and Marie Campbell, a sociologist and Professor Emeriti at University of Victoria, Canada.
"By funding interdisciplinary research, we expect this program to improve the safety, reliability, quality and efficiency of healthcare practiced in the United States," said Lori Melichar, Ph.D., senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"This project will determine what nurses do that impacts quality, and will help transform the way health care is delivered," said Mark Pauly, Ph.D, the Bendheim Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and co-director of the INQRI program.
Midwestern State University is currently the leading public liberal arts university of the state of Texas. Faculty, administrators, staff, and students actively participate in an academic community that focuses, refines, and continuously challenges points of understanding. Liberal arts form the basis of the education provided in both traditional liberal arts areas and professional disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The university is dedicated to excellence in teaching, enhanced by significant research, creative discovery, and service. Curricular and co-curricular activities support students' intellectual, emotional, ethical, social, and physical growth and foster the ability to see the past clearly, to examine the present fairly, and to act with judiciousness.
The university offers an affordable, nurturing, and challenging learning environment that serves citizens of Texas, other states, and many countries. The university strives to prepare its graduates to set high goals, be productive members of the global society, understand and relate to people and ideas different from their own, and continue to learn throughout their lives.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.