Sept. 30, 2009 - Michael Gates, Ph.D., a professor in San Diego State University's School of Nursing, has won a competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to conduct research on the supplemental nurse workforce and the link between the nursing workforce and patient outcomes.
About the award
Gates is one of just 15 nurse educators from around the country to receive the three-year $350,000 “Nurse Faculty Scholar” award this year. It is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing. The grant period begins this month.
“The generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will enable me to study the nursing workforce that is vital to our country’s health,” Gates said.
Research to examine supplemental nurse workforce
For his research, Gates will be examining the supplemental nurse workforce and surveying different types of supplemental nurses, including travel nurses, registry nurses and hospital per diem nurses. Supplemental nurses work shorter temporary assignments in hospitals and other health care facilities, on an as-needed basis. Though a critical component of the nursing workforce, few studies have been conducted to assess the needs of this particular group.
Gates will research what motivates supplemental nurses and how their work affects the quality of patient care. He will also examine how health care facilities use supplemental nurses and whether and how facilities economize costs by using supplemental nurses.
“Finding out what health care facilities can do better to improve the supplemental nurse work experience, while improving patient outcomes, would be a tremendous asset to health care workforce planning,” said Gates. “Knowing the intricacies of this workforce will also allow health care facilities to function on the basis of a more efficient economic model.”
Diane Hatton, DNSc, professor in the School of Nursing, and Gangaram Singh, management professor, will serve as his mentors.
“Gates’ research on the supplemental nurse workforce will provide a key glimpse on a little studied, yet critical component of health care labor force," Hatton said. "A better understanding of the relationship between the supplemental nursing workforce, the nursing community overall and the needs of health care facilities and patients, will undoubtedly pave the way for better, more coordinated patient care."
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholar Award aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing.
Supporting junior nurse faculty will help curb a severe shortage of nurse educators that threatens to undermine the health and health care of all Americans. Many nursing schools lack the resources needed to hire and support enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses.
As a result, nursing schools are turning away thousands of qualified applicants—rejecting the very people who can help reverse a serious looming nurse shortage. As the supply of nurses shrinks and the demand for their services grows, patient care will suffer.
The foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholars program aims to curb the effects of the nursing shortage by helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program provides talented junior faculty with salary and research support, as well as the chance to participate in institutional and national mentoring activities, leadership training and networking events with colleagues in nursing and other fields, while continuing to teach and provide institutional, professional and community service in their universities.
The program will also enhance the stature of the scholars’ academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.
To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.
The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered through the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. It is directed by Jacquelyn Campbell, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., who is the Anna D. Wolf chair and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
To learn more about the program, visit www.rwjfnursefacultyscholars.org.
Source: San Diego State University