Research
Research is essential to advancing the science of nursing leadership and improving outcomes for patients and the nursing workforce. The Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy advances this commitment through the following strategic research goals:
- Lead and implement research and scholarship focused on leadership science to improve patient and nursing workforce outcomes.
- Advance research partnerships with professional organizations.
- Disseminate research findings to influence nursing leadership regionally, nationally, and globally.
Research Initiatives
Advanced Practice Research for Full Practice Authority
A Partnership Between the Schools of Nursing, Law, Management, and Medicine. At a national forum hosted by Case Western Reserve University in April 2024, 34 participants from across the country called for amplifying patient voices, advancing APRN research, strengthening workforce data, reimbursement, and legal protections, and fostering interprofessional collaboration and public advocacy.
Our team is publishing several articles based on analysis of national Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data from 2010–2019 to examine the impact of nurse practitioner Full Practice Authority (FPA) on healthcare utilization and patient outcomes.
Leadership Science Research
Our team leads national research on the impact of nurse leadership on work engagement, healthy work environment perceptions, and patient satisfaction, with plans to expand the research to additional nurse and patient outcomes.
NARRATE
Clinician burnout and workforce turnover significantly limits access to long-term care for older adults with 44% of nursing homes experiencing moderate staffing shortages and 32% experiencing high shortages resulting in waitlists for new residents. To ensure the demand for and accessibility to long-term care is not limited, exploration into and testing of multi-level clinician burnout interventions are needed. The NARRATE (Nurturing Multi-Level Adaptation through Reflection, Resilience, And Team Engagement) intervention is designed to enhance relational partnerships between frontline nursing staff and organizational leaders to improve individual well-being and organizational outcomes.
Project Visible
This pilot project, in collaboration with TruMerit and University Hospitals of Cleveland, will employ artificial intelligence to identify standardized nursing languages, specifically North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International (NANDA-I) and International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP), within existing electronic health record data. The initiative aims to generate robust, multisite evidence linking nursing interventions to patient outcomes and costs to ensure nursing contributions are visible and measurable. Ultimately, this work seeks to establish a validated framework for measuring nursing value while improving global interoperability and reducing documentation burden for clinicians.
A Global Steering Committee has been formed to guide future phases of this research.
Policy
Policy engagement is critical to empowering nurse leaders to influence health systems and shape the future of healthcare. The Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy advances this commitment through the following strategic policy goals:
- Increase the engagement of nurse leaders at all levels.
- Implement educational programs that lead to policy competence.
- Disseminate best practices in policy implementation.