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Research Projects

Featured CHOPR Research Projects

The National Institute of Nursing Research gives CHOPR the go ahead to extend our study on health equity and patient outcomes.

June 2022 | The four-year $3.3m multilevel panel study will significantly expand the work which began nearly 30 years ago. In this competitive continuation, we will conduct surveys twice in seven states in the US. Our aim is to not just understand the benefits of organizational change for patient outcomes, but to understand how to target organizational change via interventions that can have a transformative impact on health equity, nurse wellbeing, and patient outcomes.

The largest initiative to improve hospital work environments to date has officially begun, with an award of four million euros from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Program.

Magnet4Europe will implement an evidence-based intervention based on the successful Magnet Recognition Program®, a voluntary hospital designation for nursing care excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

The U.S. Clinician Wellbeing Study is the first large-scale evaluation of the mental health and wellbeing of hospital nurses and physicians in the U.S. The study has been approved by the ANCC Research Council and strives to discover the value of positive work environments. More

More CHOPR Research Projects

  • National Institute of Nursing Research

Panel Study of Effects of Changes in Nursing on Patient Outcomes

PI: Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN

We replicated measurements made in 1999 and 2006 across hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies in four states to examine organizational-level changes over time.

Comparing Quality and Cost of Care Across Nursing Environments

PI: Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, CRNP, FAAN, Co-PI: Jeffrey H. Silber, MD, PhD

This three-year study explores whether there is an economic case for improving the nursing environment.with respect to quality, cost, and value.

The Impact of Nursing on In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patient Outcomes

PI: Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, CRNP, FAAN, Co-I: Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN and Robert A. Berg, MD

This three-year project explores the relationship between nursing and inpatient outcomes post-cardiac arrest. 

Advanced Training in Nursing Outcomes Research (T32)

PI: Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN

The Program has trained 26 PhDs and 37 postdoctoral trainees, the vast majority or whom are now employed in research in 44 different institutions in 24 states

  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Performance: Missed Nursing Care and Infant Outcomes

Co-PI: Eileen T. Lake, PhD, MSN, MA, BSN, FAAN

The goal is develop evidence about the association of missed care with NICU patient outcomes and parent satisfaction for Very Low Birthweight Infants.

Nursing Resources and Health Care-Associated Infections: Measures of Hospital Performance

Subaward PI: Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN

Whether the variations in nurse staffing, skill mix, nurses’ educational qualifications, and the quality of nurse work environments explain the continued variability in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) despite the identification of evidence-based clinical practices. 

  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

The Impact of Nursing on Racial Disparities in Surgical Outcomes 

Co-PI: Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, CRNP, FAAN

We will separately determine the effects of patient, surgeon, nursing, and hospital characteristics on racial disparities, closely examine the relationship between nursing and disparities in specific procedure and patient groups, and learn whether changes in nursing resources have  consequences for racial disparities in surgery outcomes.

Disparities in the Outcomes and Processes of Care for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

PI: J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN

We will examine the relationship between the organization and delivery of nursing care and in-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes among Black patients.

  • National Institute of Aging

A Panel Study of Hospital Nursing Resources and Racial Disparities in Elder Outcomes

PI: Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, CRNP, FAAN, 

The goal of this study is to examine how differences in nursing practice environments in minority serving hospitals have contributed to widening or reducing outcomes disparities based on race/ethnicity among older Medicare beneficiaries 65+.

  • National Council of the State Boards of Nursing

Influence of Nurse Practitioner Practice Restrictions on Chronic Disease Health Disparities

PI: J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN

Investigating whether disparities in chronic disease outcomes are linked to the inability of nurse practitioners to provide all the necessary care due to restrictions in scope of practice and organizational practice environments

Nurse to patient staffing ratios & outcomes in NY & IL: Implications for safe staffing & nurse licensure policy

PI: Karen B. Lasater. PHd, RN

Baseline evaluation to determine whether staffing variation has adverse consequences for patients, in terms of patient safety and quality of care, and for nurses, in terms of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave