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Title:      Enhancing Nursing Role Effectiveness Through Job Redesign

 

Principal Investigator:

 

Debbie White, RN, PhD

Calgary Health Region, University of Calgary

 

Funding Source: This research was made possible through funding from the following sponsors:

Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research

Calgary Health Region

 

Presentations/Publications/Updates:

 

Final report, Feb 2009

"Nursing Role Accountability and Health Promotion" Presented at IUHPE Conference, June 2007

“Understanding Nursing Practice” Presented at 4th Annual Nursing and Health Research Conference, April 2007

"Knowing the Patient and Decision Making" Presented at the University of Calgary, September 2006

Background:

 

The increasing demand for accountability and transparency in achieving improved health outcomes, coupled with the need to limit the impact of the nursing shortage make it imperative to:

·         Identify a process for assisting nursing providers to increase role effectiveness;

·         Examine the impact of job redesign on patient, provider and unit outcomes; and

·         Document the contribution of nursing care to patient outcomes

Optimizing the roles of nurses through job redesign is aimed at facilitating the adoption of the most appropriate nurse staffing models for high quality service delivery, improving workforce management, as well as improving the continuum of patient care.

Through thorough documentation of the job redesign process this project will inform future work aimed at optimizing service delivery through interprofessional health teams across various health care settings.

 

Objectives:

 

The purpose in this study is to assist nursing providers to optimize their roles by effectively utilizing their knowledge and skills in the provision of patient care. More specifically, researchers are analyzing the extent to which nurses’ activities are linked to specific nursing role functions. Subsequently, strategies will be designed and implemented to allow nurses to increase the amount of time spent on role functions and activities that are directly linked to selected positive patient, provider and unit outcomes.

 

Methods:

 

Volunteer participants for this project include registered nurses (RNs), nursing attendants (NAs), patient care managers, and patients from two medical units. One of these Units is participating in a job redesign.

The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather necessary information, including Function Analysis (palm pilot method used to describe and quantify the amount of time nurses spend on specific aspects of their role functions), face to face interviews, patient and provider questionnaires, and data extraction from clinical and administrative databases.

Project Team and Partners: 

 

Principal Investigator:	Debbie White, RN, PhD - Calgary Health Region, University of Calgary
Co-investigators:	Karen Jackson RN, MEd - Calgary Health Region
	Jeanne Besner RN, PhD - Calgary Health Region
	Diane Doran RN, PhD - University of Toronto
	Linda McGillis Hall RN, PhD - University of Toronto
	Esther Suter PhD, MSW - Calgary Health Region
	Karen Parent RN, PhD(c) - Queen’s University

 

A 20 member Advisory Committee is involved in all stages of this research. The committee is comprised of representatives from the Government of Alberta, professional associations (CARNA, CLPNA), educators/academics, senior leaders, managers and practitioners with the Calgary Health Region and across the province. 

Time Frame: This study is funded from October 2005 – October 2007 (extension to October 2008 pending).

Contact Information:

 

Debbie White RN, PhD, Principal Investigator

(403) 210-9627 debbie.white@albertahealthservices.ca

 

Karen Jackson RN, BScN, Med, Co-Investigator & Project Manager

(403) 943-0187 karen.jackson@albertahealthservices.ca