Nationwide Children's Hospital receives grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Nationwide Children's Hospital received a $299,779 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation made under its Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative to identify the linkages between the quality of nursing care processes and the quality of outcomes.

The two-year grant (September 2007 – September 2009) will focus on identifying hospitalized children's perceptions of the quality of their nursing care. The long-term goal is to apply the results of this study to the development of age-appropriate pediatric patient satisfaction scales to be completed by the children themselves.

The project will be lead by Principal Investigator Nancy Ryan-Wenger, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, director of Nursing Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and a professor in the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University. The study's co-investigator is William Gardner, PhD, developmental psychologist and investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and a professor in Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

“Hospitalized children are rarely given an opportunity to evaluate the quality of their own nursing care,” Ryan-Wenger said. “Regardless of the age of hospitalized children, most items on pediatric patient satisfaction scales address the parents' experience or satisfaction with their children's care. Our study will focus on the care and services that matter most to children.”

Three goals of the study include, identify the nursing care processes that matter most to children during their hospitalization experience; estimate the extent to which age, gender, ethnicity/race or socioeconomic disparities exist in children's evaluations of the quality of their nursing care processes and outcomes; and compare parents' evaluations of their children's quality of nursing care processes and outcomes with the children's responses.

“We are honored to have received this grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” said Linda Stoverock, RN, MSN, CNAA, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services at Nationwide Children's Hospital. “It is a testament to our nationally recognized nursing and research programs. Nancy (Ryan-Wenger), Dr. (William) Gardener and their team's work over the next two years will aid in our mission to provide the highest quality of nursing excellence and care for all patients.”

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 35 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 http://www.rwjf.org .

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