AAOHN Foundation

 

UPS OHN Grant Research

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2020 Recipient: Sally Moyce, PhD, RN, Bozeman, Montana

Testimonial: My research will investigate the effect that state heat standard citations have on the provision of drinking water in agricultural work sites. Data from this analysis will inform discussions regarding the efficacy of regulatory activities on the practices in the field. Findings will provide information about the degree that inspections and subsequent citations influence the health and safety of agricultural workers and whether or not employers respond to citations by improving access to water. These findings may also influence how OSHA funding is allocated in the future. Research outcomes are expected to have a significant impact on policy and enforcement agencies, employers and supervisors, and workers themselves. Additionally, occupational health nurses who work with agricultural workers may use this information to advocate for increased access to drinking water at work sites and may promote efforts to reduce heat related illnesses in the fields.

Research Project: Effect of State Regulatory Citations on Water Access of Agriculture Workers

 

AAOHN Foundation Grant Research

 

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2019 Recipient: Laura Jones Ridge, ANP-BC, AAHIVE

Testimonial: This research will investigate the occupational health implications of a widely-used strategy in healthcare, task shifting, for the cadre that provides the majority of care in sub-Saharan Africa, nurses. It will examine how nurses in one sub-Saharan country, Liberia, learn to protect themselves as new tasks are shifted to them, and to what extent they are able to put that knowledge into practice. The findings of this study will have the potential to be used in the design and implementation of occupational health interventions at the facility, regional, and national levels in Liberia.

Research Project: A Case Study on the Effects of Informal Task Shifting on the Work of Liberian Nurses

 

New Investigator Research Grants Funded by Medique Products

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2020 Recipient: Anne Gelber, MSN, ANP-C, PhDc, Santa Monica, California

Testimonial: My research will investigate the associations between workplace factors and the duration of breastfeeding, the duration of expression of breast milk in the workplace, and adherence to CDC guidelines for cleaning a breast pump among employee nurses who return to work within one year after childbirth.   The research participants will include nurse managers, registered nurses, and hospital representatives from multiple hospitals in Los Angeles County.  Research results are expected to inform policy, protect the rights of working mothers, and inform hospitals on ways to ensure that employees can meet their breastfeeding goals.

Research Project: Expression of Breast Milk in the Workplace: An analysis Among Nurses, Nurse Managers and Hospital Representatives in General Acute Care Hospitals

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2018 Recipient: Roxana Chicas, BSN, RN

Testimonial: It is an honor to have been awarded the Medique Product New Investigator Research Grant as I harness the opportunity to pursue my doctoral degree and to have two amazing organizations, Medique Products and AAOHN, believe in my work. The pilot study you are supporting aims to identify occupational and culturally-appropriate cooling methods to keep agricultural workers safer while they labor in extreme heat conditions. While receiving this grant is amazing for my career, it is more amazing for the agricultural workers who perform one of the most vital jobs, and yet lack basic protections at work. Your support will allow me to remain committed and dedicated to researching evidence-based solutions to improve the working conditions and health status of agricultural workers.

Research Project: Targeted Heat-Adaptive Interventions for Florida Agricultural Workers: A Pilot Study                               

2016 Recipient: Michael Callihan

Testimonial: "Through the identification of the biomechanics of nursing movements, lifting techniques will be identified that place the worker at increased risk for back injury. This biomechanical data will allow for a focused intervention into the educational methods used to teach lifting techniques for workers that will place them at lower levels of risk.

This study will compare the biomechanics of those individuals who are trained in weightlifting techniques to those who are not trained in weightlifting techniques to identify differences in muscle activation and joint angles during lifting and moving activities. The comparison of these two populations will be instrumental in the design of future training methods for the lifting and moving of patients."

Research Project: Getting to the Core of Back Injury Prevention in Nurses

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2015 Recipient: Ann Marie Loiseau

Testimonial: "Low health literacy is associated with poor health outcomes including more emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and chronic illnesses. The majority of adults have difficulty finding, processing, and understanding basic health information, yet low health literacy can be difficult to detect. Printed education material, the most common source of health information, is often written at a high reading level. Some nurses may have limited education and experience with health literacy. Participants at an occupational health nurses conference, in a convenience sample, will participate in a pretest-posttest study to explore the effect of a health literacy education program. It is hoped that the nurses participating in the program will have a significant improvement in health literacy knowledge as well as a high level of confidence in their ability to evaluate printed education material. In addition, occupational health nurses, as well as the communities they serve, will benefit from this program because it will improve access to understandable and actionable health information, which has the potential to improve health outcomes. More education programs need to be developed to provide occupational health nurses with ongoing effective health literacy education programs."

Research Project: Health Literacy Education Program

 

2014 Recipient: Julia Bass

Testimonial: "I am honored to receive the 2014 New Investigator Research Grant sponsored by Medique Products. The research project that I will complete, thanks to this generous support, will help to understand associations between occupational stress and obesity among hospital working nurses. Occupational stress is potentially modifiable, and if it is associated with obesity among nurses, effective work-related solutions can be developed to support nurses’ health.

As a doctoral student in Occupational Health Nursing, at the early stage of my career, I am extremely thankful to Medique Products and to the AAOHN Foundation."

Research Project: Occupational Stress and Obesity in Hospital-based Female Nurses

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2013 Recipient: Dal Lae Chin

Testimonial: "The purpose of the proposed study is to identify chemical-related health symptoms, occupational injuries, work environments, and personal protective behaviors among Korean-American drycleaners. The findings of this study will provide the scientific basis for the development of more effective occupational health and safety training program strategies to reduce chemical exposure and to increase preventive behaviors among Korean dry cleaners. Specifically, the findings of this project will make a significant contribution to developing culturally-integrated occupational safety programs for minority workers in the dry cleaning industry."

Research Project: Chemical Exposure & Personal Protective Behaviors in Korean-American Drycleaners

New Investigator Research Grants Funded by Kelly Services 

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2018 Recipient: Aoyjai Prapanjaroensin, RN, BSN, PhD Candidate

Testimonial: In regard to my involvement in extracurricular activities in the UAB School of Nursing, it is my great honor since December 2013 to have been appointed by Dr. Patricia Patrician, the professor of School of Nursing as a research assistant. Her project funded by the Dean’s Scholar Award 2013 is titled “Circadian Misalignment in Shift-Working Nurses.” In this study, I have been working on collecting data among UAB nurses, data management, and data analyses. I have also currently served as a research assistant on the other research project titled “Nursing Leadership” skills in data analyses and writing the method and results of the article. Now I’m working on my own dissertation titled “The Relationship between Nurse Burnout and Medication Administration Errors” among Alabama nurses.

I know very well that the New Investigator Research Grant (Kelly Services) for encouraging research in the field of occupational and environment health is a prestigious award. During three years of study at UAB School of Nursing and being a member of AAOHN, I feel that I have worked hard enough and should be eligible to try for the award. This scholarship was used for supporting data collection process for my research titled “The Relationship between Nurse Burnout and Medication Administration Errors” among Alabama nurses. This study has the capability to inform the Alabama health care system of hospital level organizational attributes that are important to nurses and patients. Beside the financial support to me who have received the scholarship award, the scholarship can encourage the recipients and help boost my morale for life long study.

Research Project: The Relationship between Nurse Burnout and Medication Administration Errors  

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2016 Recipient: Linda Reiher

Testimonial: "A mandatory flu vaccination program for health care employees protects the workforce and promotes a healthy work environment for patients and the community. The use of iPads at vaccination clinics facilitates documentation of real-time data through automation of the process. lPads improve the efficiency of the OHN professional at any institution or venue where vaccines are administered, lPad utilization electronically captures flu vaccination encounters in an electronic medical record while reducing the number of lost papers, faxes, and potentially illegible paper consents. As a result, administrative work load and data entry errors are significantly reduced with improved accuracy of immunization data tracking. An accurate database is created immediately at the time of vaccination allowing employers to see real-time employee vaccination status data."

Research Project: Reducing the Cost of Mandatory Flu Program Through iPad Technology

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Pam Burnette, Director Healthcare Product for Kelly Services, and Pam Carter, AAOHN President

2014 Recipient: Karen Mastroianni

Testimonial: "The purpose of this project is to update a previous document from the Success Tools titled “Measuring and Articulating Value.” The document has been an excellent resource for determining the cost benefit of occupational health nurse (OHN) services; however, it was originally published in 1998 and has not been updated since.

Occupational health nurses are in a key position to improve employee well-being, work conditions, safety, and injury/illness treatment as well as make a substantial impact on business cost drivers. To accomplish this, OHNs must align occupational health service as a business strategy and demonstrate the value of the OHN services. It is necessary to position OHN value as contributing to and supporting the mission of the organization plus demonstrating outcomes. Employee’s benefit by receiving the best services with positive outcomes. This requires not merely performing the roles and responsibilities to the highest quality standards but documenting and communicating the outcome of services delivered (Mastroianni & Machles, 2013). This revised tool will serve as a guide for demonstrating value and positioning OHN services as improving employee health and safety; as well as essential components for business success, profits and cost savings."

Research Project: Methods for Demonstrating Value of OHN

 

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2013 Recipient: Nicole Shaffer

Testimonial: "This research will assist occupational health nurses and facilities in identifying and planning appropriate staffing models and ratios based on the activities and needs of the organization. It will also assist those in determining the staff makeup and provide justification to senior leadership on the value and appropriateness of occupational health professionals. By having one tool set as the tool of choice for AAOHN many facilities and occupational health staff globally will be able to benefit from the findings."

Research Project: OHN Staffing Model Development