Research

Researching past, current and future nursing workforces is essential to understanding and solving the nursing shortage in Oregon.  As Oregon's nursing workforce center, the Oregon Center for Nursing (OCN) is committed to providing quality, un-biased information on the nursing workforce in our state. OCN's research is used to monitor the status of the nursing workforce, make evidence-based program and activity decisions, and guide policy development.

Current Research

Healthcare Workforce Research 

The Oregon Center for Nursing (OCN) currently contracts with the State of Oregon's Office of Health Policy and Research (OHPR) to analyze nurse workforce data collected by the Oregon State Board of Nursing.  Reports will be presented to the Oregon Legislature and the general public. The goal of the research is to reveal crucial workforce elements, such as the number of active practitioners, clinical specialties, geographic distribution, and diversity. This will allow the State of Oregon to target finite public resources, inform health reform efforts, educational capacity expansion and employment training programs, evaluate healthcare workforce-related policies, and help Oregon prepare for and respond to emergency and disaster situations.

In February 2010, OCN provided the Office of Health Policy and Research with an interim report on the current state of the nursing workforce in Oregon.  A copy of this report is available here.

Career Satisfaction

The Oregon Center for Nursing recently released Career Satisfaction Among Oregon's Registered Nurses: A Report from the Oregon Center for Nursing.  Career satisfaction among registered nurses has both short-term and long-term impacts on the nursing workforce supply in Oregon.  The findings reported in Career Satisfaction Among Oregon’s Registered Nurses can be useful for understanding nurse workforce trends, advising nursing students about career options, evaluating best workplace practices and informing decisions surrounding workforce policy.

Past Research

Information on the Oregon Center for Nursing's past research projects can be found in the following reports:

Who Gets In? Pilot Year Data from the Nursing Student Admissions Database (2009)

Oregon's Nurse Faculty Workforce: A Report from the Oregon Center for Nursing (2009)

WHEN, Not If ... A Report on Oregon's Registered Nurse Workforce (2005)  

Oregon Education-based Technology Needs Assessment: Expanding Nursing Education Capacity (2003)