(NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 28, 2008) – New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA) awarded its 2008 C.A.R.E. (Clinical Practice Administration Research Education) Award for Excellence in Research to Rutgers College of Nursing faculty member Linda Flynn.
Flynn, assistant professor at the College of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will be honored with three other C.A.R.E. award recipients during the NJSNA awards banquet during the New Jersey Nursing Convention at the Tropicana Resorts and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. on April 2.
Flynn, a Center Valley, PA resident, was honored for her research on how nurse staffing levels and work environment impact patient outcomes, as well as nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction and retention.
“I felt much honored and very excited to be selected to receive this award,” said Flynn. “It shows that my peers appreciate my work, and that means a great deal to me.”
Her recently released survey, The State of the Nursing Workforce in New Jersey: Findings from a Statewide Survey of Registered Nurses, was mailed to the homes of 44,343 New Jersey registered nurses and more than 22,000 nurses responded to the survey. It was the largest and most comprehensive surveys of New Jersey nurses ever conducted.
Flynn’s survey indicated that New Jersey registered nurses are teetering on the brink of exhaustion due to heavier work loads, feeling that they are not able to provide proper patient care and receiving little support from management.
The survey was also published in a booklet that was distributed to New Jersey assembly persons and state senators as well as to chief nursing officers. Flynn has published more than 15 articles in leading research journals and she has been selected to present her research at more than 20 national and international research conferences.
From its headquarters at Rutgers Newark, Rutgers College of Nursing offers a broad range of academic programs on all three Rutgers campuses. The college offers a master’s program with unique practitioner specialties, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, and the first to offer a Ph.D. nursing degree in New Jersey.