Severe mental illness and mortality of hospitalized ACS patients in the VHA.

Background: Severe mental illness (SMI) has been associated with more medical co-morbidity and less cardiovascular procedure use for older patients with myocardial infarction. However, it is unknown whether SMI is associated with increased long term mortality risk among patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We tested the hypothesis that SMI is associated with higher one-year mortality following ACS hospitalization.

Measuring nurses' practice environments with the revised nursing work index: evidence from registered nurses in the Veterans Health Administration.

The Revised Nursing Work Index (NWI-R) is a widely used instrument for evaluating registered nurses' (RNs) practice environments. The existence of multiple subscale sets from the NWI-R raises questions about its generalizability. We tested the validity of the one-, three-, and five-subscale sets from the NWI-R and derived a short-form subscale set using a sample of RNs from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Nurse executive and staff nurse perceptions of the effects of reorganization in Veterans Health Administration hospitals.

Objective: To examine nurse executive perceptions of effects of service line reorganization on nurse executive roles, nursing staff and patient care, and compare nurse executive responses to staff nurse reports of job satisfaction and quality of care in the same types of Veterans Health Administration facilities.

Background: Although a growing body of research focuses on the association between nurse staffing structures, nurse satisfaction, and patient outcomes, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of hospital restructuring on nursing management and nursing staff.

Methods: Data on hospital and nursing service organization and nurse executive perceptions were collected through structured interviews with 125 nurse executives conducted from December 2002 through May 2003.

Nurse staffing and patient outcomes in Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Objective: To assess characteristics and perceptions of nurses working in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), comparing types of nursing personnel, to benchmark to prior studies across healthcare systems.

Background: Prior studies have shown relationships between positive registered nurse (RN) perceptions of the practice environment and patient outcomes. To date, no study has reported the comparison of RN perceptions of the practice environment in hospital nursing with those of non-RN nursing personnel.