Current Research |
The Mullan Institute is committed to building the research and policy base for more effective and more accountable governance of the health workforce. Our central focus is federal and international health workforce issues, in particular the quality of workforce data and the effectiveness of public and private policies that determine health care education and delivery system practices.
The Institute has a core set of projects and programs that carry common themes, such as, health equity, diversity, social determinants of health, and professional education. These core projects are complemented by additional research projects by various Institute members, as listed below.
The Institute has a core set of projects and programs that carry common themes, such as, health equity, diversity, social determinants of health, and professional education. These core projects are complemented by additional research projects by various Institute members, as listed below.
Core Projects
health equity workforce research center
Funded through a collaborative agreement with HRSA, this center began in 2018 and focuses on how different health professions are addressing health equity, including diversity and inclusion of students and faculty, and a commitment to a broader social mission of improving population health and health equity. LEARN MORE...
2019 - 2020 Studies
Funder: HRSA
Institute Members: Patricia Pittman, Clese Erikson, Candice Chen, Sonal Batra, Jeongyoung Park, Julie Orban, Eric Luo, Margaret Ziemann, Emily Bass, Drishti Pillai
2019 - 2020 Studies
- Assessing the Impact of State Policies on Nursing Education Regulation and Program Outcomes
- Assessing the Strength and Diversity of Medical Schools’ IPE and SDOH Offerings
- Case Studies of Nurse Practitioner Residency Programs
- Developing a Social Mission Research Agenda
- Do Health Professions’ Accreditation Standards Include Social Mission Metrics?
- Residency Training in Federally Qualified Health Centers: The Impact on Staffing Capacity and Productivity
Funder: HRSA
Institute Members: Patricia Pittman, Clese Erikson, Candice Chen, Sonal Batra, Jeongyoung Park, Julie Orban, Eric Luo, Margaret Ziemann, Emily Bass, Drishti Pillai
health workforce Policy research center
Funded through a collaborative agreement with HRSA, this center is one of eight national health workforce research centers and one technical assistance center that provides timely and topical health workforce research to strengthen the public’s understanding of health workforce and inform health workforce policy discussions at the national, state, and local levels. Each year, it produces between four and six studies that focus on how policies and financial incentives are changing the configuration of the health workforce and how that, in turn, is impacting outcomes. LEARN MORE...
2019 - 2020 Studies
Institute Members: Patricia Pittman, Clese Erikson, Candice Chen, Anne Markus, Marsha Regenstein, Jeongyoung Park, Eric Luo, Margaret Ziemann, Nicholas Chong, Drishti Pillai
2019 - 2020 Studies
- Mapping the Location of Health Centers in Relation to ‘Maternity Care Deserts’: Implications for Pregnant Women’s Access to Care and Outcomes
- Simulating the Impact of Workforce Configurations on Quality in Community Health Centers: A Feasibility Study to Develop a Simulation Tool
- The Impact of Independent Freestanding Emergency Departments in Texas on Rural and Underserved Health Workforce
- The Utilization of Medical Scribes and Their Impact on CHCs
- What Factors Predict Use of Community Health Workers in Community Health Centers?
Institute Members: Patricia Pittman, Clese Erikson, Candice Chen, Anne Markus, Marsha Regenstein, Jeongyoung Park, Eric Luo, Margaret Ziemann, Nicholas Chong, Drishti Pillai
Professional Association Studies
The Mullan Institute contracts with health professions associations to conduct research on specific issues of concern to their membership. To date, studies have been conducted in the areas of social work, hematology, psychology, osteopathic medicine, emergency medicine and palliative care.
Current studies include:
Current studies include:
Council on Social Work Education
The purpose of this project is to assist the social work profession to better understand the size and scope of the workforce and to help improve the data infrastructure within the profession. A survey of 1,400 individuals graduating from social work programs was completed in 2017.
Funder: Council on Social Work Education
Institute Member: Edward Salsberg
Funder: Council on Social Work Education
Institute Member: Edward Salsberg
Nephrology Workforce Studies
Using a variety of data sources, including some original data collection, this project is assessing trends and factors influencing supply, demand, need, distribution and use of nephrologists. Among the factors being studied are the changing delivery and financing systems and population health needs. The goal of the project is to provide the specialty with information to promote a supply and distribution of nephrologists to assure access to high quality kidney care.
Funder: The American Society of Nephrology
Institute Member: Edward Salsberg
Funder: The American Society of Nephrology
Institute Member: Edward Salsberg
Workforce Study of Hematology Physicians
The purpose of this study is to describe the trends impacting the current hematology physician workforce, with a particular focus on identifying those practicing benign hematology. Using surveys and focus groups, GW will:
Funder: The American Society of Hematologists
HWI Members: Clese Erikson, Leah Masselink, Edward Salsberg, Emily Bass
- Examine specialty choice and career influences that lead hematology/oncology fellows to pursue a career in hematology and how interest in a career in hematology changes over time.
- Assess the current job market for new hematologists.
- Identify key factors likely to impact future supply and demand for hematologists.
Funder: The American Society of Hematologists
HWI Members: Clese Erikson, Leah Masselink, Edward Salsberg, Emily Bass
social mission IN nursing education
The Mullan Institute is engaged in a multi-year study assessing the social mission in nursing education., aided by an Advisory Committee of leaders in the field of nursing education.
In phase two of this study, we will look deeper into nursing education to identify programs and people who have played prominent roles in promoting social mission values. We will continue to draw on our National Advisory Committee for guidance on topics, people, and places and as participants in some data gathering and analysis.
The value of this exercise will be the specification of nursing education programs that are models of social mission classroom and clinical learning. These insights will provide examples of how social mission concepts can be enhanced in planning and implementing nursing education. Case studies will bring evidence-based and example-specific authority to the discussion about social mission in nursing education today, providing nurse educators with valuable insight into the preparation their students to be active participants in the effort to build a culture of health. Learn more...
Funders: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Institute Members: Fitzhugh Mullan, Patricia Pittman, Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, Edward Salsberg, Emily Bass
In phase two of this study, we will look deeper into nursing education to identify programs and people who have played prominent roles in promoting social mission values. We will continue to draw on our National Advisory Committee for guidance on topics, people, and places and as participants in some data gathering and analysis.
The value of this exercise will be the specification of nursing education programs that are models of social mission classroom and clinical learning. These insights will provide examples of how social mission concepts can be enhanced in planning and implementing nursing education. Case studies will bring evidence-based and example-specific authority to the discussion about social mission in nursing education today, providing nurse educators with valuable insight into the preparation their students to be active participants in the effort to build a culture of health. Learn more...
Funders: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Institute Members: Fitzhugh Mullan, Patricia Pittman, Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, Edward Salsberg, Emily Bass
social mission metrics study
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and HRSA funding a national research project entitled the Social Mission Metrics study that has developed measurement tools for the social mission content of medical, nursing, and dental education. The study team is conducting a national self-study campaign to encourage health professions schools to gauge their social mission engagement through the process of self-assessment. LEARN MORE...
Funders: HRSA; The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Institute Member: Fitzhugh Mullan, Sonal Batra, Julie Orban
Funders: HRSA; The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Institute Member: Fitzhugh Mullan, Sonal Batra, Julie Orban
Additional Research
Caring For Our Own network
A greater appreciation of social determinants of health has led to increasing emphasis on advocacy and activism in health professional curricula around the world. However, the actual experiences of students who advocate on behalf of their peers, patients and communities are often not recognized as learning opportunities. In many cases, students have been targeted for speaking out, at a time that they are particularly vulnerable to unfair assessment and sabotaged professional advancement. The Caring For Our Own network is a transnational network nested within the Social Medicine Consortium that promotes democratic culture within health professional education and provides vulnerable student-advocates a means of extra-institutional support and solidarity.
Funder: N/A
Institute Member: Lalit Narayan
Funder: N/A
Institute Member: Lalit Narayan
EVALUATION OF BALTIMORE ALLIANCE FOR CAREERS IN HEALTHCARE (BACH) COACHING PROGRAM
BACH offers free employment coaching to entry level health workers earning less than $14 per hour working for seven Baltimore area hospitals. The researchers will compare outcomes such as job turnover, promotions, and further education for those who enroll in the coaching program compared to a matched sample of eligible employees who elected not to receive coaching services. The project will also include developing a model that shows how employee characteristics affect the probability of receiving coaching.
Funder: The Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative; PI: Burt Barnow
Funder: The Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative; PI: Burt Barnow
GW-DC Health Professions Pipeline Program
This initiative targets D.C.-area students interested in health care, health equity, and careers in the health sciences for mentorship and educational development led by the Mullan Institute team and the SMHS Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Funder: Atlantic Philanthropies
HWI Members: Sonal Batra, Fitzhugh Mullan, Julie Orban
Funder: Atlantic Philanthropies
HWI Members: Sonal Batra, Fitzhugh Mullan, Julie Orban
Impact of Health Care Delivery System Innovations and Reform
Researchers will will examine policy-relevant health care delivery system innovations and reforms and their impacts on practitioners and the patients for whom they care. Analyses include an examination of the supervision of advanced practice clinicians (e.g., nurse practitioners, physician assistants) in office-based settings in the United States, a comparison of primary care physicians in certified patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices to those in non-PCMH practices, and a comparison of the tasks performed by various primary care practitioners (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS).
Funder: National Center for Health Statistics
Institute Member: Ellen Kurtzman
Funder: National Center for Health Statistics
Institute Member: Ellen Kurtzman
language diversity and language barriers in Indian medical education
Medical education in India is in English but medical trainees and physicians interact with patients in over 122 languages. Little is known about language diversity among medical students, language barriers to academic success and patient care and strategies employed to overcome them. This pilot survey aims to create an snapshot of the language ecology at a single institution in Bangalore, India as a prelude to multi-site surveys of the Indian health professional training system.
Funder: N/A
Institute Members: Seble Frehywot, Lalit Narayan
Funder: N/A
Institute Members: Seble Frehywot, Lalit Narayan
National Partnership for the Safety Net: Convening Stakeholders to Inform, Implement, and Influence Health Policy
Researchers will conduct case studies of value-based payment collaborations between safety net hospitals and community health centers.
Funder: Kaiser Permanente
Institute Member: Leah Masselink
Funder: Kaiser Permanente
Institute Member: Leah Masselink
The Clinical Conversation Project
The Clinical Conversation Project uses design thinking to develop, implement and evaluate solutions to better prepare medical students to work with multi-lingual clinical populations. In the first phase, we are focusing on the creation of clinical phrasebooks and a pre-clinical language skills course for students at St. John's Medical College, Bangalore.
Funder: N/A
HWI Member: Lalit Narayan
Funder: N/A
HWI Member: Lalit Narayan
UK Faculty of Physician Associates Annual Census
The FPA Annual Census is a longitudinal cohort study of the all the Physician Associates (same as "Physician Assistants" in the US) in the United Kingdom. Since 2011, each PA and PA student has been surveyed annually regarding academic and clinical background, specialty of practice, scope of practice, job satisfaction and other factors influencing PA practice in the UK. The design of this cohort study allows each individual to be tracked over the years through a unique ID, which allows us to see individual-level changes in scope of practice over time.
Funder: N/A
Institute Member: Tamara Ritsema
Funder: N/A
Institute Member: Tamara Ritsema