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The Mullan Institute is committed to building the research and policy base for more effective and 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. These topics include questions about interdisciplinary team composition and roles; the impact of new technologies on the organization of work; the use of provider incentives as a strategy for modifying professional practice; the cost effectiveness of different graduate education models; and the social and geographic inequities in the distribution of the health workforce.
Core Research Projects
The Mullan 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.
Health Workforce Research Centers
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Health Workforce Research Center (HWRC) Cooperative Agreement Program funds eight research centers and one technical assistance center to provide 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. The Mullan Institute is home to the Emerging Topics Center, a Health Workforce Research Center focused on emerging health workforce issues.
Health Workforce Diversity Initiative
The Health Workforce Diversity Tracker (Diversity Tracker) monitors progress (or lack thereof) toward the goal of greater racial and ethnic parity in the health workforce.
Moral Injury Among Nurses
Moral injury has become a powerful category of analysis for healthcare professionals explaining the challenges faced in their work environment. We conducted a qualitative study to understand nurses’ experiences of moral injury and the context surrounding them. Using a subset of hospital nurses’ stories, we produced an illustrated and audio storybook.
Reproductive Health Workforce
The Reproductive Health Workforce & Policy Research Center focuses on the contraception and abortion workforce in the United States and is home to the Prescription Contraception Workforce Tracker and Medicaid Contraception Workforce Tracker.
Medicaid Primary Care Workforce
Access to healthcare depends on an available health workforce for all individuals. However, access has been particularly challenging for groups made vulnerable, including individuals insured through public programs. Our Medicaid Primary Care Workforce research includes a Tracker that focuses on the distribution of the primary care workforce providing service to Medicaid populations in the United States.
Medical Assistant Workforce
Much of the research on MAs to date has focused on individual health systems with few studies delving into variation in MA scope of practice across primary care sites, including hospital-based ambulatory care, community health centers, and small primary care practices. Our study builds on a planning phase grant, awarded to the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH), the healthcare industry partnership of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development to undergo a landscape analysis and inform the design of a potential research effort.
Learn more about the Medical Assistant Workforce.
Learn more about the Medical Assistant Workforce.
Additional Research Projects
Behavioral Health Workforce
The George Washington University Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, with support from a 3-year grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), developed a national database on the MH/SUD workforce.
Learn more about the Behavioral Health Workforce.
Learn more about the Behavioral Health Workforce.
COVID-19 Webinar Series
The Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity developed a mini webinar series to examine Emergency Workforce Policies to Address COVID-19.
Home Care Workforce
With funding from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, the Mullan Institute conducted a study to assess the national landscape of existing strategies and interventions that seek to facilitate the advancement of roles of the home care workforce [personal care aides (PCA) and home health aides (HCA)] who serve the elderly population, as a means for improving both worker and patient outcomes.
Learn about the Home Care Workforce.
Learn about the Home Care Workforce.