Nursing Research
Premier Health Nursing has a long history of research. Nursing clinical inquiry, as well as support of academic undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral research projects are supported through Nursing Shared Governance and the Nursing Research Council.
The Nurse Scientist, Nurse Researcher and Nursing Research Council support investigators in research, evidence translation, evidence-based practice and in quality improvement.
Research conducted at Premier Health hospitals over the past 40 + years has added valuable knowledge to the profession of nursing locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, with many projects winning first-place awards.
Premier Health nursing inquiry has long standing relationships with local and national best practices groups which includes the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators-RN Satisfaction - (NDNQI-RN) as well as the Vermont Oxford Network. Ongoing collaboration with professional associations such as Zeta Phi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing at Wright State University and Southern Ohio Northern Kentucky Research Collaborative (SONK) and other collaboratives keep Premier Health nurses current with the ever-expanding evidence base for professional nursing. Premier Health has supported the role of nurse as researcher since 1980.
Research Human Resources at Premier Health Nurse Scientist & Nurse Researcher
Patricia O'Malley, PhD, APRN-CNS, CCRN Alumnus
Nurse Scientist
Pat is at heart a nurse scientist and clinical nurse specialist. With a large portfolio of published articles and research projects, Pat has also mentored nurses in nursing research from undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, including Ohio State University, University of Dayton, Wright State University, Capital University, Indiana University East, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Andrews University, Urbana University, University of Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, University of Akron, Case Western, University of Toledo, Mount St. Joseph University, University of Alabama, and Xavier University.
Pat provides consultation for literature reviews and peer evaluation, data analysis, human subjects protection, IRB submission and policy and procedure evaluation. Additionally, Pat provides nursing education regionally and nationally regarding the science of hemodynamics, nursing ethics, critical thinking, advanced practice pharmacology & prescribing, moral distress, workplace violence, and gratitude science as well as research methods & design, statistics and writing for publication.
Pat serves as a peer reviewer for many journals including Clinical Nurse Specialist-International Journal for Advanced Nursing Practice, Heart & Lung, Critical Care Medicine, British Medical Journal (BMJ), BMJ Open, Lancet, Elsevier, and Sage Publications. Additionally Pat reviews grant applications for ANCC and Sigma Theta Tau international. Pat has presented eight times at the ANCC National Magnet Conference since 2006. Presentations included completed research projects (4) and nursing research best practices (4). Topics included impact of the electronic medical record on nursing, scientific misconduct, building successful research programs, nursing residency outcomes and workplace violence. Pat loves to write and has authored 130+ papers in peer reviewed journals since 1987.
Holly Hall, EdD, RN, MSHA
Nurse Researcher
Holly has a long-standing passion for nursing research. Her journey in research started in 1992 when she developed a policy to administer Dobutamine at home for end stage heart disease patients. This intervention, publicized in the Home Health Care Management and Practice Journal in 1994, was the first of its type to be used in the Midwest region of the United States. Holly has mentored nurses and non-nursing students through their dissertation and Applied Doctoral Projects at Indiana Wesleyan University and United Theological Seminary. She has mentored members of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) and is currently a research facilitator for STTI.
While serving on the board of the Ohio Council for Home Care and Hospice, Holly played a key role in facilitating a major policy change across the State of Ohio to increase reimbursement for services rendered by providers based on data from a commissioned study. Holly also participated in the International Women and Leadership Colloquium (ILA), Utah Valley’s Women and Leadership movement, designed to stimulate rigorous and sustained scholarly research. Additionally, Holly is conducting research on servant-leadership in the workplace with renowned professors at Rotterdam School of Management, Dr. Dirk Van Dierendonck and Dr. Milton Sousa.
Holly has served as an abstract reviewer for the ILA and has presented on servant-leadership and autoethnography at ILA conferences. She has also presented six times at STTI’s International Conference. Presentations included completed research on the development and validation of an instrument to measure servant-leadership in nurse leaders, an evidenced-based model for servant-leadership in nursing, and servant-leadership in nursing a powerful nursing model. Holly developed the Healthcare Servant Leadership Scale (HSLS) an instrument that measures servant leadership characteristics in nurse leaders that aligns with the ANCC Magnet model, the framework for achieving excellence in nursing care based on her dissertation work An exploration of the relationship between servant leadership characteristics of nurse leaders and the perception of empowerment among their followers (Publication No. 10129698) [Doctoral dissertation, Indiana Wesleyan University]. ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global, 2015. The HSLS has been pilot tested at Premier Health, Dayton Children’s, and Providence Southern California and is in the final stage of analysis.
Tanya Trotter, PhD, APRN, PHCNS-BC
Nurse Scientist
Tanya has a passion for clinical practice, which began in 1999 when she started her nursing practice as a critical care nurse in a large Level I Trauma SICU. For Tanya, clinical practice is at the core of her passion for research. Her curiosity about a phenomenon she noticed in her stroke patient population as an APN led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Nursing at the University of North Dakota, which she completed in 2023.
Tanya’s sequential explanatory mixed methods study examined depressive symptoms after stroke and caregiver burden. Her studies found statistically significant data indicating stroke caregivers with a prior history of depression were at greater risk for developing depressive symptoms after stroke versus stroke caregivers who did not have a prior history of depression.
Additionally, Tanya has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles. She was awarded the Teresa Pellino Research Award in 2021 along with her co-authors for their Preoperative Nutritional Status and Risk for Subsyndromal Delirium in Older Adults Following Joint Replacement Surgery article. Tanya is a peer reviewer for BMC Nursing and the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research.
Tanya is a member of professional nursing organizations, including the Midwestern Nursing Research Society (MNRS) and the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. As a member of the MNRS, she served as a student representative board member, student poster and grant reviewer, and co-chair of the Decision-making Research Interest Group and the Qualitative Methods Research Interest Group. Tanya has presented four times at MNRS since 2016. Tanya’s dissertation received the MNRS Qualitative Methods Research Interest Group’s “Outstanding Dissertation Award 2024”.
Tanya is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society (STT), a newly elected board member, and will serve as Vice President of the Wright State University’s STT Zeta Phi Chapter.
Contribution to the Margin of Excellence & Bringing Evidence Based Practice to the Bedside
Dr. O'Malley, Dr. Hall, and Dr. Trotter serve as the experts for all nursing research proposals including assistance with development, evaluation, and submission to Human Investigation Research Committee (HIRC) for review and approval. They are both members of the Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio Institutional Review Board (IRB) and HIRC.
Since 2004, nurses at Premier Health have completed nearly 150 research projects focused on a variety of issues significant for nurses, patients, families, and organizations. These projects have contributed significantly to the margin of excellence at Premier Health and has helped nurses expand and refine research skills while providing knowledge for practice.
Learn more:
Research Process At Premier Health All Sites
ALL nursing research studies conducted within Premier Health require approval of the Nurse Scientist or Nurse Researcher and the Nursing Research Council for submission to HIRC +/or Institutional Review Board (IRB). Other approvals may also be required if the project impacts workflows or if access to data is needed.
For students who are not employees of Premier Health, an approved application with the Premier Health Learning Institute for is required to begin the research project. Students should schedule a meeting with the Nurse Scientist or Researcher FIRST to discuss any project to determine if the project is feasible at Premier Health and what resources are needed (if any) before applying to the Learning Institute.
For Premier Health staff planning a project to meet requirements for a degree, a meeting with the Nurse Scientist or Researcher should occur FIRST to discuss the project to determine if a project is feasible at Premier Health or if assistance is needed to begin or complete a project. Application to the Learning Institute will also be required since the project is associated with seeking a degree with an academic organization.
Premier Health staff interested in completing a project that is not part of work toward an academic degree can make an appointment anytime with the Nurse Scientist or Researcher to discuss project ideas and planning if the project. Application to the Premier Health Learning Institute is not required.