LGBTQI nurse recruitment, care of non-gender conforming patients among topics for fellows’ work 

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (May 11, 2022) – The Emergency Nurses Association’s announced on Wednesday its first Emergency Nursing Diverse Voices Research Fellows – a trio looking to assess the quality of care for non-gender conforming patients; research more deeply the recruitment and retention of nurses from the LGBTQI community; and explore health care disparities for minorities in a rural state.

The ENA Foundation, Emergency Nursing Research Advisory Council and ENA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity Committee partnered earlier this year to launch the inaugural ENDVR Fellowship program aimed at increasing diversity in nursing research, while also providing support and mentoring to emerging researchers who are members of underrepresented groups.

The 2022 ENDVR Fellows are:

• Bailey Ferris of Dallas, Texas, who seeks to assess the minimal guidance available to emergency nurses in the care of non-gender conforming patients and how that leads to distress for health care workers and decreased quality of care.
• Roz King, of South Burlington, Vermont, who aims to explore health care disparities for racial and ethnic minorities in Vermont as a way to reduce access to care barriers.
• Victoria Nash, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who proposes to study the obstacles present for the recruitment and retention of LGBTQI nursing students and new graduate nurses in the emergency department.

The trio will attend and participate in research activities at Emergency Nursing 2022 in Denver; partner with a member of the Emergency Nursing Research Advisory Council who will serve as a mentor; develop a research project to be conducted locally; attend advisory council meetings; and present their results and findings at Emergency Nursing 2023. The fellowship may extend to two years as required.

“The first three ENDVR Fellows stood out amongst this year’s applicants, all of whom showed the importance of giving nurse researchers from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to delve into topics that might have gone untouched otherwise,” said ENA Foundation Chairperson Jeff Solheim, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, CFRN, FAEN, FAAN.

ENA President Jennifer Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC, praised the ENDVR Fellows for their proposed research goals and as examples of ENA’s DEI mission.

“As members of underrepresented nursing communities, Bailey, Roz and Victoria, by simply getting to this point, are giving voice to issues that directly relate to how emergency nurses associate, understand and care for all of their patients,” Schmitz said. “In order to learn, we must ask questions – and the 2022 ENDVR Fellows have raised meaningful questions that can make a long-term difference in the emergency department.”

Learn more about ENA’s DEI position, mission and resources by visiting www.ena.org/ena/dei.