Overview
UW received our first competitive grant to support research on health equity in the health workforce from 2018 to 2022 and a second round from 2022 to 2025. The most recent round of funding is approximately $2.25 million. Bianca Frogner, PhD is the Director and Principal Investigator and Davis Patterson, PhD is the Deputy Director.
What is health equity?
Health equity is the “state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this full potential because of social position or other socially defined circumstances” (NASEM, 2017).
What are the social determinants of health (SDOH)?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), SDOH are “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national, and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices” (WHO, 2016).
What is the role of the health workforce in addressing health equity and SDOH?
The health workforce plays an important role in addressing SDOH and promoting health equity by delivering culturally and linguistically competent care to reduce health disparities among a population diverse on a number of dimensions (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, geography, socioeconomic status, disability status, language, and age) and partnering with communities to promote population health.
Funding amount: $543,300
- Y6-1: Work Conditions of Health Care Workers with Disabilities
- Y6-2: Understanding Family Physicians’ Role in Improving Access to Obstetric Services and Impacts on Community Birth Outcomes
- Y6-3: What Role Does the Public Health Workforce in ‘Maternity Care Deserts’ Play in Addressing Gaps in Care?
- Y6-4: Examining the Effect of the Pandemic on the Diversity of the RN Workforce
- Y6-5*: The Role of Public Health Nurses in Doing Health Equity Work
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $671,875
- Y5-1: How Has the Pandemic Affected the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Health Workforce?
- Y5-2: Identifying Factors that Support Local Health Department Workforce Capacity for Promoting Health Equity
- Y5-3: Does Variable Access to Perinatal Health Providers in Federally Qualified Health Centers Affect Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Birth Outcomes?
- Y5-4: Overeducated and Undervalued? Educational Attainment and Income of Immigrants in Health Occupations
- Y5-5*: Are There Inequitable Influences of the Pandemic on Career Pathways of Travel Nurses?
- Y5-6*: (Mis)Treatment of Patients with Behavioral Health Conditions by Emergency Medical Services Personnel
*denotes study with supplemental funding
- Y4-1: Gender-Based Wage Gaps Among Health Care Workers: Is There a Spillover Effect?
- Y4-2: The Impact of Health Resources on COVID-19 Mortality in Rural and Urban U.S. Communities
- Y4-3: State Support for Community College and Diversity in Health Professions Programs
- Y4-4: Burnout and Stress Among Medical and Health Professional Program Faculty
- Y3-1: Exploring Health Workforce Influence on Equitable Care Delivery and Stigmatization toward COVID-19 Positive People of Color and People with Disabilities
- Y3-2: The Role of Insurance Navigators in Mitigating the Financial and Health Risk of Unemployed Workers
- Y3-3: Doula Project 2.0: Increasing the Use of Doulas by Underserved Communities
- Y3-4: Lasting Effects of Continuing Education on the Topic of Implicit Bias in the Clinical and Learning Environment
- Y3-5*: Impact of a Course, COVID-19, Healthcare Equity, and Implicit Bias in the Clinical and Learning Environment, for Physician Assistant (PA) Preceptors and Trainees
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $616,390
- Y2-1: Explaining Wage Variation Across Race/Ethnicity among RNs and APRNs
- Y2-2: Best Practices in Experiential Education to Educate Health Professionals on Heath Equity
- Y2-3: The Potential Burden of Being Underrepresented in Health Professional Programs
- Y2-4: Disability Competency Training in Medical Education
- Y2-5*: Increasing Access to Doulas to Support a Diverse Population
- Y2-6*: What Types of Changes in Employment Status Have Been Most Common Among Health Care Workers as a Result of the COVID-19 Emergency?
- Y2-7*: What is Being Done to Prepare the Rural Health Workforce for COVID-19?
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Funding amount: $536,462
- Y1-1: Examining Wage Disparities by Race and Ethnicity of Healthcare Workers
- Y1-2: Implicit Race and Gender Bias, Bias Awareness, and Impact of a Course for Clinical Faculty
- Y1-3: Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Associate Degree Programs in Nursing
- Y1-4: Health Workforce in Health Equity Research: Who, What, When, Where, and How
- Y1-5*: Criminal background checks and drug testing in health workforce employment: implications for health equity?
*denotes study with supplemental funding
Each year, HRSA may request the HWRC up to four time per year to provide a rapid response to a pressing policy relevant question. We post those products that are available for the public.
- Landscape of the Health Informatics Workforce: Rapid Response Brief
- Health Workforce Issues in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Populations
- The Birth Doula Workforce in the U.S.: Rapid Response Brief
- The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Workforce: Rapid Response Brief
These studies are supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.