College of Nursing Faculty Member Linda Flynn to Receive 2008 New Jersey Governor’s Nursing Merit Award for Excellence as a Nurse Researcher June 5

(NEWARK, N.J., May 19, 2008) – The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) will present its 2008 Governor’s Nursing Merit Award for excellence in the nurse researcher: expert category to Linda Flynn, a Rutgers College of Nursing faculty member, during a dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Princeton on June 5.

Flynn, assistant professor at the College of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was one of 13 nurses selected to receive this award by the Nursing Merit Award Advisory Committee of the NJDHSS. The awards are presented to nurses for their accomplishments and service in the areas of patient care, nurse education, nursing research and administration.

 “I’m so thrilled to receive the Governor’s Merit Award.  While I was working on my degrees at Rutgers over the years, I remember hearing about the Governor’s Award and wistfully thinking ‘wouldn’t it be such an honor to be selected to receive the award,’” she said. “But I never really thought it would happen to me!”

Flynn, a Center Valley, PA resident, was honored for her research on how nurse staffing levels and work environment impact patient outcomes, as well as nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction and retention.

Her recently released survey, The State of the Nursing Workforce in New Jersey: Findings from a Statewide Survey of Registered Nurses, was mailed to the homes of 44,343 New Jersey registered nurses and more than 22,000 nurses responded to the survey. It was the largest and most comprehensive surveys of New Jersey nurses ever conducted.

 Flynn’s survey indicated that New Jersey registered nurses are teetering on the brink of exhaustion due to heavier work loads, feeling that they are not able to provide proper patient care and receiving little support from management.

 The survey was also published in a booklet that was distributed to New Jersey assembly persons and state senators as well as to chief nursing officers. Flynn has published more than 15 articles in leading research journals and she has been selected to present her research at more than 20 national and international research conferences.

From its headquarters at Rutgers Newark, Rutgers College of Nursing offers a broad range of academic programs on all three Rutgers campuses. The college offers a master’s program with unique practitioner specialties, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, and the first to offer a Ph.D. nursing degree in New Jersey.

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