The Oregon Center for Nursing’s Nurse Well-Being Project emerged during a period of profound strain on the state’s nursing workforce. Drawing on input from more than 5,000 nurses, the project recognized that lasting improvements in well-being must come from within the profession. Rather than applying top-down solutions, the initiative funded projects designed and led by nurses themselves, anchored in real-world conditions and frontline experience.
Each funded project addressed workplace stressors through structural and cultural reforms, ranging from leadership development to trauma-informed practices to administrative process redesign. Interventions were required to demonstrate nurse engagement, sustainability, and relevance to specific workplace contexts. Together, the 18 initiatives reflected a participatory, equity-centered model of innovation.
This report highlights how organizational culture, not resilience programming, drives nurse well-being. It reframes workforce retention challenges as systemic issues requiring nurse voice and leadership at every level. For employers, funders, and policymakers, these findings signal a shift: supporting the workforce means trusting it to lead its solutions.
Download the report HERE.