Findings and Recommendations From the State of the Art (SOTA) Conference on Nursing Research to Improve Veteran Outcomes

Authors

• Amelia E Schlak
• Sarah Krein
• Laura A Petersen
• David Atkins
• Catherine Battaglia
• Elizabeth Burkhart
• Renee Colsch
• Marguerite Daus
• Heather Gilmartin
• Nipa Kamdar
• Melissa Knox
• Ann Kutney-Lee
• Christine M Olney
• Kathryn Rugen
• Tracy Weistreich
• Sheila Cox Sullivan
• on behalf the Nursing SOTA planning committee

Language

English

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Journal

Medical Care

DOI

10.1097/MLR.0000000000002242

PMID

41359983

PMCID

PMC12685319

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest employer of nurses in the United States, has more than 120,000 nursing personnel providing care to over 9 million Veterans across diverse settings. Despite nursing's central role in delivering and sustaining care, research on strengthening the nursing workforce and optimizing nursing practice has remained underdeveloped in VHA. To address this gap, VHA's Office of Research and Development, in partnership with the Office of Nursing Services, convened a State of the Art (SOTA) conference in November 2023 focused on nursing. The Nursing SOTA brought together nurses, researchers, operational leaders, and other stakeholders to review current evidence, identify research gaps, and develop recommendations. Five priority areas were identified: pressure injury prevention and treatment, care coordination models, social drivers of health, nurse staffing and care models, and the nursing work environment. Cross-cutting themes included the need for stronger data infrastructure and expanded support for the VHA nursing science workforce. Conference recommendations were incorporated into VHA's 2024 Health Systems Research Priorities and are expected to inform future research, policy, and practice aimed at advancing nursing science and improving care for Veterans.

Keywords

Humans, United States, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans, Nursing Research, Congresses as Topic, nursing, nurse, research agenda, pressure injury, care coordination, social drivers of health, nurse staffing, care models, models of care, work environment

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Schlak, Amelia E; Krein, Sarah; Petersen, Laura A; et al., "Findings and Recommendations From the State of the Art (SOTA) Conference on Nursing Research to Improve Veteran Outcomes" (2026). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 6747.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/6747