ENA Research Priorities and Contributions to Emergency Nursing

The Emergency Nurses Association conducts original research to advance excellence in emergency care. Summarized below are the research priorities and accomplishments which are driven by salient issues related to clinical care, input from ENA committees and General Assembly resolutions.

Research Priorities and Contributions Overview

The research trajectory currently includes three main lines of inquiry - shown in the table below - that establish a body of evidence to support emergency nursing practice through improvements in nurse wellness, delivery of effective patient care, and safer workplaces.

ENA’s research portfolio impacts the emergency nursing specialty through:

  1. Educational content that includes online courses and practice resources such as toolkits, topic briefs and infographics.
  2. Policy guidelines and legislative advocacy at the local, regional and national levels.
  3. Conference presentations, workshops and peer-reviewed publications.
  4. Grants and fellowships made available through the ENA Foundation.

Workplace Environment

Goal: Identify and promote evidence-based recommendations to support and sustain a healthy emergency nursing workforce and ED work environment.

Research PrioritiesOutcome and Accomplishments

ED Workplace Violence

  • Multi-year surveillance surveys on violence against nurses 
  • Research on nurse bullying 
  • Model of emergency nurse bullying
Staffing of Emergency Nurses in U.S. EDs
Emergency Nurse Fatigue
  • Foundational research that supported studies on nurse bullying and decision fatigue at triage
  • Peer-reviewed journal publication 2017

ED Workplace Culture and Environment

  • Firearm injury risk assessment and safety
  • Impact of cannabis-related ED visits
  • Occurrence of STS and PTSD during the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Bias

Behavioral Health

Goal: Provide knowledge and evidence-based guidance and education aimed to improve care and health outcomes for patients with behavioral health emergencies.

Research PrioritiesSelected Outcomes and Accomplishments
Assessment and Treatment Patients with Harmful and Addictive Substance Use

Suicide Risk Assessment 
Managing BH Emergencies

Triage

Goal: To identify the critical elements of triage decision-making and the impact of individual and environmental factors on triage accuracy and their relationship to patient outcomes.

Research PrioritiesSelected Outcomes and Accomplishments
Emergency Severity IndexPeer-reviewed publications 2021, 2024
Triage ProcessPeer-reviewed publications 2018, 2023, 2025
Artificial IntelligencePeer-reviewed publications 2021, 2022, 2023

Responsive

Provide time-sensitive evidence to support ENA members in areas other than workplace or behavioral health.

Research PrioritiesSelected Outcomes and Accomplishments

Topics that fall outside of the above three lines of inquiry, generated by General Assembly resolutions, national initiatives, and/or collaborations with other organizations.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurses