Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Health care restructuring in Canada has significantly impacted the work environments of nurses, especially those in acute care settings. This has resulted in poor healthcare climates. Research has shown that adverse repercussions of health care restructuring have not only impacted nurses but other health care providers, patients, and families as well. Much of the research has been focused in large urban centers. Yet, there is increasing anecdotal evidence that rural centers are also significantly impacted. Data from this study will begin shed light to on how rural nurses are impacted by moral climate change and how rural practice environments serve to shape patient safety and health outcomes. The aim of this study is to identify strategies at the individual unit, organizational, and policy level to improve the moral climate for rural nurses. Improving the moral climate of the workplace for rural nurses and other health care providers should result in improved patient safety and begin to stem the epidemic of shortages and distress in the profession.