Rainbow co-leads $3.6M NIH grant to advance nurse-led burnout solutions
Jessica Rainbow, PhD, RN, CNE, has received a major National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant to advance evidence-based solutions to nurse burnout by driving organizational and systems-level change. The five-year, $3.6 million grant is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Rainbow’s research will focus on organizational factors that contribute to nurse burnout and support the adaptation and testing of the REducing nurse burnout through SysTems analysis and Organizational REdesign (RESTORE) intervention, a nurse-driven, unit-level approach designed to improve working conditions and well-being in hospital settings.
The need for such solutions is urgent: more than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022, largely due to burnout, stress, and retirement, according to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
Rainbow co-leads the project with Linsey Steege, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing. Other team members include Matthew Loveitt, PhD, RN, clinical research program director at Banner Health; Roger Brown, PhD, a statistician; and Claire Bethel, PhD, RN-BC, a University of Arizona College of Nursing PhD program graduate who currently serves as a program director and nurse scientist at Penn State Lancaster Medical Center. The interdisciplinary team combines expertise in nursing science, industrial and systems engineering, statistics, and clinical research to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the nursing workforce.
“This NIH award affirms the College of Nursing’s leadership in addressing one of the most urgent challenges facing the nursing profession,” said Brian Ahn, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing. “Dr. Rainbow’s nurse-led, interdisciplinary research targets the systemic drivers of burnout and has the potential to transform work environments, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen the health care workforce nationwide.”
“Dr. Rainbow brings exceptional methodological rigor and a deep understanding of health care work systems to this research,” said Juyoung Park, PhD, Rainbow’s supervisor. “This NIH-funded project reflects her ability to translate nurses’ lived experiences into scientifically robust, scalable interventions that can drive lasting improvements in both nurse well-being and patient care.”
Funded through April 2030, the RESTORE project will be implemented across nine medical-surgical units at three partner health systems: UW–Madison University Hospital, Banner Gateway Medical Center, and Penn State Lancaster Medical Center. The intervention focuses on redesigning unit-level work systems by engaging nurses directly in identifying and addressing organizational contributors to burnout. Unlike interventions that place responsibility on individual nurses to manage their burnout, RESTORE emphasizes systems-level change, targeting factors such as workflows, communication, processes, and unit culture that shape daily work experiences.
“Nurse burnout is a critical public health and workforce issue that affects not only nurses’ mental and physical health but also patient safety, quality of care, and nurse retention,” Rainbow said.
The project builds on pilot work supported by collaborative partnerships between the College of Nursing and Banner Health, including the Partnership for Innovation, Research, and Collaboration (PIRC). Rainbow credited these early collaborations with generating the preliminary evidence and partnerships necessary to pursue this large-scale, federally funded research.
“This grant represents an important milestone in my career as a nurse scientist focused on translating research into real-world solutions for the nursing workforce,” Rainbow said. “It affirms the importance of nurse-engaged, evidence-based approaches to burnout and supports my long-term goal of developing scalable interventions that improve working conditions for nurses across health care settings. I pursued my PhD after working on a nursing unit with high turnover and burnout, and receiving funding to study a solution to this problem with my graduate school mentor feels like coming full circle.”
Together, Rainbow and the team aim to refine, test, and disseminate a scalable intervention that empowers nurses to identify and address burnout drivers in their units, fostering healthier work environments and improved care delivery across health care systems.
In addition to generating actionable evidence for health systems, the grant will support interdisciplinary collaboration, student involvement, and training opportunities in systems science, implementation research, and mixed-methods evaluation. It will also create opportunities for graduate students and trainees to engage in this work while strengthening the College of Nursing’s portfolio of federally funded research addressing workforce health and well-being.
Rainbow’s work reflects the institution’s commitment to enabling high-impact research that translates directly into practice and policy. This project aligns with the college’s mission to improve health through research, education, and practice innovation.
Through RESTORE, Rainbow and her team are advancing a nurse-led, systems-focused approach to addressing burnout—one that centers nurses’ voices, improves work environments, and strengthens the health care workforce. As the project expands across multiple health systems, it reflects the College of Nursing’s commitment to producing actionable research that translates into meaningful change for nurses, patients, and organizations nationwide.