Statewide initiative places frontline nurses at the center of problem-solving

June 30, 2025 – Last week, Massachusetts hospitals launched a statewide Healthy Work Environment (HWE) Academy, which will empower nursing teams to lead sustainable improvements in workplace culture, nurse retention, and patient outcomes.

The HWE Academy is part of a broader initiative that the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Board of Trustees approved in early 2025 to make the commonwealth a leader in healthy and innovative work environments for nurses and care teams. Every hospital has committed to adopting one evidence-based program to support frontline professionals, with the HWE Academy serving as one opportunity for participation.

An initial cohort of 10 hospitals, coordinated through MHA, will work with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and participate in its Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy’s Nursing Workforce Solutions program. The AACN program is a nationally recognized initiative that places frontline nurses at the center of workplace problem-solving. Through support from Johnson & Johnson to AACN, AACN is able to provide the program at no cost to the cohort.

Nursing Workforce Solutions is an intensive 18-month process led by AACN. Each participating hospital will identify a nursing team from one unit to address a specific on-the-job challenge that is hindering their ability to work at their best. Through a series of in-person and virtual workshops, those teams will design, implement, and sustain projects to address that challenge. They will have access to educational sessions and expert mentoring throughout their journey, and will be offered “train the trainer” resources to help scale their projects to other units in their organizations.

“This is yet another nation-leading approach Massachusetts hospitals and health systems are taking to support their dedicated care professionals,” said Patricia Noga, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, vice president of clinical affairs at MHA. “MHA and our Board of Trustees are excited to support these nursing teams through this 18-month journey and make their ideas come alive at the bedside.”

The coordinated statewide initiative comes at a time of prolonged crisis for the entire healthcare system, and as workers struggle with burnout, administrative burdens, and increasingly complex patient needs. 

The AACN program has already produced powerful results in Massachusetts. Through previous engagements with individual organizations, the program has led to a decreased average length stay for ventilated ICU patients within one hospital, reduced by half incidents of pressure ulcers in another hospital’s ICU, and led another hospital to a 100 percent decrease in patient handoff incident reports because of improved communication between units.

“Nurses at Massachusetts hospitals were among the earliest participants in the original AACN CSI Academy that this program is based on,” said AACN Chief Clinical Officer Vicki Good, DNP, RN, CENP, CPPS, FAAN. “At that time, their efforts measurably improved patient outcomes while demonstrating a combined fiscal impact of nearly $8 million in anticipated annual savings to their organizations. With a tight focus on implementing healthy work environments through nurse-led innovation, this collaborative effort will drive change to support our nursing workforce.”

Improving nursing engagement and reducing turnover are among the challenges the initial cohort has identified for team-specific projects.

“Nurses are problem solvers by their very nature, and they hold so many of the answers our healthcare system is looking for when it comes to improving our workplaces and caring environments,” said Nancy Gaden, DNP, RN, FAAN, senior vice president & chief nursing officer at Boston Medical Center and Co-Chair of MHA’s Workforce Leadership Task Force. “Our nursing leaders are thrilled that their frontline teams will have this opportunity to do a deep dive and take the lead on solutions that will empower their daily work and ultimately lead to better patient care.”

These hospitals are a part of the inaugural Massachusetts HWE Academy cohort:

• Baystate Wing Hospital
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Berkshire Medical Center
• Boston Medical Center
• Cape Cod Healthcare
• Holyoke Medical Center
• Newton-Wellesley Hospital
• Tufts Medical Center
• Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston
• Sturdy Health

The statewide healthy work environment commitment is the latest initiative born out of MHA’s Workforce Leadership Task Force, which is composed of hospital and health system CEOs and nursing leaders. The Task Force previously helped launch the Find Your Place in Healthcare campaign to draw people into the caring field, as well as a first-in-the-nation effort to reform the credentialing process with clinicians’ wellbeing in mind.