Research Spotlight

Describe your research to a general audience.

I examined the elements that increase the perception of empowerment among perinatal nurses.

What would you like to share with the MAC community?

I became interested in the concept of empowerment while teaching a fetal monitoring course. Nurses in many classes asked what to do if they believed that the orders specified by the physician for mothers and newborns had equal, or perhaps even better, alternatives. This question indicated to me that these nurses lacked the empowerment to advocate for the wellbeing of their patients. Advocating for patient safety is an essential function for nurses. I wanted to know what characteristics or interventions would result in higher empowerment. I designed my dissertation study to answer this question. I was surprised by some of my results but hope to continue probing into the concept of nursing empowerment in the future. One goal is to apply my findings to continue developing empowerment among nurses. 

Click below to view a voice-over narration of Dr. McIlhenny's work.  

Thank you Dr. McIlhenny for sharing your research!

For more information, visit Dr. McIlhenny's page at

https://www.mtaloy.edu/academics/faculty-staff/carol-mcilhenny/