Dr. Irina Grafova recently participated in the AcademyHealth Research Meeting held in Minneapolis, where she presented two posters from the Virtual Schwartz Rounds (VSR) emotional support program for nurses. This initiative is managed by the New Jersey Nursing Emotional Well-being Institute.
In her statement, Dr. Grafova expressed gratitude: “It was an honor to represent our amazing research team — Pamela de Cordova, Jennifer Polakowski, and Jessica Anderson. Huge thanks to the New Jersey State Policy Lab for funding this research and making this work possible. It was great to connect with so many practitioners—nurses, community health workers, and others—who are just as passionate about building supportive, sustainable environments for frontline workers.”
The VSR program began in New Jersey in November 2020 as an online forum aimed at providing emotional support services to nurses across various specialties within the state. Developed by the New Jersey Nursing Initiative and Rutgers School of Nursing, these sessions are now operated under NJ-NEW through the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing. The goal of VSR sessions is to alleviate stress and isolation among nurses while promoting collaboration and enhancing their ability to deliver compassionate care. Since its inception, more than one hundred sessions have been conducted statewide.
Research funded by the New Jersey State Policy Lab involved surveying nurses who attended VSR sessions. The study revealed that although half of the participants’ employers offered on-site emotional well-being programs, only half had engaged with such programs over the past three years. Additionally, compared to the broader nursing workforce in New Jersey, VSR participants were generally older and possessed higher educational qualifications. Further research is suggested to explore barriers and facilitators affecting workplace emotional support programs’ implementation and impact.
