Lisa Adams Wolf
Emergency Nurses Association
USA
Abstract Title: Bridging the theory-practice gap: Generating and Translating Emergency Nursing Research into Practice Worldwide
Biography:
Dr. Lisa Adams Wolf is the Lead Nurse Scientist at the Emergency Nurses Association, and an Associate professor at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Wolf’s work focuses on understanding the socio-clinical structure of the emergency care setting as an influencing factor in nursing practice and patient safety. Her dissertation work provides a theoretical model of clinical decision-making in emergency care environments that demonstrates the intersection of individual factors and socio-environmental factors at the point of clinical decision-making; her work since then has continued to expand and explicate the research, practice, and educational implications of that intersection. She has identified individual and environmental driving factors in workplace bullying, moral distress, and fatigue that affect both nursing and patient outcomes. Her most recent work identifies the chronic, cumulative, unacknowledged secondary trauma prevalent in emergency nursing as a driver of lateral and organizational violence, suicidality in nurses, and errors in clinical decision-making. Her work consistently underpins both educational and policy work by the Emergency Nurses Association, specifically in critical areas of residency education, workplace violence, triage practices, identification and management of high-risk patients, and emergency nursing staffing guidelines. Dr. Wolf received her BA in Anthropology from Amherst College, a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Emerson College, a diploma in Nursing from St Elizabeth’s Hospital School of Nursing, a Masters in Nursing from Molloy College, and a PhD from Boston College’s Connell School of Nursing.
Research Interest:
In emergency environments, the needs of clinical expertise often outstrip the pace of research translation. Currently the gap between published evidence and sustainable practice change remains a significant challenge. This presentation explores how a national specialty nursing organization strategically integrates research generation, dissemination, and processes for operational implementation to drive measurable excellence in emergency nursing practice. We examine the collaborative model between research leadership and practice excellence strategy within the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). This model uses clinical realities to drive research priorities, ensuring that studies reflect both the clinical needs and practical reality of emergency nurses while producing strategies for quality improvement. Through structured dissemination pathways including guidelines, position statements, educational programming, and implementation tools research findings are intentionally designed for practical adoption across diverse emergency care settings. Case examples will demonstrate how ENA’s research trajectory on workplace safety, healthy work environments, and patient care standards bidirectionally inform practice excellence offerings and strategies. By intentionally linking foundational scholarship with practical, reality-based clinical needs, emergency nursing research moves beyond publication to measurable impact. This integrated approach offers a replicable model for professional nursing organizations and global healthcare systems seeking to bridge the gap between evidence and excellence.