Sean Clarke

Faculty

Sean Clarke Headshot

Sean Clarke

FAAN PhD RN

Ursula Springer Professor in Nursing Leadership

1 212 998 5264

433 First Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Sean Clarke, RN, PhD, FAAN, is the executive vice dean and a professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. His research focuses on quality and safety issues in acute care hospitals, workforce issues, occupational safety of nurses, and the influences of economic and political factors on healthcare delivery and the nursing profession. He is perhaps best known for research on nurse staffing in hospitals and surveys of nurse working conditions. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and 30 book chapters. Clarke has been a principal investigator on projects supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and has served as a co-investigator on grants totaling over $10 million over the course of his career. In addition to teaching nursing, health policy, and research at the baccalaureate through doctoral levels, he also supervises PhD and postdoctoral research trainees and maintains a program of research with colleagues from a number of countries. 

Clarke has been a member of a variety of panels and boards related to health research and healthcare quality. He has had extensive involvement in peer review of research articles and grants and served on editorial boards of a number of scientific and professional journals in nursing and health services research. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and currently holds affiliate faculty appointments at the Université de Montréal and the University of Hong Kong.

Prior to joining the faculty at NYU Meyers, he was a professor and associate dean in the Undergraduate Program at the Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, from 2014–2018. He was also on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing for seven years, held an endowed chair in cardiovascular nursing at the University of Toronto, and was an endowed chair directing a special donor-funded set of projects intended to advance collaboration between the School of Nursing and its affiliated teaching hospitals at McGill University. He also co-directed nursing health services and workforce research groups in Philadelphia and Toronto and has been a consultant to clinicians, leaders, and professional associations on issues related to nursing and patient safety for almost two decades in Canada, the United States, and internationally. 

Clarke completed his basic clinical and research training in nursing at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, and pursued a nurse practitioner education and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds BA and BS degrees from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada.

PhD - McGill University School of Nursing
MS - McGill University School of Nursing
BA - Carleton University
BS - University of Ottawa

Nursing workforce
Adult health
Nursing administration
Health Policy

Creative Teaching Award, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto (2011)
Dean’s Award for Undergraduate Teaching, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (2007)
Junior Faculty Research Award, Biobehavioral and Health Sciences Division School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania (2006)
Fellow, American Academy of Nursing (2006)
Class of 1965 25th Reunion Term Chair, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing [for enduring contributions to undergraduate education] (2006)
American Academy of Nursing Media Award for coverage of Aiken, Clarke et al., JAMA, October 23/30, 2002 (2003)
Article of the Year, Academy Health [Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy] for Aiken, Clarke et al., JAMA, October 23/30, 2002 (2003)
American Academy of Nursing Media Award for coverage of Aiken, Clarke, et al. Health Affairs, 2001 (2002)
Induction into Sigma Theta Tau, Xi Chapter (1999)

The nurse shortage: Where we stand and where we're headed

Clarke, S. P., & Cheung, R. B. (2008). Nursing Management, 39(3), 22-27. 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000313092.89271.98
Abstract
Abstract
Whether it's already touching your facility or its impact is still to come, this crisis will test your skills as a manager. Understanding what's driving the shortage and what's predicted will help you choose the best strategies for addressing its causes and dealing with its consequences.

Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: getting to the heart of the matter in research, practice, and policy.

Clarke, S. P. (2008). The Pennsylvania Nurse, 63(4), 8-9.

Nursing care and patient outcomes: International evidence

Cheung, R. B., Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., & Sloane, D. M. (2008). Enfermeria Clinica, 18(1), 35-40. 10.1016/S1130-8621(08)70691-0
Abstract
Abstract
Countries across the globe are experiencing nursing shortages. In hospitals, supportive practice environments have positive effects on both nurse and patient outcomes. However, these relationships have been established primarily in the US. International studies of the effects of nurse staffing levels and the practice environment on nurse outcomes and the quality of care mirror the findings from the US, thus raising these issues to the international level. The solutions that have been successful in the US for improving the practice environment and patient outcomes are solutions that should be successful in any country, thus putting them on a global scale. The Magnet hospital program is one model that has been shown to improve nurse and patient outcomes and is one solution to the shortage of hospital nurses.

Rationing of nursing care and its relationship to patient outcomes: The Swiss extension of the International Hospital Outcomes Study

Schubert, M., Glass, T. R., Clarke, S. P., Aiken, L. H., Schaffert-Witvliet, B., Sloane, D. M., & De Geest, S. (2008). International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 20(4), 227-237. 10.1093/intqhc/mzn017
Abstract
Abstract
Objectives. To explore the association between implicit rationing of nursing care and selected patient outcomes in Swiss hospitals, adjusting for major organizational variables, including the quality of the nurse practice environment and the level of nurse staffing. Rationing was measured using the newly developed Basel Extent of Rationing of Nursing Care (BERNCA) instrument. Additional data were collected using an adapted version of the International Hospital Outcomes Study questionnaire. Design. Multi-hospital cross-sectional surveys of patients and nurses. Setting. Eight Swiss acute care hospitals Participants. Nurses (1338) and patients (779) on 118 medical, surgical and gynecological units. Main outcome measures. Patient satisfaction, nurse-reported medication errors, patient falls, nosocomial infections, pressure ulcers and critical incidents involving patients over the previous year. Results. Generally, nurses reported rarely having omitted any of the 20 nursing tasks listed in the BERNCA over their last 7 working days. However, despite relatively low levels, implicit rationing of nursing care was a significant predictor of all six patient outcomes studied. Although the adequacy of nursing resources was a significant predictor for most of the patient outcomes in unadjusted models, it was not an independent predictor in the adjusted models. Low nursing resource adequacy ratings were a significant predictor for five of the six patient outcomes in the unadjusted models, but not in the adjusted ones. Conclusion. As a system factor in acute general hospitals, implicit rationing of nursing care is an important new predictor of patient outcomes and merits further study.

Relationships between registered nurse staffing, processes of nursing care, and nurse-reported patient outcomes in chronic hemodialysis units.

Thomas-Hawkins, C., Flynn, L., & Clarke, S. P. (2008). Nephrology Nursing Journal : Journal of the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association, 35(2), 123-130, 145; quiz 131.
Abstract
Abstract
Little attention has been given to the effects of registered nurse (RN) staffing and processes of nursing care on patient outcomes in hemodialysis units. This research examined the effects of patient-to-RN ratios and necessary tasks left undone by RNs on the likelihood of nurse-reported frequent occurrences of adverse patient events in chronic hemodialysis units. Study findings revealed that high patient-to-RN ratios and increased numbers of tasks left undone by RNs were associated with an increased likelihood of frequent occurrences of dialysis hypotension, skipped dialysis treatments, shortened dialysis treatments, and patient complaints in hemodialysis units. These findings indicate that federal, state, and dialysis organization policies must foster staffing structures and processes of care in dialysis units that effectively utilize the invaluable skills and services of professional, registered nurses.

Solving the leadership dilemma: where will nursing's next leaders come from?

Carrick, L., Clarke, S., & Thompson, J. (2008). The Pennsylvania Nurse, 63(1), 12-13.

Adopt outcomes-focused strategies into your practice

Clarke, S. P., & Carrick, L. A. (2007). Nursing Management, 38(1), 50-52. 10.1097/00006247-200701000-00015

Hospital work environments, nurse characteristics, and sharps injuries

Clarke, S. P. (2007). American Journal of Infection Control, 35(5), 302-309. 10.1016/j.ajic.2006.07.014
Abstract
Abstract
Background: A growing body of research links working conditions, such as staffing levels and work environment characteristics, with safety for both patients and workers in health care settings, including sharps injuries in hospital staff nurses. Methods: Surveys of 11,516 staff nurses from 188 Pennsylvania general acute care hospitals in 1999 were analyzed. Hospital work environments, measured using the Practice Environment Scales of the Nursing Work Index-Revised, and staffing were tested as predictors of experiencing at least one sharps injury in the preceding year, both before and after controlling for nurse risk factors, use of safety-engineered devices, and hospital structural characteristics. Results: Nurses with less than 5 years of experience, perioperative nurses, and those performing routine venipuncture for blood draws were more likely to be injured. Nurses working in hospitals with the most favorable working environments were one-third less likely to be injured. Staffing levels were not associated with sharps injuries. Conclusions: Across a large state, nurses working in acute care hospitals with better practice environments had fewer sharps injuries. Work environment conditions and specialty- and setting-specific risk factors deserve continued attention in sharps injury research.

International experts' perspectives on the state of the nurse staffing and patient outcomes literature: World health

Van Den Heede, K., Clarke, S. P., Sermeus, W., Vleugels, A., & Aiken, L. H. (2007). Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 39(4), 290-297. 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2007.00183.x
Abstract
Abstract
Purpose: To assess the key variables used in research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes from the perspective of an international panel. Design: A Delphi survey (November 2005-February 2006) of a purposively-selected expert panel from 10 countries consisting of 24 researchers specializing in nurse staffing and quality of health care and 8 nurse administrators. Methods: Each participant was sent by e-mail an up-to-date review of all evidence related to 39 patient-outcome, 14 nurse-staffing and 31 background variables and asked to rate the importance/usefulness of each variable for research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes. In two subsequent rounds the group median, mode, frequencies, and earlier responses were sent to each respondent. Findings: Twenty-nine participants responded to the first round (90.6%), of whom 28 (87.5%) responded to the second round. The Delphi panel generated 7 patient-outcome, 2 nurse-staffing and 12 background variables in the first round, not well-investigated in previous research, to be added to the list. At the end of the second round the predefined level of consensus (85%) was reached for 32 patient outcomes, 10 nurse staffing measures and 29 background variables. The highest consensus levels regarding measure sensitivity to nurse staffing were found for nurse perceived quality of care, patient satisfaction and pain, and the lowest for renal failure, cardiac failure, and central nervous system complications. Nursing Hours per Patient Day received the highest consensus score as a valid measure of the number of nursing staff. As a skill mix variable the proportion of RNs to total nursing staff achieved the highest consensus level. Both age and comorbidities were rated as important background variables by all the respondents. Conclusions: These results provide a snapshot of the state of the science on nurse-staffing and patient-outcomes research as of 2005. The results portray an area of nursing science in evolution and an understanding of the connections between human resource issues and healthcare quality based on both empirical findings and opinion.

Job satisfaction survey report

Clarke, S. P. (2007). Nursing, 37(12), 43-47. 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000302553.09732.2e