International Research

Penn Nursing's involvement in international activities is based on the belief that an exchange of ideas, knowledge, resources, experience, and educational programs in all areas of nursing science leads to enrichment for everyone involved in those exchanges. In keeping with our commitment to expand the knowledge base of nursing and health, we seek to expand research efforts that are cross-cultural and include collaboration with global centers in health research. To that end, Penn Nursing researchers have been:

• Designing and evaluating interventions to reduce HIV risk-associated sexual behaviors. Three of evidenced-based interventions have been translated into programs used both nationally and internationally by community-based organizations and clinics in high-risk urban areas.
• Developing ways to assess infant nutrition to assist in producing better developmental outcomes for babies adapted by researchers worldwide
• Reducing the use of restraints for frail elderly people in nursing homes and hospitals in this country and others
• Discovering hospital characteristics that attract and retain nurses, now serving as the basis for “magnet” hospital designation in a national program replicated in other countries
• Creating clinical practices to provide living laboratories for research, and implementing the resulting best practice models as nurses provide primary care
• Establishing a nomenclature for what nurses do, promoting the profession while informing national policymakers transforming the health care system