Linda Hatfield, PhD, NNP-BC, FAAN

Assistant Professor of Evidence-Based Practice

When Linda Hatfield was a clinical nurse, babies were routinely treated as if they didn’t feel pain.

As director of Nursing Research and Science at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Hatfield developed the infrastructure for nurses to conduct and disseminate research and evidence-based practices and assists them in doing this. This work contributed to Pennsylvania Hospital’s Magnet designation in 2015. Interventions such as inserting catheters in arteries were done without any pain management. Dr. Hatfield believed that babies did feel pain and, beginning with her doctoral dissertation, set out to prove this — and to identify and develop behavioral and environmental interventions for pain management in babies.

“Babies with unmanaged pain feel greater pain than adults experiencing the same stimulus. I identify evidence-based interventions to manage their pain.”

Education

PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, 2006
MSN, The Pennsylvania State University, 1997
BSN, The Pennsylvania State University, 1985

Teaching

Dr. Hatfield teaches the required graduate course “Introduction to Research Methods and Design” and lectures on pediatric pain management in “Current Topics in Pain,” an inter-professional graduate course for nursing, medical, and dental students. She also serves as faculty advisor for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program, offering guidance on the curriculum.

Research

In a randomized, controlled trial, Dr. Hatfield found that immunizations were very painful for babies, ranking 9 or 10 (with 10 being the highest level of pain) on The University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital pain scale. Babies who received 24% oral sucrose on their tongues before routine immunizations at two and four months of age had significantly less pain than babies who received the control solution of sterile water. In some cases, babies given the oral sucrose had no pain.

Dr. Hatfield received Sigma Theta Tau International’s International Research Dissertation Award for this work, which was published in Pediatrics. The Pennsylvania Department of Health recommended the use of oral sucrose in all acute care clinics in the state, and awarded Dr. Hatfield first place in the State Health Improvement Plan Student Research Paper Award.

Clinical Practice

Through the NIH-designated Center of Excellence in Pain Education, Dr. Hatfield assisted in the development of a module for pain management in sickle cell disease and provides guidance on pediatric pain curricula. The center, 1 of 11 nationwide, is a collaboration between the Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Nursing, and the School of Dental Medicine.

As director of Research and Evidence-Based Practice at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Hatfield developed the infrastructure for nurses to conduct and disseminate research and evidence-based practices and assists them in doing this. This work contributed to Pennsylvania Hospital’s Magnet designation in 2015.

Selected Career Highlights

Young Investigator Award, American Pain Society
Senor Fellow, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Penn Nursing
Dean’s Award for Exemplary Professional Practice, Penn Nursing
Inaugural Marilyn Stringer Academic Practice Award, Penn Nursing

Selected Publications

Umberger, R., Hatfield, L. A. &. Speck, P. (2017). Understanding negative predictive value of diagnostic tests used in clinical practice. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing 36(1), 22-29. PMID: 27902658. IF 0.82
Hatfield, L.A., & Umberger, R. (2016). Parental knowledge and misconceptions of risks to healthy newborns in genotypic driven pediatric research. Pediatrics and Neonatal Nursing, 2(2), 1-8.
Hatfield, L. A., Kutney Lee, A., Hallowell, S.G., Del Guidice, M., Ellis, L.N., Verica, L., & Aiken, L.H. (2016). Fostering clinical nurse research in a hospital context. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(5), 245-249. PMID 27093181 IF 1.373.
Hatfield, L. A., Kutney Lee, A., Hallowell, S.G., Del Guidice, M., Ellis, L. N., Verica, L., & Aiken, L. H. (2016). Fostering clinical nurse research in a hospital context. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(10), S49-S53. PMID 27093181 IF 1.373.
Kutney-Lee, A., Germack, H., Hatfield, L. A., Kelly, S. Maguire, P., Dierkes, A., Del Guidice, M., & Aiken, L. H. (2016). The association between nurses’ engagement in shared governance and patient and nurse outcomes. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(11), 605-612. PMID 27755212. IF 1.373
Lake, E. T., Hallowell, S. G., Kutney Lee, A., Hatfield, L. A., Del Guidice, M., Ellis, L. N., Verica, L., Aiken, L. H. (2016). Higher quality of care and patient safety associated with better NICU work environments. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. 31(1), 24-32. PMID 26262450. IF 1.389
Hatfield, L. A. & Umberger, R. (2014). Does mitigating pain decrease the risk of infection? The interactions between nociception and immune function. Neonatal Network: The Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 21(1), 11-17.10.1016/j.jnn.2014.10.002
Hatfield, L. A. (2014). Pain in neonates: What’s age got to do with it? Surgical Neurology International,5(Suppl), S479-489. PMID 25506507. IF 1.2.
Hatfield, L. A. & Pearce, M. (2014). Factors influencing parents decision to donate their healthy infant’s DNA for genetic research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 46(6), 398-407. PMID: 24948372. IF 1.612
Pearce, M., Del Guidice, M., Cassidy, C., Farrell, K., Kinzey, A., Knight, G., & Hatfield, L. A. (2014). Color coding nursing uniforms. Nursing Management, 45(2), 14-20. PMID: 24472783.

Faculty Publications »