Four Penn Nursing professors have been selected for new fellowships from national organizations in their respective fields. Congratulations to José A. Bauermeister, Diane Spatz, Abigail Howe-Heyman, and Dawn Elizabeth Bent.
Research by Penn Nursing’s Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, Professor of Perinatal Nursing and the Helen M. Shearer Term Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Family and Community Health, and colleagues reveals how donating milk served as an important part of the grieving process for some parents who had lost a baby before or at birth.
Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, Professor of Perinatal Nursing and the Helen M. Shearer Term Professor of Nutrition, in Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health, has two new appointments: one national and the other international.
Despite breastfeeding being recommended for at least two years, only 36 percent of all infants are still breastfed at their first birthday. Black/African American mothers are least likely to initiate breastfeeding with initiation rates of only 74 percent compared to 90 percent of Asian mothers with a national average of 84 percent. Given the disparities in breastfeeding initiation, there are likely to be equivalent disparities in breastfeeding duration.
The Student Nurses at Penn (SNAP) were a powerhouse – winning awards/scholarships/elections, having legislative impact, making presentations – at the 69th Annual Convention of the Student Nurses’ Association of Pennsylvania held November 18-19, 2021, in Harrisburg.
There are ways you could try to quantify the reach and influence of Penn Nursing. You could look at school rankings, which for the past five years have placed the School in the number one spot in the world. Or you could calculate the amount of research funding it’s been awarded by the National Institutes of Health.
Of the more than 200,000 women in U.S. federal and state prisons and jails, it is estimated that up to 10% are pregnant and will give birth while incarcerated. Clinical practice guidelines to support breastfeeding and increase infants’ access to human milk are well established. However, little data assess the extent to which they are modifiable or applicable for incarcerated mothers.