Ann Kutney-Lee, PhD, RN, FAAN
Like many people, Ann Kutney-Lee has witnessed friends and family struggling with cancer. Unlike most witnesses, as a health services researcher she is in a position to do something about it. With funding from the American Cancer Society, Dr. Kutney-Lee is studying the patient, hospital, and nursing factors associated with complications following a mastectomy for breast cancer. Mastectomy is a complex surgery, and patients require intensive nursing care during recovery. Dr. Kutney-Lee is studying how the way nurses provide that care – based on their staffing patterns, work environments, and other factors in nursing practice – can optimize patient outcomes, including limiting postoperative complications.
Education
- PhD , University of Pennsylvania, 2007
- MSN, University of Pennsylvania, 2004
- BSN, University of Scranton , 2001
Teaching
The ability to learn from and work with many of the best nurse researchers in the country attracted Dr. Kutney-Lee to Penn Nursing. She believes studying at Penn opens doors for students and creates life-changing opportunities, and she carries on this tradition by mentoring students at all levels on nursing outcomes and related investigations. She co-directs NURS 101: The Nature of Nursing Practice, leads seminars in NURS 101 and 102, and teaches NURS 547: Scientific Inquiry for Evidence-Based Practice. She also delivers guest lectures on nursing outcomes research and related topics to graduate students
Research
Beginning her career as an oncology nurse sparked Dr. Kutney-Lee’s interest in the relationship between nurses’ work environments, other aspects of nursing care organization, and health outcomes for vulnerable patients, particularly those with cancer and at the end of life. As in the mastectomy research, her scholarship focuses on the effects of nursing care organization on health outcomes and how health systems can be redesigned to function more efficiently and effectively.
The ultimate aim of her research, which has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, is to improve care quality for patients and families.
Dr. Kutney-Lee’s research on quality of care and patient outcomes encompasses multiple aspects of health care. Many of her projects evaluate the association between the organization of nursing services and current pay-for performance and quality metrics, or document the importance of nursing to the outcomes of vulnerable populations.
At the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where she is a health research scientist at the Performance Reporting and Outcomes Measurement to Improve the Standard of Care at End-of-Life (PROMISE) Center, she is collaborating with other researchers to study the quality of care veterans receive at the end of life. The center is an integral part of the VA’s Hospice and Palliative Care Program.
Dr. Kutney-Lee’s work examining hospitals over time has provided evidence for a potential causal link between the organization of nursing services, and patient and workforce outcomes. She is also interested in how electronic health records are associated with patient outcomes, and how the effectiveness of this technology may hinge upon the work environment of nurses.
Selected Career Highlights
- Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
- Board member, Interdisciplinary Research Group for Nursing Issues, AcademyHealth
- Top 15 Most Read Health Affairs Articles for 2013, “An increase in the number of nurses
with baccalaureate degrees is linked to lower rates of postsurgery mortality.” Health Affairs, 32(3), 579-586 - Best Abstract, Health Information Technology Theme, AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, for “Electronic health record adoption and nurse-assessed patient safety outcomes”
Selected Publications
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Kutney-Lee, A., Smith, D., Thorpe, J., del Rosario, C., Ibrahim, S., & Ersek, M. (2016). Race/Ethnicity and end-of-life care among Veterans. Under review.
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Kutney-Lee, A., Brennan, C.W., Meterko, M. & Ersek, M. (2015). Organization of nursing and quality of care for Veterans at the end of life. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 49(3):570-7.
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Kutney-Lee, A., Witkoski Stimpfel, A., Sloane, D.M., Cimiotti, J., Quinn, L.W., & Aiken, L.H. (2015). Changes in patient and nurse outcomes associated with Magnet hospital designation. Medical Care, 53(6), 550-557.
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Lake, E.T, Hallowell, S., Kutney-Lee, A., Hatfield, L., Del Guidice, M., Boxer, B., Ellis, L, … Aiken, L.H. (2015). Higher quality of care and patient safety associated with better NICU work environments. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. In press.
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Kelly, D.M., Kutney-Lee, A., McHugh, M.D., Sloane, D.M. & Aiken, L.H. (2014). Impact of critical care nursing on 30-day mortality of mechanically ventilated older adults. Critical Care Medicine, 42, 1089-1095.10.1097/CCM.0000000000000127
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Kutney-Lee, A., Melendez-Torres, G.J., McHugh, M., & Wall, B.M. (2014). Distinct enough? A national examination of Catholic hospital affiliation and patient perceptions of care. Health Care Management Review, 39(2), 134-144. doi: 10.1097/HMR.0b013e31828dc491
- You, L.M.; Aiken, L.H.; Sloane, D.M.; Liu, K.; He, G.; Hu, Y….Kutney-Lee, A. & Sermeus, W. (2013). Hospital nursing, care quality, and patient satisfaction: Cross-sectional surveys of nurses and patients in hospitals in China and Europe.. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50(2), 154-161.PMID: 22658468
- Kutney-Lee, A., Sloane, D.M., & Aiken, L.H. (2013). An increase in the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees is linked to lower rates of postsurgery mortality. Health Affairs, 32(3), 579-586.
- Brooks Carthon, M., Jarrin, O., Sloane, D.M., & Kutney-Lee, A. (2013). Variations in postoperative complications across race, ethnicity and sex among older adults. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 61(9), 1499-1507.
- Kutney-Lee, A. Wu, E., Sloane, D., Aiken, L.H. (2013). Effects of changes in hospital nurse work environments and nurse job outcomes: An analysis of panel data. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50(2), 195-201.PMID: 22902135
Related News
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CNN Report: Race Disparity in End-of-Life Care
A CNN article about Palliative care features Penn Nursing’s Ann Kutney-Lee and her study about racial disparities.
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Nursing Work Environment Shapes Relationship Between EHR & Quality of Care
In the decade since the federal government’s electronic health record (EHR) initiatives first became law, nearly all U.S. hospitals have adopted some form of EHR technology. Now, focus is on how a comprehensive EHR can enhance outcomes. Yet, little is known about the sociotechnical factors that can shape the relationship between advanced EHR adoption and quality of care.
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Matthew Lee, Nu’14, Gr’20
“The moment when I realized virtual interaction could be more than simply fun and games happened around 15 years ago, during what some long-time players of World of Warcraftmight remember as the Corrupted Blood Incident–where intrepid adventurers coming back from an excursion into an unexplored jungle with their animal companions ended up unleashing a lethal pandemic into the virtual world.”