Ann Kutney-Lee, PhD, RN, FAAN

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

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.

• 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”