Connie M. Ulrich, PhD, RN, FAAN

Lillian S. Brunner Chair in Medical and Surgical Nursing

Professor of Nursing

Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy

Connie M. Ulrich was drawn to the study of bioethics early in her career when, as a pediatric nurse, she often worked with seriously ill pediatric patients and their families and was a member of a pediatric heart transplantation team. After completing her PhD in nursing ethics, Dr. Ulrich was the first nurse ever accepted into the postdoctoral training program in the NIH’s Department of Bioethics.

When she joined the Penn Nursing faculty and was appointed senior fellow at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2003, she became the first nurse bioethicist at the university.

I am committed to helping nurses develop the skills of bioethics and ensuring that the perspective of nurses is represented in bioethics.

Education

  • PhD, University of Maryland,
  • MSN, The Catholic University of America,
  • BSN, The Catholic University of America,
  • Diploma, Williamsport Hospital School of Nursing,
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Institutes of Health, Department of Bioethics,

Teaching

In the classroom, Dr. Ulrich provides bioethics education to help nursing students feel more confident to address the issues that they’ll face. The students who assist in her research  learn how to protect patients involved in research and represent what she calls integrity in action. Dr. Ulrich is especially interested in mentoring students in bioethics, to ensure that the perspective of nurses is included in future work.

Research

Using a bioethics lens to explore issues makes a difference in the lives of nurses and other health care providers, patients, families, communities, and society. Some of Dr. Ulrich’s other research has shown the importance of an ethical climate and ethics preparedness and confidence for nurses in nurse retention and job satisfaction. She also studies emerging technologies and patient information; ethical conflicts of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in clinical practice; and informed consent and placebo assignment in clinical trials. Dr. Ulrich provided testimony to the Presidential Bioethics Commission on the importance of ethics education for nursing and how ethics education influences the moral action of nurses with their patients.

Clinical Practice

Dr. Ulrich addresses the everyday ethical challenges of nurses and other health care providers and clinical researchers in their day-to-day work with patients and families. These challenges include understanding decision-making processes and issues related to research participation by seriously ill patients. With NIH-funding, Dr. Ulrich is exploring informed consent issues, especially how patients feel about the benefit and burdens of participating in research. The study is also examining the impact of the investigator, clinical characteristics, and pressure from other people on the risk-benefit assessment and subsequent retention of participants in cancer clinical trials. The results can be used to guide the information presented to cancer patients and to improve recruitment and retention.

Opportunities to Learn and Collaborate at Penn Nursing

Through inter-disciplinary work with colleagues at Penn and other universities, Dr. Ulrich is able to shed light on salient bioethical issues. In a recent collaboration, for example, she and colleagues from Penn and Dartmouth University developed a bioethics scholarship and training program for nurses and physicians in Tanzania.

Selected Career Highlights

  • Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
  • Bioethicist, National Heart Lung & Blood data safety and monitoring board for the CABANA Trial
  • Faculty Award for Senior Research Faculty’s Significant Contribution to Nursing Scholarship
  • Salzburg Seminar Global Fellow
  • Author, Nursing Ethics in Everyday Practice
  • Author, Moral Distress in the Health Professions

Accepting Mentees?

  • Yes

Accepting Fellows?

  • Yes

Selected Publications

  • Carpenter, J.G., Ulrich, C., Hodgson, N., Hanson, L.C., Ersek, M. (2021). Alternative consent models in pragmatic palliative Care clinical trials. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Jul;62(1):183-191. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.09.044. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.09.044. Epub 2020 Oct 29. PMID: 33129936

  • Rosa, W.E., Buck, H.G., Squires, A.P., Kozachik, S.L., Abu-Saad Huijer, H., Bakitas, M., McGowan Boit, J., Bradley, P.K., Cacchione, P.Z., Chan, G., Crisp, N., Dahlin, C., Daoust, P., Davidson, P.M., Davis, S., Doumit, M.A.A., Fink, R.M., Herr, K.A., Hinds, P.S., Hughes, T.L., Karanja, V., Kenny, D.J., King, C.R., Klopper, H.C., Knebel, A.R., Kurth, A.E., Madigan, E.A., Malloy, P., Matzo, M., Mazanec, P., Meghani, S.H., Monroe, T.B., Moreland, P.J., Paice, J.A., Phillips, J.C., Rushton, C.H., Shamian, J., Shattell, M., Snethen, J., Ulrich, C.M., Wholihan, D., Wocial, L.D., & Ferrell, B.R. (2021). American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel consensus statement on nursing’s roles in ensuring universal palliative care access. Nursing Outlook.

  • Part II has been retitled as below:

    Rosa, W.E., Buck, H.G., Squires, A.P., Kozachik, S.L., Abu-Saad Huijer, H., Bakitas, M., McGowan Boit, J., Bradley, P.K., Cacchione, P.Z., Chan, G., Crisp, N., Dahlin, C., Daoust, P., Davidson, P.M., Davis, S., Doumit, M.A.A., Fink, R.M., Herr, K.A., Hinds, P.S., Hughes, T.L., Karanja, V., Kenny, D.J., King, C.R., Klopper, H.C., Knebel, A.R., Kurth, A.E., Madigan, E.A., Malloy, P., Matzo, M., Mazanec, P., Meghani, S.H., Monroe, T.B., Moreland, P.J., Paice, J.A., Phillips, J.C., Rushton, C.H., Shamian, J., Shattell, M., Snethen, J., Ulrich, C.M., Wholihan, D., Wocial, L.D., & Ferrell, B.R. (2021). International consensus-based policy recommendations to advance universal palliative care access from the American Academy of Nursing Expert Panels. Nursing Outlook.

  • Paidipati, C.P., Deatrick, J.A., Eiraldi, R.B., Ulrich, C.M., Lane, J.M., Brawner, B.M. (2021). Caregivers’ perspectives on the contextual influences within family management for ethnically diverse children with ADHD. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing. 2021Dec 27:e12365. doi: 10.1111/jspn.12365. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34962094

  • Starr, L.T., Ulrich, C. M., Perez, G.A., Aryal, S., Junker, P., O’Connor, N.R., & Meghani, S.H. (2021). Hospice enrollment, future hospitalization, and future costs among racially and ethnically diverse patients who received palliative care consultation. The American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care, 1-14. 10499091211034383. Advance online publication. https://doi-org.proxy.library.upenn.edu/10.1177/10499091211034383

  • Wool, J., Irving, S., Meghani, S., Ulrich, C. (2021). Parental decision-making in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: An integrative review. Journal of Family Nursing, 27(2), 154-167. doi: 10.1177/1074840720975869. Epub 2021 Feb 1. PMID: 33523765

  • Parker Oliver, D., Benson, J., Ulrich, C.M., Washington, K.T., Rolbiecki, A.J., White, P., Smith, J.B., Lero, C., Landon, O.J., Demiris, G. (2021) Perceived benefits and burdens of participation for caregivers of cancer patients in hospice clinical trials: A pilot study. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Jun;61(6):1147-1154. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.10.024. Epub 2020 Nov 6. PubMed PMID: 33166583

  • Carpenter, J.G., Ulrich, C., Hodgson, N., Hanson, L.C., Ersek, M. (2021). Alternative consent models in pragmatic palliative care clinical trials. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Jul;62(1):183-191. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.09.044. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

  • Oliver, D.P., Benson, J.J., Ulrich, C., Washington, K.T., Rolbiecki, A.J., White, P., Smith, J.B., Lero, C., Landon, O.J., Demiris, G. (2021). Perceived benefits and burdens of participation for caregivers of cancer patients in hospice clinical trials: A pilot study. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Jun;61(6):1147-1154. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.10.024. Epub 2020 Nov 6. PMID: 33166583

  • Morley, G., Grady, C., McCarthy, J., and Ulrich, C.M. (2020). Covid-19: Ethical challenges for nurses Hastings Center Report, 45:1-5. DOI: 10.1002 

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