Salimah H. Meghani, PhD, MBE, RN, FAAN
Salimah H. Meghani, PhD, MBE, RN, FAAN has a long-standing commitment to advancing the field of palliative care through scholarship and service. During 2005-2007, she served on the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s state taskforce: Improving Quality at the End of Life for Pennsylvanians. This committee assessed the status of palliative care in the state and formulated recommendations for improving advanced illness care for Pennsylvanians. Between 2007-2009, Dr. Meghani served on the Pennsylvania Patient Life-Sustaining Wishes Advisory Committee. This committee was appointed by the PA Secretary of Health to assess the feasibility of implementing Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment paradigm in Pennsylvania. This effort led to the endorsement of Pennsylvania POLST to ensure that seriously ill patients’ treatment wishes are documented and honored across healthcare settings. More recently (2012-2014), Dr. Meghani served as a member of the Institute of Medicine (now NAM) Study Committee that authored the report, Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life.
“My program of research combines an investigation of palliative care and healthcare disparities– two layers of vulnerability embedded in the context of the complex healthcare system. I am committed to helping students and fellows develop skills and the scholarly tools to broach this important area of research.”
Education
- PhD, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing , 2005
- MBE, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, 2005
- MSN, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing , 2001
- BSN, The Aga Khan University, School of Nursing , 1997
Teaching
Dr. Meghani teaches two core courses in Penn Nursing’s Palliative Care Minor. Preparing the next generation of nursing leaders and researchers is one of the things Dr. Meghani values most. In the core courses that she teaches in the Minor, she engages students in appraising and critiquing existing end-of-life paradigms and reimagining workable models for the future.
Research
Dr. Meghani’s main research interest involves palliative care, specifically understanding and addressing sources of disparities in symptom management and outcomes among vulnerable populations. Her earlier work explicated sources of racial disparities in cancer pain outcomes (NIH/NINR 1K01NR010886) and clarified the role of patient-provider factors contributing to shaping preferences and adherence funded by highly competitive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Challenge Grant (NIH 1RC1NR011591).This longitudinal, interdisciplinary study leveraged methods from behavioral economics and patient-reported outcomes to understand sources of clinical disparities, preference-formation, consequent medication taking behavior, and clinical outcomes among cancer patients. Currently, Dr. Meghani is leading an American Cancer Society-funded project to elicit patients-family dyad generated ideas to improve cancer pain management and to convert ideas to actionable interventions specific to decreasing disparities (ACS #128779-PEP-15-186-01).
Selected Career Highlights
- Member, Institute of Medicine Study Committee: Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life
- Reviewer, The National Academies of Medicine Report: Assessing Progress on the IOM Report The Future of Nursing
- Former Chair, American Pain Society, Pain and Disparities Shared Interest Group
- Editorial Board, Pain Medicine: The official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
- Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
- Dean’s Award for Exemplary Teaching, Penn School of Nursing
- Barbara J. Lowery Doctoral Student Organization Faculty Award
Selected Publications
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Meghani, S.H. & Knafl, G. (2017). Salient concerns in using analgesia for cancer pain among outpatients: A cluster analysis study. World Journal of Clinical Oncology, 8(1), 75-85.
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Meghani, S. H. (2016). Intended Target of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Opioid Guidelines. JAMA Oncology, 2(9), 1243. (PMID: 27468172). 10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.2185.
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Meghani, S.H. & Knafl, G. (2016). Patterns of analgesic adherence predict health care utilization among outpatients with cancer pain. Patient Preference and Adherence, 10, 81-98. (PMID: 26869772; PMCID: PMC4734825)
- Bomba, P.A., & Meghani, S.H. (2015). Can the United States buy better advance care planning?. Annals of Internal Medicine, 162(11), 803-804. (PMID: 26030644).10.7326/L15-5070
- Meghani, S.H., Thompson, A.M., Chittams, J., Bruner, D.W., & Riegel, B. (2015). Adherence to analgesics for cancer pain: A comparative study of African Americans and Whites using an electronic monitoring device. Journal of Pain, 16(9), 825-835. (PMID: 26080042).10.1016/j.jpain.2015.05.009
- Meghani, S.H., & Chittams, J. (2015). Controlling for socioeconomic status in pain disparities research: All-Else-Equal Analysis when. Pain Medicine, 16(12), 2222-2225. (PMID: 26052869).10.1111/pme.12829
- Meghani, S.H., & Hinds, P.S. (2015). Policy Brief: The Institute of Medicine Report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life. Nursing Outlook, 63(1), 51-59. (PMID: 25645482).10.1016/j.outlook.2014.11.007
- Meghani, S.H., Kang, Y., Chittams, J., McMenamin, E., Mao, J., & Fudin, J. (2014). African Americans with cancer pain are more likely to receive an analgesic with toxic metabolite despite clinical risks: A mediation analysis study. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 32(25), 2773-2779. (PMID: 25049323).10.1200/JCO.2013.54.7992
- Meghani, S.H., Byun, E., & Gallagher, R.M. (2012). Time to take stock: A Meta-Analysis and systematic review of pain treatment disparities in the United States. Pain Medicine, 13(2), 150-174. (PMID: 22239747).10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01310.x
- Meghani, S.H., Polomano, R., Tait, R., Vallerand, A., Anderson, K., & Gallagher, R.M. (2012). Advancing a national agenda to eliminate disparities in pain care: Directions for health policy, education, practice, and research.. Pain Medicine, 13(1), 5-28. (PMID: 22142450).10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01289.x
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Little Clinical Evidence Qualifies Utility of Mobile Apps Designed for Palliative Care
The unprecedented digital connectivity and use of smartphone technology have transformed how people access, share, and communicate information – including information about health care. As of mid-2015, there were more than 165,000 mobile health applications (apps) in use worldwide, illustrating the important role of mobile technology in the way health care is delivered and received.
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Penn Nursing Expert: Workable Alternatives to Opioid Treatment Needed
In a recent letter to the editor of JAMA Oncology, Dr. Salimah H. Meghani addresses the need for health insurance-covered treatments other than opioids for cancer survivors with chronic pain.