News Archives

Alzheimer’s Association Helpline Helps Caregivers Take Action, Relieve Stress

July 15 -

A study – led by Penn Nursing ’s Nancy Hodgson, PhD, RN, FAAN – found the Alzheimer’s Association Helpline offers significant improvements in caregiver’s emotional health. The results were first reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2019 in Los Angeles.

Student Stories: No Puedo Bailar Salsa

July 12 - Julianna Shinnick, a Penn Nursing student from Northampton, MA, is in Peru, researching Chagas disease, and recently wrote about her experience, including an evening when she challenged herself to operate outside of her comfort zone and went dancing in a local salsa bar...

Bauermeister Selected for Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship

July 11 -

Twenty one senior health care leaders were chosen to join the Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship ’s fifth class and the program’s network of health care entrepreneurs and innovators from across the United States.

Improving Care Quality for Hospitalized Socially At-Risk Patients

July 2 -

Nurses play a pivotal role in caring for hospitalized patients with social risk factors and preparing them for discharge. Now, a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) illustrates how certain health system constraints present barriers to effective care and impact outcomes for patients with high social risks.

What Influences How Parents and Their Gay Adolescent Sons Talk About Sexual Health at Home?

June 26 -

Research from Penn Nursing’s Dennis Flores, PhD, found that even when parent-child conversations avoid heteronormative stereotypes, outside factors like mass media and religion—those beyond the parents’ control—can reinforce them.

Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Gift Supports West Philadelphia Women

June 25 -

Penn Nursing’s West Philadelphia Women’s Day event will continue, thanks to a new grant from The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW). Funding from TCPW will support Dr. Wendy Grube’s partnership with women from the medically underserved West Philadelphia community to investigate their most pressing health concerns and move forward with a second West Philadelphia Women’s Day event.

Student Stories: Nursing Research in Dublin, Ireland

June 21 - Anna Bennett (left), a rising senior at Penn Nursing, writes about her summer internship in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to this experience, she hadn’t really traveled beyond Philadelphia or her hometown of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. But after a couple weeks in a new city, she’s already fallen into a new routine. “Somehow, the bungalow I reside in almost seems like a home away from home.”

A Push for Emergency Texting Services Across the United States

June 18 - Today, fewer than half of U.S. counties have emergency texting capabilities. Rising juniors Anthony Scarpone-Lambert of Penn Nursing and Kirti Shenoy of Wharton want to change that with their nonprofit Text-911.

Penn Nursing Family’s Generosity Impacts Global Travel and Storytelling

June 17 -

New gifts from Sandy Samberg, Nu’94, GNu’95, and her husband, Joe Samberg are supporting life changing experiences for Penn Nursing students, and opportunities for students to share those experiences with a wider audience. The Sambergs’ investments in the Global Impact Fund and the Nursing Story Slam will help our students make the most of their Penn education.

Lasater Wins AcademyHealth Award

June 14 -

Penn Nursing’s Karen Lasater, PhD, RN , Assistant Professor of Nursing; Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes & Policy Research ; and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics , has won the 2019 AcademyHealth Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues’ New Investigator Award.

Penn Nursing Alumni Share Tips for Success as a Health Care Consultant

June 13 - Consultants (all Penn Nursing alumni) from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Guidehouse visited Penn Nursing on May 30, 2019 to participate in a panel discussion regarding skill sets important for success as a healthcare consultant.

Penn Researchers Influence CDC’s Clarification on Prescribing Opioids for Cancer Pain

June 12 -

To reduce the number of people who may misuse, abuse, or overdose from opioids, multiple national agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published guidelines to improve the way opioids are prescribed. Yet some of these guidelines have caused confusion and misapplication among clinicians and unintendedly limited treatment of pain for people with cancer.

Award of Excellence in Research for Spatz

June 11 -

The award – from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) – recognizes members as exemplifying the highest standards of service to nursing.

Welcome to Penn Nursing’s new Accelerated BSN cohort!

June 10 - Here are some fast facts about the newest cohort.

How Nurses Bring Clarity to the Nature of Social Change

June 7 - History provides an enhanced understanding of the factors that inform social policy. In the wider arena of public health and its influence on social change, the political and healing import of nursing cannot be ignored.

Predicting Postinjury Depression and PTSD Risk

June 5 -

Although injury is unexpected and acute, it can result in long-term health problems and disability. Up to half of all patients experience postinjury depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the months after injury, increasing suboptimal recovery, disability, and costs for care. For patients like urban black men, some of whom have experienced prior trauma, childhood adversity and neighborhood disadvantage, acute postinjury stress responses are exacerbated.

Children Who Nap Midday are Happier, Excel Academically, and Have Fewer Behavioral Problems

May 31 -

A Penn study of nearly 3,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in China revealed strong connections between 30 to 60 minutes of shuteye at least three days a week and positive outcomes in a handful of areas.

Welcome to Our Newest Members

May 21 -

It’s a wrap! The mortar boards have been thrown and with that, we have welcomed another class among the ranks of the Penn Nursing Alumni . On May 20, 2019, the graduating class, faculty, staff, and administrators gathered at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate our School’s annual commencement.

Bringing Healthy Interventions Directly to the Workplace of Kennett Square’s Mushroom Farmworkers

May 8 -

President’s Engagement Prize-winning project – Cultivando Juntos – is designed to bring a range of subjects like nutrition and sleep directly to the Kennett Square farmworkers.

New Gift Dedicates Important Simulation Learning Space at Fagin Hall

May 7 - Penn alums Patricia Bleznak Silverstein, C’81 and Howard A. Silverstein, W’69 are advocating for innovation at Penn Nursing through education—by dedicating one of Fagin Hall’s four high fidelity simulation suites located in the Helene Fuld Pavilion for Innovative Learning and Simulation.

The Arcadia Foundation Makes an Investment in Technology at Penn Nursing

May 7 - A generous grant from The Arcadia Foundation is helping to pave the way for integrating the latest tech advancements into education at Penn Nursing. The new funding supports our School’s Learning Technology Fund, a fund that supports state-of-the-art simulation experiences and a dynamic educational curriculum to prepare Penn Nursing students with the tools and experiences they need to provide care.

Anonymous Donor Supports Global Women’s Health

May 7 -

From rural areas of India to more locally in West Philadelphia, Penn Nursing’s Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH) has an impact on health and healthcare on a global scale. In recognition of that leadership, an anonymous donor has made a $10,000 pledge, which will support the work of CGWH—at the direction of CGWH Director Dr. Wendy Grube—over the next several years.

Health System Leaders Value Nurse Innovation Skills, Just Not at the Leadership Level

May 6 - By 2025, Top Industry Challenges are Likely to Force Change

New Gift Launches the Community Partnership Program

May 3 -

Carol Lefkowitz Boas, Nu’77 and a member of the Penn Nursing Board of Overseers, and Andrew M. Boas have made the founding gift to help establish Penn Nursing’s new Community Partnership Program, one of the key initiatives for the Innovating for Life and Living Campaign.

Demiris Authors Book Exploring Hospice and Palliative Care Interventions

May 3 -

Behavioral Intervention Research in Hospice and Palliative Care: Building an Evidence Base sets forth research considerations and guidelines to build evidence-based interventions to improve end-of-life care.

Low-Income, Fifth-Year Students Receive New Financial Aid Resource to Help Them Succeed

May 2 -

When you come from a true Red and Blue family, the concept of not being able to finish your degree because of financial hardships is one that doesn’t sit well. For Robert Karsch, C’85, M’89 and Abby Bechler-Karsch, Nu’88, GNu’93, that meant creating a new scholarship—the Abby and Robert Karsch Family Scholarship Program—for low-income Penn Nursing undergraduates required to take a fifth year of classes in order to graduate.

Funding from Roxborough Memorial Foundation Boosts Roxborough Healthcare

May 2 -

Thanks to new funding from the Roxborough Memorial Foundation, Penn Nursing students will have access to a new source of financial aid that comes with an incentive to complete clinical service in or near the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia.

New Scholarship Aims to Provide Financial Aid to Nursing Students with Italian Heritage

May 2 -

Penn Nursing is committed to ensuring that our student body is as diverse as the world our graduates will serve—thanks to a new scholarship established by Professor Virginia A. Lucas, Nu’55, GNu’63, undergraduate nursing students with Italian heritage and financial need have a new financial aid resource.

Lipman and Partners Win 2019 Provost-Netter Center Faculty-Community Partnership Award

May 1 -

The annual award recognizes sustained and productive university/community partnerships. Junior and senior faculty along with senior lecturers and associated faculty from any of Penn’s 12 schools are eligible for nomination, together with their community partners. The $10,000 prize is split between the faculty member and the community partner.

Cunningham and Henderson Appointed to Committee on Future of Nursing 2020-2030

April 24 -

This ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will examine the lessons learned from the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action, as well as the current state of science and technology to inform their assessment of the capacity of the profession to meet the anticipated health and social care demands from 2020 to 2030. As part of its duties, the committee is scheduled to hold three regional town halls including a stop at Penn Nursing on Wednesday, July 24^th.