News Archives

Penn Nursing and Annenberg School for Communication Partner with Camden County to Launch Virtual Reality Narcan Training

November 6 -

Last year, 354 people died from opioid overdoses in Camden County, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, which in 2022 recorded an estimated 15,407 administrations statewide of naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan. This year, New Jersey launched an initiative allowing anyone 14 and older to anonymously obtain naloxone for free at more than 600 participating pharmacies across the state. Camden County, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, has also installed secure NaloxBoxes in every public school.

As People Live Longer, Family Caregivers Face Financial Challenges

November 1 -

Many people overlook the short- and long-term costs of financial caregiving, a growing problem that financial advisors and employers can help address, according to a new report by the TIAA Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing).

Supporting the Well-Being of LGBTQ+ Adolescents and Their Families

October 26 - Penn Nursing’s Dalmacio Dennis Flores, PhD, ACRN, FAAN, Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, has been awarded a 2023 grant from the Hillman Innovations in Care (HIC) program. The $600,000 grant will be used to expand a Penn Nursing-led program that supports the well-being of LGBTQ+ adolescents and their families. This grant is awarded by The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation.

Hillman Grant for Penn Nursing Professor to Study Virtual Reality & Loneliness

October 16 -

Penn Nursing, with partners from the Annenberg Virtual Reality ColLABorative and New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing, have been awarded 2023 grant from the Hillman Emergent Innovation: Serious Illness and End of Life program to study the use of social virtual reality (VR) in enhancing the treatment experience and reducing loneliness in people undergoing hemodialysis. This grant is awarded by The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation.

Study Highlights Concerns and Preferences of Residents Regarding Police Involvement in Mental Health Crisis Response

October 11 -

Police officers often respond to incidents that do not involve crime or immediate threats to public safety but instead deal with community members facing unmet mental health needs. In response to this, many cities are experimenting with co-deploying police officers alongside health professionals or deploying teams entirely composed of civilian health professionals.

NIH Grant for Innovative Study Using Patient Verbal Communication to Detect Deterioration in Heart Failure Patients in Managed Long-Term Care

October 9 - To improve the quality of care and reduce healthcare expenditures, heart failure patients in the U.S. are increasingly being treated in community-based programs such as managed long-term care. Although early identification of patients’ risks of negative outcomes, including hospitalizations or emergency department visits, has been shown to prevent these adverse outcomes in settings including hospitals and nursing homes, it has not been studied in managed long-term care.

Factors Linked to Racial Disparities in Chronic Pain After Injury

October 6 -

Chronic pain is a top cause of disability in the United States, with the costs of medical care and lost productivity exceeding $500 billion, according to an Institute of Medicine report. Many people who suffer an acute traumatic injury—such as from a car crash or violence—continue to experience pain in the year after injury.

Integrating the Transitional Care Model into Nurse Practitioner Curricula to Improve Outcomes for High-Risk Older Adults

September 25 - Managing transitions in care for older adults and their family caregivers, no matter the care setting, is especially challenging in a rapidly changing health care system. Patient discharges which typically require prescription writing, discharge summary creation, and team consultations for home care entail more complex coordination and planning.

Penn Nursing Receives $1 Million Grant to Support Nursing Education

September 19 -

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has received a $1 million grant from the Bedford Falls Foundation – DAF, a donor-advised fund established by Philanthropists William (Bill) E. Conway Jr., co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, and his wife, Joanne. The couple have given millions to support nursing education and scholarships to address the nation’s nursing workforce shortage.

# 1 in the Nation

September 18 -

For the third consecutive year, Penn Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is the number one undergraduate nursing program in the nation according to the 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

Study Finds Spiritual Coping Behaviors May Be Key To Enhanced Trauma Recovery of Black Men Who Survive Firearm Injury

September 14 -

High rates of firearm injury among urban Black men in the U.S. can lead to long physical and psychological recovery times, worsened by limited access to mental health services. In the face of firearm injury, urban Black men may feel they have lost control over their lives, leading to fear, paranoia, lack of forgiveness, and different dimensions of mental health challenges, which can be difficult to overcome.

New Term Chair for Penn Nursing Professor

September 5 -

Karen B. Lasater, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor in Penn Nursing’s Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, has been appointed as the Jessie M. Scott Term Chair in Nursing and Health Policy. The appointment took effect on July 1, 2023.

Welcome Back Fall 2023: A Message from Dean Villarruel

August 29 - Welcome to fall semester! I hope you all had an opportunity to refresh over the summer. I was lucky enough to visit the Shoe Museum in Michigan, a project of East Jordan Middle/High School’s Shoe Club. The museum reminds us—through the stories of those who donate their shoes—to value ourselves and to value others, something I’ve thought about often as I prepared for this new semester.

Announcing the 2023 Lauder Fellows

August 23 -

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has named its second cohort of Fellows for the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program (LLCCNPP), and the group is comprised of nursing professionals from across the country who will begin full-time studies towards becoming a primary care nurse practitioner this fall. The Fellows will use this unique opportunity to further their education and clinical experience to help solve the challenges they see in their chosen field.

New Role for Howard

August 14 -

Monique Howard, EdD, MPH, Senior Director of Women’s Health Initiatives in the Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH), has accepted a secondary role as Senior Director of Community Engagement.

New Appointment for Inaugural Curator Role at Penn Nursing

August 11 -

The Penn Libraries and Penn Nursing are pleased to announce that Jessica Martucci, PhD, has been named Curator of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, effective August 28, 2023.

American Academy of Nursing Announces New Fellows

August 9 -

Eleven nursing professionals with ties to Penn Nursing will be inducted as 2023 Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). One is a current Penn Nursing faculty member and an alumna; nine are Penn Nursing alumni; and one has been named an honorary Fellow. All of the inductees will be honored at a ceremony during the AAN’s 2023 Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 5-7, 2023.

Investigators Identify Translation Gaps in Instrument That Measures Nurse Work Environment

July 27 - Two decades ago, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index was published to measure the nursing practice environment. Although the instrument’s use has resulted in advances in science and quality improvement efforts, its potential may be limited by the availability and quality of translations into different languages.

Living Legend Designation for Penn Nursing Professor

July 19 -

The American Academy of Nursing has named Martha A.Q. Curley, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and the Ruth M. Colket Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing Science at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a Living Legend. This honor is bestowed upon a person who has made significant contributions to nursing and health care over the course of their career. The official designation will be made at the Academy’s 2023 Health Policy Conference: Celebrating 50 Years of Leadership, Policy, and Partnerships, to be held October 5-7, 2023. This is the Academy’s highest honor.

Penn Nursing Launches New Masters-Entry Program

July 17 -

Penn Nursing’s new Master of Professional Nursing (MPN) degree offers students with a bachelor’s degree in another field an exciting alternative path to a career in nursing. This entry-level nursing program, offered at the graduate level, prepares students to deliver a full array of health care services to meet the demands of patients and families with increasingly complex health needs.

Hospital Understaffing and Poor Work Conditions Associated with Physician and Nurse Burnout and Intent to Leave

July 10 -

A unique collaborative study on hospital clinician wellbeing by teams at 60 of the nation’s best hospitals, defined by Magnet Hospital Recognition, was published today in JAMA Health Forum. The study found that physicians and nurses, even at hospitals known to be good places to work, experienced adverse outcomes during the pandemic and want hospital management to make significant improvements in their work environments and in patient safety. The solutions to high hospital clinician burnout and turnover, they say, are not resilience training for clinicians to better cope with adverse working conditions but organizational improvements that provide safe workloads and better work-life balance.

Advocating for Implementing a Nurse Practitioner System in Korea

July 3 -

In April 2023, David (Hyunmin) Yu, MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, TCRN, Nurse Practitioner in the PPMC Medical Intensive Care Unit, was invited to Seoul, South Korea, to speak at the largest national critical care medicine conference in South Korea, organized by the Korean Society of Critical Care Medicine.

By Sara Rubins and Bridget McQuate, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center 5 Things to Know Newsletter

Reaffirming Our Commitment to Diversity and Equity

June 29 -

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to rule against affirmative action, thereby striking down the ability of schools to consider race as part of the admissions process, does not negate the need to continue building a nursing workforce as diverse as the people our health care institutions serve.

Today’s ruling does not diminish our commitment to educating a diverse nursing workforce that is critical to ensuring quality health care and promoting health for everyone, everywhere. Penn Nursing remains steadfast in its mission to promote equity, advance science, demonstrate practice excellence, and prepare leaders—from all walks of life—in the discipline of nursing.

Announcing the Johnson & Johnson Nursing Innovation Fellows

May 24 -

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is pleased to announce that ten teams from health systems around the country have been selected for the Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program (JJNIF), powered by Penn Nursing and the Wharton School–a ground-breaking, one-year, team-based nursing fellowship for Chief Nursing Officers, nurse executives, and senior nurse leaders.

Celebrating the Class of 2023!

May 17 -

Penn Nursing celebrated the Class of 2023 on May 15 with our annual commencement ceremony at the Kimmel Cultural Campus. We celebrated their achievements, their studies, their work, their honors, along with all of their families, friends, and the Penn Nursing community. It is an honor to welcome them among the ranks of the Penn Nursing Alumni.

New Fellowships

May 10 -

Four Penn Nursing professors have been selected for new fellowships from national organizations in their respective fields. Congratulations to José A. Bauermeister, Diane Spatz, Abigail Howe-Heyman, and Dawn Elizabeth Bent.

Penn’s Rebecca Clark, PhD, Joins Betty Irene Moore Fellowship Program at UC Davis Nursing School

May 8 -

Rebecca Clark, PhD, MSN, RN, Assistant Professor of Perinatal Nursing, Midwifery, and Women’s Health at Penn Nursing and a Nurse Scientist at Pennsylvania Hospital, is one of 16 nurse scientists accepted to the fourth cohort of the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators. She is the first nurse scientist from Penn to be accepted to this program.

University Names Penn Nursing Professor as Evan C Thompson Term Chair for Excellence in Teaching

May 8 -

Interim Provost Beth A. Winkelstein and Vice Provost for Education Karen Detlefsen are pleased to announce the appointment of Penn Nursing’s Jie Deng, PhD, RN, OCN, FAAN, Associate Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, Faculty Director of the Laboratory of Innovative & Translational Nursing Research, and Senior Fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, to the Evan C Thompson Term Chair for Excellence in Teaching, beginning July 1, 2023.

2023 Penn Nursing / Aspen Institute Women’s Health Conference

May 4 -

Penn Nursing, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute, hosted a half-day program that explored women and health, with a lens on areas that require further attention as well as the policies and initiatives that can help move us forward.

Helping Health Care Providers Support Black Breastfeeding Families

May 4 - Despite breastfeeding being recommended for at least two years, only 36 percent of all infants are still breastfed at their first birthday. Black/African American mothers are least likely to initiate breastfeeding with initiation rates of only 74 percent compared to 90 percent of Asian mothers with a national average of 84 percent. Given the disparities in breastfeeding initiation, there are likely to be equivalent disparities in breastfeeding duration.