News Archives

Pandemic Inspires Framework for Enhanced Care in Nursing Homes

July 9 -

As of May 2020, nursing home residents account for a staggering one-third of the more than 80,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S. This pandemic has resulted in unprecedented threats—like reduced access to resources needed to contain and eliminate the spread of the virus—to achieving and sustaining care quality even in the best nursing homes. Active engagement of nursing home leaders in developing solutions responsive to the unprecedented threats to quality standards of care delivery is required.

Humans of Penn Nursing: Isabel Li, BSN, RN, Nu’19

July 8 - Six months after moving to Manhattan and beginning my career as an inpatient nurse, the city that I had just begun to call home became an epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic. In under 48 hours, my acute surgical unit transformed into a full, 34-bed COVID ICU.

LGBTQ Data Added to the Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 Testing

July 1 -

Governor Tom Wolf announced on March 13 that the state will include LGBTQ-specific information as part of its COVID-19 data collection. Pennsylvania Department of Health began collecting race and ethnicity data after racial disparities were revealed during the pandemic. It has expanded the effort to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Bridgette M. Brawner, PhD, MDiv, APRN

June 30 - “I wrestled with what to write for this. A lofty, detached, academic-leaning piece, or, something that gives insight into the totality of who I am as a person. I decided on sharing part of my truth that makes me more human.

These days I awaken to somewhat of a twilight zone experience.”

Wendy Grube Retires: A Look Back at Her Penn Nursing Career

June 29 - Enter the Fagin Hall office of Wendy D. Grube, GNu,82, GR’10, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, and one of the first things you might see is a clear glass bell. The Order of the Bell was presented to Dr. Grube in 2017 by Mountains of Hope, West Virginia’s statewide cancer coalition, for her work to break barriers in public health in rural West Virginia. Dr. Grube has taken a special interest in this area, which has a significantly elevated rate of cervical cancer mortality—in addition to centering her 2010 doctoral dissertation on cervical screening in rural West Virginia, since 2008 she has partnered with the local community, spearheading a Penn Nursing service learning project in West Virginia that has included free cervical screenings (over 300 women screened) and other urgent health care screenings and education as informed by community need.

Social Distancing and Dying Alone

June 29 - The COVID-19 pandemic has led to drastic changes in how hospitals provide end-of-life care to patients and their families. With strict no-visiting limitations in place in an effort to stem contagion, patients have been dying alone.

School Nurses Key to Safe School Reopening

June 24 -

Sudden school closures in the United States were undertaken to reduce COVID-19 transmission this spring. Those closures were not typical, and how and when schools reopen will create a set of new norms, with unique stressors for students, families, school personnel, and communities.

New Penn Nursing COVID-19 Scholarship Protects the Future of Health Care

June 23 - With the staggering unemployment numbers released each week due to the global pandemic, it was clear to the leadership at Penn Nursing that it could result in a catastrophic future nursing shortage.

Better Care for COVID Patients Through Virtual Reality

June 22 -

An interdisciplinary team from Penn joined efforts with physicians in New York to fast-track virtual reality coronavirus training materials.

The Case Against Separating Breastfeeding Mothers and Infants During the Pandemic

June 17 -

In a Q&A, Penn Nursing’s Diane Spatz, PhD , Professor of Perinatal Nursing and the Helen M. Shearer Term Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Family and Community Health , discusses why it’s safe and beneficial to keep them together, even when the mother tests positive for COVID-19.

New Gift to Penn Nursing Continues Sands Nursing Scholars Program

June 16 - Delaney R. Lawson, BSN, RN, Nu’18 chose to attend Penn Nursing for numerous reasons—Ivy League education, commitment to excellence, faculty expertise, career opportunities—but it was the Estelle M. Sands and George H. Sands Nursing Scholars program that made attending possible. “The funding from the Sands Nursing Scholar Program made a tremendous difference for me—it truly eased the financial burden of affording tuition,” she said. “And later, after graduation, the program granted me the opportunity to work at a prestigious medical center.”

Shoshana Aronowitz, GR’19, PhD, CRNP

June 16 - “I am a family nurse practitioner and PhD in nursing. I completed my clinical training at the University of Vermont, where I was trained to be a rural health nurse practitioner. Although I am now living in Philadelphia, the skills I learned about practicing in low-resourced settings are relevant to my current passion: the provision of care outside of traditional healthcare spaces like hospitals and clinics.

Calling for Nursing Support Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

June 15 -

There are close to 28 million nurses around the world who comprise a global workforce that delivers about 90 percent of primary healthcare, including frontline response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring their optimal contribution and continued well-being amid the myriad consequences of COVID-19 will increase the potential for measurable and improved health outcomes.

Three Penn Nursing Research Projects Receive LDI Special Rapid-Response COVID-Related Grants

June 12 -

The University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) has awarded thirteen COVID-19 Rapid Response Research Grants designed to produce policy insights directly relevant to the ongoing pandemic and its broad range of health effects. Penn Nursing is represented with three research projects.

Responding to Challenges of Older Adults with COVID-19

June 9 -

Older adults with COVID-19 who survive hospitalizations and return to their homes confront substantial health challenges and an unpredictable future. Early evidence suggests that complex and long-term physical, functional, cognitive, and emotional negative health consequences will be the norm for them. However, the trajectories of health care needs of older adults with COVID-19 in the weeks and months following hospital discharge have yet to be identified.

Elise Tarbi, PhD, MBE, CRNP, Nu’12 GNu’15, GR’20

June 3 - “Oddly enough, these days I keep daydreaming about what life was like two years ago, before I gave birth to my son, when I carried him in my body for two full weeks past his due date.

Statement on the Death of George Floyd

May 31 -

The events of this past week and the death of George Floyd have unleashed a myriad of emotions – anger, rage, frustration, sadness, loss, fear, and desperation. At the School of Nursing, I know we stand in solidarity with the family and community of George Floyd. We are outraged and saddened about his tragic death and the deaths of countless other people who suffer similar injustices.

Michelle Nigro, Nu’20

May 26 - “My journey as a nurse began November of my freshman year at Penn. The first couple of months, I was feeling lost. Should I be studying something else? How do I know that this is right for me? Despite some hesitations about my major, I knew I wanted to be involved with Student Nurses at Penn (SNAP).

Congratulations to the Class of 2020

May 20 -

Penn Nursing wouldn’t let a global pandemic stop it from celebrating our graduates. The annual rite of passage – commencement – looked a little different this year due to COVID-19, but it was still special event. The graduates, their families, friends, and the Penn Nursing community, gathered online for the School’s first-ever virtual graduation on May 18, 2020. We celebrated our students’ years of dedicated studying, clinical rotations, research, papers, and exams, and welcomed another class among the ranks of the Penn Nursing Alumni .

Jason Lee, TCRN, CCRN, Nu’11, GNu’18

May 19 -

“I am an ICU nurse in Manhattan. I have seen my share of trauma, critical illness, and sorrow. But what is happening in my hospital and hospitals across America is on a scale of tragedy not even the most seasoned clinician has experienced.

Nurses Go Beyond the Caregiving

May 13 -

In the face of a disease that requires physical separation from other human beings, these care providers have extended their role, taking on tasks usually relegated to others and sitting in as family and friends to the ill. And the Penn Nursing community is doing all it can to support their colleagues on the frontlines.

In Their Own Words

May 12 - Penn Nursing’s second annual Story Slam event was held on February 12th, 2020, and the videos of the evening, along with backstage interviews with each of the storytellers, are available now. The stories highlight the incredible role nurses play in our lives, as well as the endless possibilities for those entering the nursing profession.

Mansara (Sara) Hassan, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C, Nu’14, GNu’18

May 12 - Six feet of distance prevents hugs. Masks cover smiles. Gloves negate the warm touch of hands. Words uttered convert moments in times such as these into the worst of ones’ life, and our mechanisms of providing comfort are banned in an effort to maintain safety. When a mother’s son is taking his final breaths, how does one hold her up and comfort her if not with their arms?

In Their Honor

May 11 - Leaders from across Penn and beyond recorded special messages of gratitude and deep appreciation for nurses and healthcare workers in honor of Nurses Week, May 6th - 12th.

Nurses Week a Time for Celebration and Advocacy

May 6 - To every nurse, Happy National Nurses Week! While this week is a good reminder to let the nurses in our lives know how much we appreciate them, the ultimate goal is to raise awareness about the value of nursing, and to help educate the public about the role nurses play in meeting health care needs.

Ruth Tsung-Lin Lee, Nu’20

May 5 - It’s what I wanted when I was at Penn: free time alone and away from the implicit pressures of college. The novel coronavirus granted this wish, a little too well. A month after my senior year spring break, I’m still suspended in break. But I’m just now at my brother’s apartment in the Miami suburbs on an extended sleepover.

National Scholarships for Penn Nursing Students

May 4 -

Five Penn Nursing students have been awarded scholarships from the Foundation of the National Student Nurses’ Association (FNSNA) for the 2020-21 academic year. The Scholarship Selection Committee, composed of faculty and students, met at FNSNA headquarters earlier in the year to review scholarship applications submitted by hundreds of applicants.

Read the latest Penn Nursing news related to the pandemic

May 1 -  

Health Care Education in a Virtual World

April 30 -

For future health care providers, moving education online has proved especially challenging. With ingenuity and creativity, faculty are helping them continue gaining the skills they’ll need.

Natalie Ball, Nu’14, GNu’16

April 28 - “My name is Natalie Ball, and I am working as Family Nurse Practitioner in a federally qualified, community health center (FQHC) in Norwalk, Connecticut with the organization the Community Health Center, Inc. As a primary care, patient-centered medical home, we serve a diverse patient population that suffers from multiple medical and behavioral health comorbidities.