Substance use by youth remains a significant public health concern. While social media provides youth the opportunity to discuss and display substance use-related beliefs and behaviors, little is known about how posting drug-related content, or viewing posted content influences the beliefs and behaviors of youth relative to substance use.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) continues its streak of being the number one nursing school in the world according to a recent ranking by QS World University . The rankings highlight the world’s top universities in 48 different subject areas based on academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact. This is the fifth consecutive year that Penn Nursing has taken the top spot.

Research from Penn Nursing ’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) is highlighted throughout the International Council of Nurses (ICN) recently released resource and evidence toolkit: Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health. This important resource comes out as nurses are on the frontlines caring for critically ill patients  in the COVID-19 pandemic, and comes in advance of International Nurses Day (IND) in the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, which will be celebrated on May 12, 2020.

Nursing research has an important influence on evidence-based health care practice, care delivery, and policy. Two editorials in the journal Research in Nursing & Health, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), explore how nursing research has been paramount in dealing with the emerging coronavirus pandemic.

During these times of uncertainty, we’re all having to change what we do and how we do it—including health care providers who have had to swiftly migrate to telehealth to offer care that doesn’t require patients to travel and visit crowded facilities for treatment. To help meet this urgent need, Penn Nursing is offering its new online training in best practices for telehealth to all health care providers, free of charge, and each completed course provides 2 CEUs. Click here to visit and use the code ASPIRE100 when registering.

Penn Nursing ’s Ariana Chao, PhD, CRNP , Assistant Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences , will be awarded with the 2020 Rising Star Research Award from the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ERNS), during its 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions (virtual this year) in Boston, Massachusetts, March 26-27, 2020.  This award recognizes a Junior Investigator that has shown promise in establishing a program of health and/or nursing research.

Suzanne Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chief Executive Officer of the American Academy of Nursing , will be the 2020 Penn Nursing commencement speaker. The ceremony, which will be virtual due to the coronavirus, will take place on Monday, May 18^th at 3pm. Details about the virtual event, including a link to the livestream, can be found at www.nursing.upenn.edu/commencement2020 .

It’s long been understood that care that respects and integrates the wants, needs, and preferences of patients results in higher ratings of satisfaction and improved health outcomes. Yet, several barriers still often impede the delivery of patient-centered care. A new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) shows that organizational supports for nurse practitioners (NPs) can enhance their ability to deliver patient-centered care.

Healthcare provider burnout is a mounting public health crisis with up to half of all physicians and one in three nurses reporting high burnout, data show. Burnout rates among nurses also correlate with lower patient satisfaction. While both factors are recognized, little is known about how effective interventions in nurse working conditions, managerial support, or resource enhancement can lessen burnout and improve patient satisfaction.

A proposal spearheaded by the University of Pennsylvania has been named in the Top 100 in the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition , which offers a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world’s most critical social challenges. Penn Nursing’s Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA , and Penn Medicine’s Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD , are co-leads on the global project. Both are associate directors at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE ).

Penn Nursing doing its part by donating face masks, boxes of gloves, N95 masks, isolation gowns, surgical gowns, eye shields, caps, anesthesia machines, and a ventilator to the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The study will evaluate the effectiveness of TCM in reducing rehospitalizations and promote widespread use of the program in a number of health systems.

Amplify Nursing, the new podcast created and hosted by Marion Leary and Angelarosa DiDonato, features nurses who are leading the way in nursing science, policy, and innovation. Made possible by the Krista and Rich Pinola Fund for Innovation in Nursing, new episodes will be available every other Wednesday through iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay, and more.

As the COVID-19 pandemic grows across the US, Penn Nursing ’s Alison Buttenheim, PhD , a public health researcher and behavioral epidemiologist and Penn Medicine’s Carolyn Cannuscio, ScD , a social epidemiologist, join Amplify Nursing to discuss the coronavirus – what we need to know, what we need to do to help lessen the spread, and what we should expect in the days and weeks to come. Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

While the current coronavirus pandemic continues to affect all people, families will still give birth and bring new life into the world. During the COVID-19 crisis, breastfeeding and the provision of human milk to infants is recommended by national and international organizations because it is effective against infectious diseases: It strengthens the immune system by directly transferring antibodies from the mother.

While firearm violence is a major public health challenge in the United States, it has often been considered a law enforcement issue with only law enforcement solutions. An article by two University of Pennsylvania researchers advises that treating firearm violence as a disease and taking a public health approach to prevention and treatment can help reduce its harms.

Penn Nursing ’s Peggy Compton, PhD, RN, FAAN , the van Ameringen Chair in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Health , will be honored by Sigma Theta Tau International  (STTI) for her contributions to the nursing profession during the 31st International Nursing Research Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, July 23-27, 2020. 

All the honorees will be recognized during a virtual, end-of-the-year event that is being planned. Details on that to come.

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.

As opioid overdoses continue to grab headlines, more states are providing their communities with easier access to naloxone, which can prevent death by reversing opioid overdoses. But while naloxone may be available at township buildings, libraries, or other community locations, little is known about how schools maintain a supply and use naloxone to prepare for treating overdose.

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.

Research from Penn Nursing and CHOP argues that for this population, “kangaroo care” can and should become routine.

The University of Pennsylvania is honoring Penn Nursing ’s Joseph R. Libonati, PhD, FAHA , Associate Professor of Nursing in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences (BHS), and former Director of Penn Nursing’s Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research, with the 2020 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Data show that the number of people with clinically complex health and social needs is growing. Programs designed to support these adults have fallen short and the healthcare system is becoming overtaxed by these “super-utilizers”.

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow. This week’s edition of Amplify Nursing features Elise Tarbi   and Brianna Morgan , who are both board-certified Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioners with advanced certifications in Hospice and Palliative care, as well as doctoral students at Penn Nursing. With demands on both hospitals and providers expanding, and resources predicted to become scarce, there has been heightened public discourse about rationing. Both will discuss how advance care planning has increased in importance in this landscape in order to support people with an increased risk of dying, as well as the healthcare providers and family members who may be facing these difficult decisions. Listen here  or wherever you listen to podcasts.