Dr. Matthew D. McHugh, recipient of the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award with Dean Antonia Villarruel.

Dr. McHugh eloquently shared his inspiring journey, while his proud family looked on.

Dr. McHugh pays tribute to CHOPR longtime champion, Dr. Claire M. Fagin.

On April 17, Dr. Matthew D. McHugh delighted his family, friends, and colleagues with his presentation titled  "The Context of Care: Using evidence and policy to shape nurse work environments, improve patient outcomes, and advance health equity."  

Tracing his journey from rural Pennsylvania, we discovered how his family and upbringing shaped his path to a nursing career. He recognized that the context and policies surrounding nursing influence patient outcomes. By connecting personal, clinical, and educational experiences, he developed a research program focused on practice and policy changes to empower nurses in achieving positive patient outcomes.

This esteemed award, named after Dr. Claire M. Fagin, former Dean of Penn Nursing, acknowledges individuals who have made exceptional contributions to nursing scholarship. During the ceremony, Dr. Fagin shared a video expressing her admiration of and gratitude for Dr. McHugh's remarkable research contributions in the nursing field. Dr. Karen Lasater provided introductory remarks, highlighting the impact of Dr. McHugh's research and his steadfast dedication to mentoring others.

Dr. McHugh will also be named to the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame this July in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Dr. Rebecca Clark, a CHOPR Senior Fellow and Assistant Professor of Perinatal Nursing, Midwifery, and Women's Health at Penn Nursing, as well as a Nurse Scientist at Pennsylvania Hospital, has been chosen as one of 16 nurse scientists for the fourth cohort of the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators. Dr. Clark is the first nurse scientist from Penn to receive this distinction. More. In other news, the CHOPR faculty/ alumna has also received funding from a University Research Foundation Grant titled, "Describing High-Performing Hospitals where Low-Risk Cesarean Rates for Black Women Meet or Exceed the National Target."

The new study by CHOPR investigators shows hospitals with a history of inadequate nurse staffing or nurse support had more negative patient outcomes, including deaths, from COVID-19. The study has garnered 83 news mentions, including the Washington Post.
More

Aiken LH, Sloane DM, McHugh MD, Pogue CA, Lasater KB. A repeated cross-sectional study of nurses immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for action. Nursing Outlook. 2023 Jan 1;71(1):101903.

The study by CHOPR researchers figures prominently in the Economic Report of the President.

The novel study - led by CHOPR Associate Director, Dr. Eileen Lake - examined 190 hospitals in the US and found that when nurses miss required care on nursing units, very low birth weight (VLBW) infants have a higher risk of bloodstream infection and longer hospital stays. More

Lake ET, Staiger D, Smith JG, Rogowski JA. The Association of Missed Nursing Care With VLBW Infant Outcomes. Med Care Res Rev. 2023 Jan 24: 10775587221150950.

Dr. Eileen Lake, author of the influential paper, Practice Environment Scale - Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), received news that the Queensland government will include the PES-NWI in their nurse and midwife report card. This step aims to promote transparency and accountability in healthcare by offering an objective measure of the work environment. The PES-NWI is a reliable and valid tool for assessing work environment quality, and is expected to drive enhancements for nurses and midwives.

"Working towards a healthier Queensland."

Dr. Claudia Maier, CHOPR Harness Fellow and Senior Fellow, has been appointed to a prestigious nursing professorship at Bielefeld University. Her highly successful career trajectory - aided by her partnership with CHOPR - included a year's long residency in Philadelphia. She is currently leading the German team in Magnet4Europe. Claudia's mentor and CHOPR's Senior Fellow, Dr. Reinhard Busse was also commended.

CHOPR Senior Fellow, Dr. Robert Lucero, is the recipient of UC Grant to spearhead doctoral diversity initiative. This prestigious program is designed to attract underrepresented minorities to UCLA School of Nursing doctoral programs with the long-term goal of developing nursing faculty that reflects California’s diversity. More

Dr. Amanda Bettencourt is the senior author of "Weighing the Costs of Pulse Oximetry for Pediatric Bronchiolitis" in JAMA Netw. Open, and she also appears in the cover story of Penn Nursing Magazine, focusing on critical care nursing. Furthermore, Dr. James Ballinghoff, the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Associate Executive Director of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, weighed in for a Q & A on the subject. Drs. Deena Kelly Costa and Christopher Friese, distinguished CHOPR Senior Fellows and alumni, collaborated on the impactful article "Policy Strategies for Addressing Current Threats to the U.S. Nursing Workforce" in the prestigious NEJM. What's more, Dr. Friese's valuable insights on nurse retention were featured in an insightful piece titled "Recalibrating Your Leadership Lens for Nurse Retention. An Interview with Dr. Christopher R. Friese.  Dr. Daniele Altares Sarik and colleagues from Nicklaus Children's Hospital launched a program for infants cared for in the NICU to address gaps in care.  Dr. Lusine Poghosyan (Columbia University) and Dr. Ellen-Marie Whelan (CMS Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services) delivered the 2023 NINR Director's Lecture Series: Systems and Models of Care in February (video).  Dr. Peter Buerhaus' paper "How Should We Prepare For The Wave Of Retiring Baby Boomer Nurses?" was also cited in the Economic Report of the President.  

Drs. Margo Carthon Brooks (left) and Ann Kutney Lee (right) received R01 funding from the NIH/Department of Health and Human Services for a study on nursing resource disparities in hospitals titled "Achieving Health Equity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned from Nurses and High Performing Hospitals." 

Dr. K. Jane Muir's (left) Sigma Research Grant "Evaluating Work Environment Variation, Patient Care Quality, and Nurse Job Outcomes in High Acuity Settings," focuses on improving critical care in emergency and intensive care units.

Dr. Rachel French's (right) LDI study "titled "Exploring an Innovative Approach to Address Treatment Gaps for Hospitalized People who Inject Drugs" explores a team-based approach to treat hospitalized patients who inject drugs.

Dr. Eileen Lake's 2022 paper, "Hospital nurses' moral distress and mental health during COVID-19," is the "top downloaded article" in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The study sheds light on the mental health challenges faced by hospital nurses during the pandemic and highlights the need for interventions to address their moral distress. The study was covered by 33 news outlets and tweeted by 37 individuals, generating thousands of social media impressions. More

CHOPR Researchers were mentioned in the following national news stories.

Nurses from across Pa. call for action on bill that would set staffing minimums in hospitals, other health care facilities, Channel 69 News, 5/2/23

Will hospital staffing legislation solve Minnesota's nursing shortage, or make it worse, Star Tribune, 4/10/2023

Prioritizing Mental Health In Nurses – The Untold Story of Healthcare’s Most Valuable Assets, Penn News Today, 3/28/2023

Debate over WA nurse staffing ratios heads toward compromise, Seattle Times, 3/4/2023

Nurses' Next Chapter: Tired and frustrated, some Philadelphia nurses look for life and work outside hospitals, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/17/2023

WA legislators weigh mandating nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals, National Public Radio, 2/15/2023

Nurses Are Burned Out and Fed Up. For good reason. New York Times Opinion, 1/18/2023

Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. hospitalized patients experience harmful events, study finds, NBC News, 1/12/2023

Partnering for nursing advancement, American Nurse, 1/10/2023

Magnet®4Europe Program Connects Eastern PA & Eastern Germany, PennMedicine News, 01/01/2023

Hospital CEOS Have Gotten Rich Cutting Staff And Supplies. Now They’re Not Ready For The Next Wave, Intercept, 12/21/2022

When we reduce nurses’ workload, fewer patients die, NJ.com, 12/17/2022

How a Sprawling Hospital Chain Ignited Its Own Staffing Crisis, New York Times, 12/15/2022

Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI)

Rosenbaum K, McHugh M, Lasater K, Lake E. "Cross-sectional associations between nursing resources and hospital performance on patient care experiences."

Clark R, Schroeder A, Sexton Topper P. "We Treat Everyone the Same: Barriers and Facilitators to Quality Inpatient Maternity Care for Women from Marginalized Populations."

Nikpour J, Brooks Carthon J. "The Primary Care Registered Nurse Workforce: Descriptive Analysis, Work Environments, and Association with Job Outcomes."

Annual Research Meeting (ARM)

Lasater K, Sloane D, Muir J, McHugh M, Aiken L. "Trade-Offs between Alternative Models of Hospital Nurse Staffing: The Consequences of Lowering Nurse Skill Mix."  Impact of Organizational Context on Workforce

Clark R, Handley S. "Examining Temporal Changes in Hospital Maternity Nursing Resources, Safety, and Quality."Addressing Racial and Ethnic Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes

Lasater KB, Rosenbaum PR, Aiken LH, Brooks-Carthon JM, Kelz RR, Reiter JG, Silber JH, McHugh MD. Explaining racial disparities in surgical survival: a tapered match analysis of patient and hospital factors. BMJ Open 2023;13:e066813. 

Hovsepian VE, McHugh MD, Kutney-Lee A. Electronic Health Record Usability and Post-Surgical Outcomes Among Older Adults with Dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 2023 Feb.

Riman KA, Doupnik SK, Kutney-Lee AM, Lake ET. Nurse Education and Hospital Readmissions for Children With and Without a Mental Health Condition. Hosp. Pediatr. 2023,13(1):72-9.

Simonetti M, Aiken LH, Lake ET. Association between the nurse work environment and patient experience in Chilean hospitals: A multi-hospital cross-sectional study. JNS 2023 doi: 10.1111/jnu.12898. 

Barnes H, Chen AJ, McHugh MD, Richards MR. Public Insurance Expansions and Labor Demand in Physician Practices. J Hum Resour, May 2023, 0920-11176R2

The CHOPR Newsletter is published by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. Contact Andrea Barol with any questions or comments at ajb@nursing.upenn.edu.

May 18, 2023