School of Nursing

A new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine outlines an evidence-based roadmap to strengthen breastfeeding support through national coordination, public health programs and health care strategies, coverage of lactation services and supplies, and workplace supports. Diane L. Spatz, the Helen M. Shearer Professor of Nutrition and Professor of Perinatal Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, served as one of 15 national experts on this study.

A new Penn Nursing study suggests that the weight-loss drug tirzepatide may cause fewer side effects like nausea and vomiting than the drug semaglutide. The research, published in Science Advances, was conducted using preclinical models to study the effects of the drugs.

Nearly seventy students from Penn Nursing and Penn Engineering participated in the Datathon, sponsored by the Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation last month, using the MIMIC-IV database, a massive critical care dataset, to develop innovative, data-driven solutions for real-world health care challenges. Team 6 CARE: A Critical-care Acuity & Resource Evaluation Metric earned the top award by creating a solution to better evaluate patient acuity and resource needs.

Kathryn Connell, assistant professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences at Penn’s School of Nursing, has been named a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Connell is a critical care nurse and health services researcher dedicated to improving outcomes for both patients and clinicians in intensive care units.

A new publication the International Nursing Review highlights the success of an international partnership working to strengthen nursing and midwifery in the Caribbean, led by Penn Nursing’s Eileen T. Lake and Carmen Alvarez. The initiative supports the strategic goals of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization for nursing and midwifery workforce development in the Caribbean region.

For a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Wendy Hernandez Higarede, Veronica Baladi, and Faith Amolo Owino are engaging with Penn’s Climate and Health Education Working Group and learning ethnographic methods.

A new Penn Nursing Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research study reveals a significant underrepresentation of Black nurses compared to the Black patient populations they serve, particularly in hospitals that care for a higher proportion of Black patients. The study, led Eileen T. Lake, the Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology, Professor of Nursing and Sociology, and CHOPR associate cirector, is set to be published in Nursing Research.

A new study from Penn’s School of Nursing reveals a critical link between neighborhood firearm violence exposure, involvement in fighting, and adolescents’ perceived ability to obtain a firearm outside the home.

Fifteen nursing professionals with ties to Penn Nursing will be inducted as 2025 Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. Three are current Penn Nursing faculty members and alumnae, with the other 12 are alumni.

A team led by researchers in the School of Nursing has developed a multicomponent intervention that uses passive monitoring and behavioral support to help reduce falls in at-risk older adults.