Nancy P. Hanrahan Named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar

                                                                                    Nurse Faculty Scholars National Program Office

Phone: (877) 738-0737

E-mail: info@rwjfnursefacultyscholars.org

 

 

Philadelphia, PA (July 30, 2008) ─ Nancy P. Hanrahan, R.N., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, was one of 15 junior faculty nationwide to receive an inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar award. The three-year, $350,000 grant will begin September 1.

 

The award will support her research to study outcomes from patients who are admitted to hospitals to receive psychiatric services. Despite numerous and disturbing reports indicating unsafe and ineffective psychiatric patient care environments, few inpatient psychiatric system-level studies are conducted. Understanding organizational performance is critical to determining the extent to which inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations result in meaningful patient improvements.

 

The findings from this study will provide the basis for a larger-scale study to develop and test interventions that enable hospitals delivering psychiatric inpatient care to improve the organizational context, quality of services provided, and outcomes for patients and staff.  The award will also support Hanrahan's participation in a training program that will help prepare her for academic leadership and translating evidence into policy and practice initiatives.

 

“I hope to use this generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to build an evidence base for optimal management of inpatient psychiatric services and effective patient care. My policy agenda is motivated by a commitment to effective, appropriate, timely and respectful mental health care. Individuals with a mental health problem should be treated with dignity, equality, and inalienable rights, the same as any individuals with an illness,” said Hanrahan.

 

Her faculty mentors for this research are Linda H Aiken, Ph.D., F.A.A.N., F.R.C.N., R.N., Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research; Linda A. McCauley, Ph.D., F.A.A.N., F.A.A.O.H.N., R.N., Nightingale Professor of Nursing, and associate dean for nursing research; and John Kimberly, Ph.D., professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

 

 

"Dr. Hanrahan is goal-oriented, committed and well-prepared in psychiatric nursing practice and research. The RWJ Nurse Faculty Scholar program will support her drive to achieve her goals as well as those that are vitally important for advancing safe and effective mental health care services," said Afaf Meleis, Ph.D., Dr. P.S. (hon), the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. 

 

The goal of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program is to develop the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing through career development awards for outstanding junior nursing faculty. The program aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by providing mentorship, leadership training, salary and research support to young faculty.

 

Despite a rise in applicants, U.S. nursing schools turn away thousands of prospective students from baccalaureate and masters programs because of an acute shortage of faculty and clinical preceptors, training sites, space and funding constraints. Since the stature of nursing schools and the promotion of nursing faculty are dependent on the quality of the nursing faculty’s scholarly and/or research pursuits, the Nurse Faculty Scholars program seeks to strengthen the link between institutional reputation and faculty success by providing career development and other opportunities to junior faculty.

 

With a large number of faculty nurses set to retire soon, the Nurse Faculty Scholars program also aims to encourage junior nurse faculty to continue on in their roles as educators.

 

The program is run out of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. Jacquelyn C. Campbell, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Anna D. Wolf chair and professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing directs the program. For more information, go to: www.nursefacultyscholars.org.

 

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The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has the most NIH funding of any private school of nursing and is dedicated to improving health across the life span, influencing healthcare policy, and supporting care for vulnerable populations here and abroad.  http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.