Nurses play a hands-on role in patient care at Massachusetts General Hospital, which gives them a unique perspective to conduct research to improve the delivery of healthcare and enhance patients' quality of life.
Recently, six Massachusetts General Hospital nurses received new grants to support their research in the fields of cancer care, health equity, pregnancy and childbirth, IV placement and HIV care.
Below, you'll learn more about these research projects and the nurses who are conducting them.
Addressing Survivorship in Breast Cancer Patients
Kathryn Post, PhD, RN, ANP-BC Instructor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Nurse-Scientist Cancer Outcomes and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
For women living in the U.S., there is a one in eight chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer over their lifetime. Kathryn Post, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, is a nurse-scientist dedicated to researching breast cancer survivorship.
Her research focuses on improving quality of life and cancer outcomes.”
"I genuinely love my patients and providing clinical care, and I intend to continue to practice clinically for the entirety of my career," Post says. "I chose nursing as a career because I was drawn to the holistic approach to patient care and was inspired by several advanced practice nurses I worked with."
Post and her team were just awarded grants for two studies. The first, titled Addressing Symptom Distress & Adherence to Oral Targeted Therapies for Patients with Breast Cancer, will seek to understand the factors underlying medication adherence in breast cancer survivors.
The second, Psychosocial Outcomes of Patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer During the Transition from Curative Therapy to Surveillance, seeks to use interviews from patients and stakeholders to develop and refine a supportive care intervention during this transitional time.
Enhancing Quality of Life Among Clinical Trial Participants
Debra M. Lundquist, PhD, RN Nurse Scientist/Clinical Research Nurse The Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies Massachusetts General Hospital
In the U.S., one in five cancer patients will participate in clinical trials. Debra Lundquist, PhD, RN, a nurse scientist at Mass General, is working to enhance the quality of life of participants by conducting qualitative interviews to better understand the challenges, questions and concerns that occur during clinical trials
“Nurses have a unique perspective on patient-centered delivery of care,” Lundquist says. “This perspective is driven by experience and built on a sense of trust.”
Lundquist and her team were just awarded a grant from the Oncology Nursing Foundation.
Her study, titled A Nurse-Led Intervention to Enhance Quality of Life Among Early Phase Clinical Trial Participants: A Pilot Study,is looking to empower nurses, clinicians, and caregivers to identify unmet needs in clinical trial participants with cancer and develop interventions to alleviate them.
Promoting Health Equity with Innovative Technology
Jennifer Cahill, PhD, RN Nurse Scientist, Munn Center for Nursing Research, Massachusetts General Hospital Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School
The research of Jennifer Cahill, PhD, RN, has primarily focused on outcomes for brain tumor patients. In two new studies, Cahill will be expanding her research into the fields of health equity and care delivery.
The first, titled, Bridging the Gap of Care: A Pilot Study to Test an Innovative Digital Health Platform for Medicaid/CHIP Caregivers of Children with Behavioral Health Symptoms, is focused on a digital health platform that can increase pediatric mental health care and help caregivers with limited resources better manage their children’s behavioral health needs at home.
The second study, titled, Effectiveness of VeinViewer® Vision2 on first-attempt peripheral intravenous catheter placement in ED patients with dark skin tones: a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled trial, is a collaboration with Hiyam Nadel, MBA, RN, CCG, FIEL. See more details on that study below.
Improving First-Time IV Placements in Patients with Darker Skin Tones
Hiyam M Nadel, MBA, RN, CCG, FIEL, Center for Innovation in Care Delivery Department of Nursing, Massachusetts General Hospital
VeinViewer® is a near-infrared technology that helps clinicians get an accurate image of a patient’s veins. Hiyam M Nadel, MBA, RN, CCG, FIEL, is a nurse researcher in the Center for Innovation in Care Delivery at Mass General.
When she first started out and coming from a disadvantaged background, Nadel was originally planning to work as a nurse to save up for medical school, but her love of face-to-face patient care led to a career in nursing.
“Nurses have lots of ideas that can impact patients positively,” said Nadel. “Once a [potential] solution is identified, it is then very important to do research around it.”
Nadel, in collaboration with Cahill, has earned a grant for their study titled Effectiveness of VeinViewer® Vision2 on first-attempt peripheral intravenous catheter placement in ED patients with dark skin tones: a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled trial. The trial will seek to reduce healthcare inequities by improving the first-time success rate for IV placement in patients with darker skin tones.
“Nurses have lots of ideas that can impact patients positively,” said Nadel. “Once a [potential] solution is identified, it is then very important to do research around it.”
Personalizing Nutrition in Pregnancy
Katherine Erbe, PhD, MS, CNN, FACNM Connell Postdoctoral Fellow in Nursing Research, Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research, Massachusetts General Hospital
Nutrition is an important aspect of maternal health, and can greatly contribute to safer pregnancies and childbirth.
Katherine Erbe, PhD, MS, CNN, FACNM, is researching tools to personalize and simplify nutrition recommendations during pregnancy, specifically for individuals with limited resources and people of color.
“Everyone exists in their unique lived environment. Without acknowledging it, we cannot provide effective care,” said Erbe. “Filling this gap and realizing the impact I could have on a level beyond my direct practice were my motivators for moving into research.”
While her focus on obstetrics, she uses her expertise as a staff nurse and midwife to shape her nutrition research as well.
Her study titled, Adapting a Traffic Light Food Labeling Intervention for Pregnant Individuals of Color works to create a more comprehensible and easy-to-follow nutrition system to follow when grocery shopping.
“To get this award so soon into my fellowship was very meaningful and motivating for me to continue my research,” Erbe stated. “In particular, [the DAISY Foundation] grants support nurse-led and nursing-focused research which is an incredible gift.”
Providing Midlife and Menopause Care to Women with HIV
Sara E. Looby, PhD, CNP-BC, FAAN Metabolism Unit & Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Sara Looby, PhD, CNP-BC, FAAN, has been conducting clinical research for over two decades at MGH, and her recent project, funded by the National Institutes of (NIH), weds her three passions: community engagement, clinician and patient education, and research.
She discovered her passion for nursing at an early age after being a patient at Boston Children's Hospital.
“I loved watching the nurses round" she says. "They listened to the concerns of patients and families, helped with their medical needs, and comforted them .”
"Nurses provided care for the whole patient in addition to the medical reason for which they were admitted," Looby adds. "I noticed this dynamic even at the age of seven and thought ‘Wow, it would be fun to work as a nurse as part of a medical team to learn and help others.’”
Increasing numbers of women living with HIV are entering menopause, and clinicians have limited knowledge and resources for providing care to this population at midlife. Looby and her team have received a grant from the NIH for a project entitled EMPOWHer: Embracing Midlife & Menopause Positively-Offerings by Women with HIV, in which she will partner with women living with HIV and expert clinicians and researchers from across the United States to create a virtual education program and resource kit to improve clinician knowledge and confidence with providing menopause and midlife care to women living with HIV.
“I love caring for and helping others, and when there isn’t a direct answer or strategy to do so, research enables me to find one,” she says.
About the Mass General Research Institute
Research at Massachusetts General Hospital is interwoven through more than 30 different departments, centers and institutes. The goal of our research is to better understand human health and disease and to identify new strategies for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Your support will help us pursue new and unproven areas of research that could lead to the next game-changing breakthroughs.
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