Rutgers School of Nursing Magazine - Summer 2024

R E S E A R C H E X C E L L E N C E She’s well-poised to do that, as an advanced practice nurse with a subspecialty in wound, ostomy, and continence nursing. Cox spends 60 percent of her professional time in a faculty practice, consulting with patients in an area hospital. The remainder of her time is spent teaching, working with PhD students, and research- ing pressure injuries. Recognition of her work includes the 2023 JWOCN Research Manuscript Award. Cox is a co-investigator on an NIH R33 grant led by Rutgers researcher Olga F. Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate profes- sor and Hunterdon Endowed Professor of Nursing Research; and Haiqun Lin, MD, PhD. She is excited by her field’s increased apprecia- tion for health equity and the role of social determinants of health. “We have new visual technologies like infrared cameras and de- vices that measure subepidermal moisture,” Cox says. “For people with darker skin tones, these devices could be a game-changer.” The association between staffing and patient outcomes in hospitals and nursing homes is the research focus of Pamela B. de Cordova, PhD, RN-BC. “I do this work through the lens of more than 20 years of front-line acute care experience as a staff nurse,” she explains. De Cordova, associate professor in the Divi- sion of Nursing Science, is an investigator on an AHRQ R01 grant examining COVID-19’s impact on infection prevention and control in hospitals across the U.S. She explains: “We hypothesized that during the pandemic’s peak, nurses weren’t as attuned to prevent- ing infections because they were trying to save lives. There was an influx of patients and resources like PPE were scarce. It was an intense time in the acute care setting.” She is also a principal investigator for a study investigating equity in the use of Virtual Schwartz Rounds (VSR) delivered by the New Jersey Nursing Emotional Well-Being Institute. “We are looking at what types of nurses access VSR and other well-being programs within their hospital or community,” she says. “Because when nurses are in a state of well-being, their patients flourish. Burn- out doesn’t just impact nurses’ own health, but the care that the nurses deliver.” People with serious illnesses often face challenging end-of-life choices. At times, aggressive care can do more harm than good. Just because medically intensive interventions exist doesn’t mean that they will benefit every patient, explains clinical psychologist Login S. George, PhD, an assistant professor of nursing science. Research shows that members of minority groups often undergo more aggressive treat- ments at the end of their lives. “We don’t fully understand why yet,” says George. Knowledge of palliative care could play a role, along with access to it. “And some of it is about medical mistrust for historical reasons and misperceptions of hospice as ‘with- holding treatments,’” he adds. “I hope to understand some of the underlying mechanisms.” Recently, George won two years of grant support in the form of a Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey New Investigator Award, which concluded last year. Currently he is the principal investiga- tor on a NIH National Cancer Institute grant (K99/R00), examin- ing how advanced cancer patients navigate end-of-life care decisions. Confronting mortality can evoke difficult emotions for doctors too. In a different study, George examines why some oncologists administer cancer therapies to 16 percent of their patients in their last days, while others treat 47 percent. He says: “My research looks at mechanisms resulting in poor quality care, so we can develop interventions, especially for marginalized groups, who are more adversely impacted.” n Guiding Decisions About Advanced Life-Limiting Illnesses —A m a n d a C a s t l e m a n R U T G E R S N U R S I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 1 4 / 1 5 Blending Frontline Experience and Research Acumen RESEARCHERS SPOTLIGHT