Chris Fortney
Research Interests
Dr. Chris Fortney's research focuses on the experiences of critically ill infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and their families. Dr. Fortney uses descriptive data, behavioral observations, qualitative interviews, and prospective, longitudinal designs to investigate infant symptoms and suffering trajectories, and their effect on parent satisfaction, decision-making, distress and coping, and changes in care goals. Notably, she uncovered challenges in assessing and managing symptoms for NICU infants with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions. She developed a framework to assess the quality of the neonatal death experience and published pioneering patient-reported symptom data in this population. She has also explored nurse distress when caring for critically ill infants and collaborated with a bilingual community advisory board to transcreate research materials from English to Spanish. Currently, Dr. Fortney is investigating the impact of social determinants of health on nurse-parent communication regarding infant symptom assessment and management. She received her master’s and doctorate in Nursing from The Ohio State University and completed the Pediatric Patient-Centered Outcomes (PC-Prep) postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
- Podcasts
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Fortney CA. (Advances in Neonatal Care Guest Editor and Assistant Professor). (2020, March 2) NANNcast – Understanding Palliative Care. [Audio podcast]. https://nannast/podbean.com
News
Pre- and post-doctoral candidates to be considered
The Ohio State University College of Nursing is considering applications for pre- and post-doctoral candidates for its “Training in the Science of Health Development” (TSHD) program, which is expected to be refunded for 2025.
Four-year project to enhance access to parenting programs for families
The National Institutes of Health/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD) awarded a four-year, $2.35 million grant through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to Klein Buendel, Inc. and a research team from The Ohio State University College of Nursing to identify effective methods for delivering parent training programs .