Chris Fortney
![Christine Fortney](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2018-09/FORTNEY_Chris.jpg?h=c8ae330f&itok=gEAILvtb)
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
-
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
The new LPN to BSN program at the College of Nursing was designed for LPNs to obtain their BSN. Three current students, James Williams, Toni Hall and Colleen M. Barrett, shared with us about their experiences in the program.
As wounded victims came pouring into the civilian hospital in Kharkov after the Ukraine war began in February 2022, Artem Riga initially was the only surgeon on duty. Some colleagues were fleeing the country and others were delayed because of the intense shelling. Doctors had to ration food and medical supplies, performing surgery in body armor, with sandbags on the windowsills of the operating room. A sudden attack significantly damaged his hospital and left patients covered in broken glass and other debris. Amid this chaos, Riga had to teach patients to care for their own wounds.