Chris Fortney

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Chris Fortney
First Name
Chris
Last Name
Fortney
Credentials
PhD, RN, FPCN, FAAN
Associate Professor
she/her/hers
Address
200E Heminger Hall
Address (Line 2)
1577 Neil Avenue
City
Columbus
State
OH
Zip Code
43210

 

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.

View publications

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

Chapters
Recent Research Activities
Editorial Activities
Honors
Professional Activities
Professional Society Memberships

News

February 24, 2025

College ranks #12 overall and #1 among Big Ten and Ohio colleges of nursing

New rankings measuring National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding among colleges of nursing nationwide show that The Ohio State University College of Nursing maintained its strong national standing and leadership in nursing research.

February 10, 2025

Finding suggests need for education about tech's reliability

The use of fertility-tracking technology increased in some states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade despite warnings that reproduction-related data might not be secure, a new study has found.