Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows, alumni and grantees. Some recent examples:

RWJF Clinical Scholar Alan Teo, MD, MS, is the lead author of a study that finds the quality of a person’s social relationships influences the person's risk of major depression, regardless of how frequently their social interactions take place. “The magnitude of these results is similar to the well-established relationship between biological risk factors and cardiovascular disease,” Teo told Health Canal. “What that means is that if we can teach people how to improve the quality of their relationships, we may be able to prevent or reduce the devastating effects of clinical depression.”

RWJF recently announced the selection of 30 primary care practices as exemplary models of workforce innovation. The practices will serve as the basis for a new project: The Primary Care Team: Learning from Effective Ambulatory Practices (LEAP). Among them is CareSouth Carolina, the Hartsville Messenger reports. Learn more about the LEAP project and the practices selected for the program.

Low-income Oregonians who received access to Medicaid over the past two years used more health care services, and had higher rates of diabetes detection and management, lower rates of depression, and reduced financial strain than those without access to Medicaid, according to a study co-authored by RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research recipient Amy N. Finkelstein, PhD, MPhil. The study found no significant effect, however, on the diagnosis or treatment rates of hypertension or high cholesterol levels.  Among the outlets to report on the findings: Forbes, the New York Times, the Washington Post Wonk blog, Health Day, and the Boston Globe Health Stew blog. Read more about Finkelstein’s research on the Oregon Medicaid system.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

Asthmapolis, founded and directed by RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumnus David Van Sickle, PhD, MA, has secured a $5 million investment that will be used to expand operations and further enhance its product, the Milwaukee Business Journal  and Journal-Sentinel report. The company has engineered a GPS-enabled asthma inhaler called the Spiroscout, which sends a signal with the time and location to a remote server every time a patient uses it, allowing patients and providers to track and analyze the onset of asthma symptoms. Read more about Asthmapolis here and here.

Health & Society Scholar Sammy Zahran, PhD, is co-author of a study that finds that children in Detroit are being exposed to lead from an overlooked source: contaminated soil. Zahran and his team examined seasonal fluctuations in children’s blood lead levels and found that levels were highest in the summertime, when contaminated soil turns into airborne dust. The researchers were able to rule out exposure to lead-based paint as the main source of the contamination, NPR’s Shots Blog reports, because blood lead levels were lower in the winter, when children are more likely to be indoors.

A study from the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, which is directed by RWJF Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research recipient Edward W. Maibach, PhD, MPH, finds a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents think action should be taken to address climate change, United Press International reports. The New York Times Dot Earth Blog also reported on the findings.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

In a piece about the growing need for advanced nursing education, Nurse.com interviewed a group of nurse leaders working to fulfill a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which calls for doubling the number of doctorate-level nurses by 2020. Among those quoted: Christine Kovner, RN, PhD, FAAN, co-principal of RWJF’s RN Work Project; RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows alumna Jane Kirschling, RN, DNS, FAAN; and Susan Bakewell-Sachs, RN, PhD, PNP-BC, program director for the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, a program of RWJF and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Nurse.com and Infection Control Today report on an RWJF-supported study that finds hospitals that have higher percentages of nurses with baccalaureate degrees have lower rates of postsurgical mortality. The study, published in the March issue of Health Affairs, stems from the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.  Read more about the study.

“I recently traveled to Singapore, where I met with other doctors and told about being the emergency department (ED) doctor at the University of Colorado Hospital the morning of the Aurora theater shootings on July 20, 2012,” RWJF Clinical Scholars alumna Comilla Sasson, MD, MS, FACEP, writes in an op-ed for the Denver Post. “One thing dawned on me as I spoke: I had seen more gunshot wound victims in that one night than these doctors will see in their entire careers.” Read a post Sasson wrote for the RWJF Human Capital Blog about the Aurora theater shootings, and learn more about her experience talking to the national news media afterward.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

RWJF/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Scholar Anita Vashi, MD, is the lead author of a study that finds many patients visit emergency departments after being discharged from the hospital. With Medicare now structuring financial incentives and penalties around hospital readmission rates, Vashi and her colleagues suggest the focus on hospital readmissions as a measure of quality of care misses the large number of patients who return to the hospital's emergency room after discharge, but are not readmitted. Among the outlets to report on the findings: the Los Angeles Times, Nurse.com, and MedPage Today. Read more about Vashi’s research.

Product Design and Development featured RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Jennifer Doering, PhD, RN, and her interdisciplinary team, which designed and tested a research-based sleeping pod for infants. Many parents sleep with their infants, despite the dangers, so Doering’s team has created a portable, protective sleeping pod, equipped with wireless sensors to alert sleeping adults if they start to roll over onto it or if blankets or pillows fall on a sleeping baby. Read more about Doering’s research on the sleep habits of new mothers and infants.

Allison E. Aiello, PhD, MS, an alumna of the RWJF Health & Society Scholars program, spoke to NBC News and the AnnArbor.com about norovirus (the stomach flu). The virus is hard to get rid of, Aiello says, and can be spread to others before an infected person even feels sick. Proper hand-washing is important, at home and in public places like restaurants.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

A study led by RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumna Annice Kim, PhD, finds teens are more likely to buy tobacco products if they are prominently displayed in stores, Reuters reports. The researchers used a virtual reality game in a simulated online convenience store to collect their data. Health Day also reported on the findings.

News coverage of anti-Muslim fringe groups after September 11 “created the misperception they were mainstream organizations, and this perception enabled them to secure funding and build social networks that they may not [have] been able to do otherwise,” RWJF Scholar in Health Policy Research Christopher Bail, PhD, told United Press International about his study, recently published in the American Sociological Review. His findings also received coverage in Yahoo News, the Times Union, and Health Canal, among other outlets.

Nurse.com reports on a study by the RN Work Project that examined the characteristics and motivations that influence registered nurses to pursue bachelor of science in nursing or higher degrees. Read more about the study.

Debbie Chatman Bryant, DNP, RN, assistant director for cancer prevention and control and outreach at the Medical University of South Carolina, was honored at a local ceremony for receiving an RWJF Community Health Leader award. The Post and Courier reports that Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) made a surprise appearance at the event.

Carol S. Brewer, PhD, RN, FAAN, a professor at the University of Buffalo School of Nursing, leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)-supported RN Work Project with Christine T. Kovner, PhD, RN, FAAN. The 10-year, longitudinal study is the only one of its kind to study the careers of new nurses. Most recently, the RN Work Project released a study on the recession’s impact on new nurses.

Human Capital Blog: Your most recently-published study looked at registered nurses in the recession. Can you review the most important findings?

Carol Brewer: What we found was fairly interesting and fits with some of the other studies and data we’ve collected on new graduates in the recession. We found that the nurses’ intent to stay at their current job and their organizational commitment was higher than before the recession. We also found some indicators that the work environment was a little better. The nurses report that their relationship with physicians was better, and they had a lighter workload and fewer organizational constraints.

We can interpret this in a few different ways. One is that there has actually been a change for the better in the work environment, and stress and workload are going down a little bit. But we also found that nurses perceived fewer job opportunities, so they may feel like they can’t leave their jobs because there aren’t many other opportunities. They could be making their perceptions fit their reality, which would cause them to rate their environment higher than if they knew they had options and could afford to be pickier.

More likely, these nurses are just biding their time. We found that, despite perceiving fewer opportunities, the nurses were more likely to be searching for a job. Even though the perception is that things seem to be little better with their current employer, they’re still looking for other jobs.

Around the country, the news media is covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholars, fellows and grantees. Here are some examples.

The New York Times profiled Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Community Health Leader Im Ja Choi, who founded Penn Asian Senior Services (PASSi) to train Asian-speaking home health aides to help Asian American seniors in Pennsylvania stay in their homes rather than moving into nursing homes. Today PASSi trains and provides aides who speak eight languages.

RWJF Scholar in Health Policy Research Rashawn Ray, PhD, penned an op-ed in the New York Times. In “Black Man Vs. Criminal,” he writes: “Most black men are not criminals or untrustworthy; they are law-abiding citizens. People need to start recognizing social class cues that signal professionalism and decency instead of ubiquitously categorizing black men as dangerous. It is high time that individuals see not just a black man, but a man who could be a doctor, lawyer, neighbor or even the President. These changes in individuals’ perceptions will go a long way to solve the criminalization of nonwhite bodies.”

North Carolina Health News writes about the Motivating Adolescents with Technology to Choose Health (MATCH) program, which is led in part by RWJF Physician Faculty Scholar Suzanne Lazorick, MD. MATCH incorporates health lessons into school curricula to motivate students to make healthy lifestyle decisions. The program has proved successful, with more than half of participating students weighing less at the end of the program than when they started. Learn more about the MATCH program.

A new study from the RWJF-supported RN Work Project finds nurses were more committed to their employers during the recession, but also perceived fewer job opportunities. However, project co-director Christine Kovner, RN, PhD, cautions, “As the recession eases and the job market opens up again, it's likely that nurses who have been delaying changing jobs will begin looking for new positions, which could dramatically increase staff turnover." McKnight’s Long Term Care News and NurseZone.com report on the findings.

Around the country, the news media is covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

The New York Times reports on a study co-authored by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellows alumnus Danny McCormick, MD, MPH, that finds doctors using electronic patient records order many more tests than doctors relying on paper records. The story also quotes RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research recipient David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, the country’s former national coordinator for health IT, who co-authored a study last year that found the majority of recent literature on electronic health records in professional journals is “’positive overall’ about the prospect that technology would improve the efficiency and quality of care.”

Medscape reports on an article by RWJF Clinical Scholars program alumna Raina Merchant, MD, MSHP, and RWJF Health & Society Scholars site director David Asch, MD, MBA, about the MyHeartMap Challenge [free subscription]. The Challenge is a pilot study to create a searchable map of all of Philadelphia's automated external defibrillators (AEDs), so that they can be found and used in emergencies by health professionals and the public. Read a post Merchant wrote about the MyHeartMap Challenge for the RWJF Human Capital Blog.

David Asch was also in the news commenting on a study that finds fewer medical residents are prescribing themselves allergy medications, antidepressants or other drugs than in the past. Asch co-authored a study in 1998 that found more than half of young physicians at the time had self-prescribed; the new study finds a decline to only 11 percent. Asch spoke to Reuters about the findings.

Michael Bleich, RN, PhD, FAAN, an alumnus of the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program and member of the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing committee, at the Institute of Medicine, offered tips for nurses going back to school to pursue advanced degrees in a story for Nurse.com.

Nurse.com also reports on a study funded by RWJF’s Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education (EIN) program, which examined the use of high-fidelity human patient simulation as a supplement to traditional teaching at a school with a nurse faculty shortage.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health & Society Scholars program site director Ana Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, and RWJF Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) co-investigator Christopher Ruhm, PhD, were cited in a Bloomberg column by former Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag. The research of both investigators shows, counter-intuitively, that life expectancy rises during periods of economic downturn.

Dawn Alley, PhD, an alumna of the Health & Society Scholars program, is the lead author of a study that finds that obesity—and the chronic conditions that often come with it—are a major contributor to the growth in Medicare expenses. Each obese beneficiary adds an additional $149 a year to Medicare, Reuters reports.

An assessment tool used by the federal government to determine if a community health center is functioning as a “patient-centered medical home” may not accurately reflect the quality of the diabetes care the health center provides, according to a study led by RWJF Clinical Scholar Robin Clarke, MD. The researchers found no significant relationship between passing the assessment and the quality of diabetes care provided, Cardiovascular Business reports. Health Canal also reported on the findings.

Here’s a sampling of recent news coverage of the work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars and Fellows:

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)-funded RN Work Project, reported earlier this week by the RWJF Human Capital blog, is generating media coverage. The study finds that rules capping nurses’ mandatory overtime hours – put in place to avoid errors caused by long hours and insufficient rest between shifts – are having their intended effect. Nurse.com, Healthcare Finance News, the Baltimore Sun and NJ Spotlight are among the outlets to report on the findings.

Monica Peek, MD, MPH, an alumna of the RWJF Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program, spoke to the Chicago Tribune about Chicago-area “food deserts” and how the lack of affordable, healthy food affects residents with diabetes.

“There are [African-American] men falling through the cracks” in terms of accessing treatment for prostate cancer, RWJF Clinical Scholars program alumnus Stanley Frencher Jr., MD, MPH, told The Root. “Many hospitals have programs to subsidize highly effective drugs, but doctors have to really go to bat to get patients that type of care. There are multiple layers of barriers to getting the right diagnosis, a specialist and the best treatment.”

Eric Klinenberg, PhD, recipient of an RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, continues to receive media coverage for his new book Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. The Wall Street Journal Ideas Market blog and Singular magazine reported on his research, and Klinenberg contributed a piece on his findings to Fortune magazine.

Home births have become increasingly popular among women 35 and older and among women with several previous children, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The report was coauthored by Investigator Award winner Eugene Declercq, PhD, who spoke to MSNBC’s Vitals blog and NPR’s Shots blog about the findings.