Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Contact Info
Research Interests
Palliative care, Indigenous health, health care access, clinician wellbeing, mixed-methods research, community-based participatory research
Experiences & Accomplishments
I am a nurse, clinician, and educator, with clinical expertise in hospice and palliative care. I use mixed research methods and community-based participatory research approaches to generate relevant evidence to inform our understanding of care access and provision among socially marginalized and excluded populations who are disproportionately burdened by serious illness, particularly tribal communities in rural, high-risk reservation-based areas. My goal is to leverage my work to shape policy development, implementation, and evaluation of programs which will 1) bolster quality of life and patient/family outcomes in the face of serious illness, and 2) mitigate burnout and moral injury among clinicians and other health providers, while building and expanding the public health nursing workforce.
Honors & Awards
- SOURCE - Director's Award, 2023
- American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine - Podium Abstract Award, 2023
- GEDCO - SPIRIT Award, 2022
- Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing - Humanitarian Award, 2022
- The Reverend Melvin B. Tuggle East Baltimore Community Excellence Award - Honorable Mention, 2021
Select Publications
Nelson KE, Adams K, Kahn-John M, et al. "In our culture, we come when you die": Qualitative descriptive analysis of end-of-life perspectives in a reservation-based community. J Adv Nurs. 2024, Online ahead of print. 10.1111/jan.16324
Rushton CH, Nelson KE, Bergman A, et al. Perceived organizational effectiveness during a public health crisis and moral wellness among nurse leaders: A cross-sectional study. J Nurs Manage. 2024; online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/6808266
Nelson KE, Abshire Saylor M, Anderson A, et al. “We’re all we got is each other”: Mixed-methods analysis of patient-caregiver dyads’ management of heart failure. Heart Lung. 2022;55:24-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrtlng.2022.04.009
Brockie TN, Hill K, Davidson PM, Decker E, Krienke LK, Nelson KE, et al. Strategies for culturally safe research with Native American communities: An integrative review. Contemp Nurs. 2021;58(1):8-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2021.2015414
Nelson KE, Wright R, Fisher M, et al. A call to action to address disparities in palliative care access: A conceptual framework for individualizing care needs. J Palliat Med. 2021;24(2):177-180. 10.1089/jpm.2020.0435