Erin Abu-Rish Blakeney PhD, RN

I am Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics at the UW School of Nursing. I have nearly 15 years of experience as a health professions and health services researcher in developing, implementing, and testing team approaches to interdisciplinary education, healthcare, and research. I earned my first bachelor’s degree in Politics and Environmental Studies from Whitman College, a second bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s degree in International Education from New York University focusing on cross-cultural exchange and training. Prior to pursuing a PhD, I worked clinically in solid organ transplant, home care, disaster, and mobile/community health settings mostly in New York City. I completed my PhD in Nursing Science at the University of Washington in 2014 and am currently in the third year of a 3-year NHLBI-funded K12 career development program focused on implementation science. I also co-lead the UW ITHS Team Science Core. My program of research is motivated by the understanding that how teams work together influences production of new knowledge and translation of research into practice along the entire classroom to bench to bedside spectrum.

My current areas of research interest include:
(1) identifying best practices and promising models that reliably lead to improved team dynamics and better patient outcomes;
(2) understanding the mechanisms of action connecting the quality of team dynamics with team and patient outcomes;
(3) testing informatics-based methods for studying patient safety;
(4) discovering strategies to implement and sustain evidence-based models of equitable care in practice.

Education

• BA (Politics & Environmental Studies), Whitman College
• BS (Nursing), Johns Hopkins University
• MA (International Education: Cross Cultural Exchange & Training), New York University
• PhD (Nursing Science), University of Washington

Awards, accolades and distinguished memberships:

• Executive Committee Member, Society of Hospital Medicine Interdisciplinary Rounding Special Interest Group (2020-present)
• K12 Institutional Career Development Award, University of Washington Implementation Science Program (2018-2021)
• Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) (2018)
• NIH Loan Repayment Award (2017-2019)
• Associate Editor for Short Reports, Journal of Interprofessional Care (2016-present)

What classes do you teach?

NURS 210: Science, Evidence, and Health: Mastering Health Information and Personal Health Technologies

What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?

I love the enthusiasm for learning, collaboration, and new ideas among our students, faculty, and staff. As someone who grew up in rural Washington State, I also love that the shared focus of our programs is to improve health and health care locally and globally by turning ideas into impact through innovative science, education, and practice/service.

Scholarly work (projects not listed in PubMed, such as books, publications or videos)

Toolkits: 

1. Structured Interprofessional Bedside Rounds Toolkit: https://collaborate.uw.edu/online-training-and-resources/structured-interprofessional-bedside-rounds-toolkit/
2. Interprofessional Team Writing Toolkit: https://collaborate.uw.edu/online-training-and-resources/interprofessional-team-writing-toolkit/

Blog posts:

1. Blakeney, E. (2020, June 4). Protecting maternal and child health during an economic crisis: Lessons learned from the Great Recession. http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2020/06/04/protecting-maternal-and-child-health-during-an-economic-crisis-lessons-learned-from-the-great-recession/.

Book Chapters: 

1. Staiger, T.O., Blakeney, E.L., Zierler, B.K., O’Brien, K., Ehrmantraut, R.H., Kritek, P.A., (2016). A conceptual framework for applying the anticipatory theory of complex systems to improve safety and quality in healthcare. In M. Nadin (Ed.), Anticipation and medicine (Chapter 2). Springer International Publishing.  ISBN:  978-3-319-45140-4.  DOI:  1007/978-3-319-45142-8 

2. Blakeney, E. & Zierler, B. (2016). Assessing interprofessional education.  In M.E. Edwards (Ed.), Interprofessional education and medical libraries: Partnering for success (pp. 248-269). Medical Library Association Book Series.  New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-4422-6389-5

See a complete list of my published work in MyBibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1xcbrWfIwqbAl/bibliography/40007983/public/?sortby=pubDate&sdirection=descending

Department

Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics

Research Areas

• Innovative Interventions
• Health Equity
• Lifespan Health

Research Centers

• Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education
• Center for Global Health Nursing