Clayton Shuman

Clayton Shuman, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor, Department of Systems, Populations and Leadership
University of Michigan School of Nursing

“Mom is Medicine: Examining Factors Affecting Implementation of Maternal-Delivered Care for Opioid-Exposed Infants”

UChicago Medicine takes great pride in fulfilling its mission of excellence in patient care, education and research. In 2018, the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science & Innovation (HDSI) and UCM Nursing launched the Nursing Solutions Research Grant program that provides an opportunity for a PhD-prepared research nurse to partner with UCM nurses to bring fresh scientific perspective to the bedside, fostering collaboration and advancing nursing research at UCM. The project will receive a $20,000 grant funded by HDSI, data and project management support, and a UCM PI partnership.

“University of Chicago Nursing is very excited to co-sponsor our second Nursing Solution grant,” announced Debi Albert, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services at UCM. “This year’s recipient is focused on a very timely and impactful study given the national opioid epidemic.  We look forward to the important results this study will bring.”

Clayton Shuman, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, will partner with an interdisciplinary team at UCM’s Family Birth Center  to implement the research study, “Mom is Medicine: Examining Factors Affecting Implementation of Maternal-Delivered Care for Opioid-Exposed Infants.” Dr. Shuman expressed, “I am excited and honored to be awarded the Nursing Solutions Research Grant. With this support and collaboration, we are able to further our understanding of how the practice context affects implementation of evidence-based practices to improve care of mothers and infants affected by the opioid crisis.”

In the US, infants exposed to opioids often require complex treatment and have prolonged hospital stays, costing an estimated $1.5 billion in hospital expenditures. Despite evidence that maternal-delivered care (e.g. breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact) improves neonatal outcomes in this situation, initiation and continuation of maternal-delivered care is low. This study will explore system factors affecting maternal care practices of opioid-dependent mothers in order to inform development of implementation strategies tailored to the mother, infant, and system.

“This partnership with Dr. Shuman will help us not only improve outcomes for opioid-exposed infants, but also improve our ability to implement a variety of research findings through better understanding of our own system,” said Nicole Pierce, MSN, RN, nurse scientist at UChicago Medicine. “We are very excited to be a part of this implementation science study.”

Learn more about the Nursing Solutions Research Grant.