SUMMARY
Natalie S. McAndrew, Ph.D., R.N., CCRN, is a nurse-scientist dedicated to improving care for patients with serious illnesses and their families. Her research develops and tests meaning-centered, palliative-informed interventions that reduce distress and enhance well-being. With a background in intensive care and expertise in family nursing, she focuses on high-risk populations, including patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplants or those living with neurodegenerative diseases and their caregivers. Her goal is to integrate compassionate, family-inclusive care models into complex healthcare systems. Her long-term goal is to disseminate scalable, meaning-focused interventions that improve quality of life and reduce discomfort across illness trajectories.
Focus areas
- Meaning-focused and palliative-informed interventions. Dr. McAndrew leads a research program evaluating the impact of meaning-focused interventions on patients and their family caregivers. Her current work addresses existential distress in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplants and their family caregivers to promote well-being during the acute recovery phase of transplant. The goal of this work is to integrate scalable, palliative-informed interventions into standard care.
- Family engagement in serious illness. Her research explores how healthcare systems can better support both patients and their families during serious illness. She has conducted studies on intensive care unit (ICU) climate, nurse burnout and organizational factors that influence the delivery of family-centered care. Her work emphasizes the importance of engaging patients and families as partners in care planning and decision-making.
- Palliative and psychosocial support in neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. McAndrew is expanding her research to include patients and caregivers affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to develop and evaluate interventions that address the unique emotional, existential and caregiving challenges faced by these populations. The focus is on improving quality of life and care coordination.
- Moral distress and ethical conflict in acute and critical care. Her scholarship illuminates the ethical challenges faced by nurses and physicians in high-acuity settings. Through qualitative and quantitative studies, she identifies moral distress as a barrier to high-quality care and proposes strategies to support ethical decision-making and palliative integration.
- Palliative integration in complex systems. Dr. McAndrew leads initiatives to embed palliative care principles into ICU and oncology settings. Her work includes the development of tools and protocols for early palliative care consultation, interdisciplinary communication and caregiver support, with the aim of transforming care delivery models to be more compassionate and inclusive.
Significance to patient care
Dr. McAndrew's research helps patients and families feel more supported and less alone during serious illness. She studies ways to help caregivers find meaning and strength, especially when their loved ones are going through complex treatments such as stem cell transplants. Her work leads to better communication between families and healthcare teams and helps caregivers feel more prepared and less overwhelmed. By creating programs that support both patients and their families, her research improves quality of life and reduces discomfort for everyone involved.