Claire Petchler

Claire Petchler is the 2024-25 recipient of the Isabel Hampton Robb Scholarship from the Nurses Educational Funds. Claire is a nurse clinician and researcher dedicated to improving communication pathways between family caregivers and palliative care patients from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

She first became interested in nursing through the stories shared by her two grandmothers and mother, who were all nurses. Claire earned her Bachelor of Arts in Nursing from St. Olaf College in 2014. Over the past 8 years, she has worked in a myriad of inpatient clinical settings, including a gastrointestinal-hepatology medical unit, the medical intensive care unit, and the cardiac catheterization laboratory.

A specific interest in improving communication pathways grew out of Claire's personal and professional experiences. From a personal side, Claire saw how communication affects caregiver stress when her mom became a long-distance caregiver to her grandma. Claire’s mom virtually attended grandma’s doctor appointments by phone. She stayed in frequent contact with Claire’s grandma, but Claire saw how her mother worried about whether she was missing information by not visiting in person. From a professional standpoint, Claire observed the stress that communication challenges placed on patients and family caregivers in the hospital setting, particularly those from socially and economically vulnerable groups. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted these challenges, as restrictions on in-person visitation increased reliance on virtual communication. These experiences reinforced Claire’s belief that effective communication is essential for reducing mental stress and preventing harm among vulnerable patients and their family caregivers.

Claire realized she wanted to conduct research to understand and address communication challenges, but she also wanted to continue working closely with patients and family caregivers to better understand their perspectives and the systems in which communication challenges occur. To address both these issues, Claire decided to pursue dual doctoral degrees (DNP/PhD) at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, focusing on developing and implementing novel communication pathways in palliative care. Her dissertation work utilizes data from the National Study of Caregiving with an aim to understand communication patterns among family caregivers and palliative care patients. She plans on developing communication intervention recommendations based on the results of her research.

Among Claire's long-term goals are to balance research and practice. After graduation, she hopes to join a large research-focused medical center where she can continue clinical practice among dyads of patients with serious chronic illness and their family caregivers, and simultaneously conduct research on and develop interventions for more effective communication pathways.

Receiving the Isabel Hampton Robb Scholarship from the Nurses Educational Funds. is a profound honor for Ms. Petchler. This scholarship will help Claire move closer to her goals of enacting positive change in research and practice; honor her grandma’s legacy; and ameliorate the stress of the millions of caregivers like her mom.