Jasmine Travers Altizer

Jasmine Travers Altizer, PhD, MHS, RN, FAAN is an Assistant Professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She leads a program of research focused on improving care and outcomes for underserved older adults and those who care for them, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her current work examines disparities in access to and use of long-term care services, including home-based care, community programs, nursing homes, and assisted living.

Prof. Travers Altizer is the principal investigator of an NIH-funded R01 examining the relationship between staffing patterns and outcomes for residents living with dementia. She also holds a five-year Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leader K76 Award from the National Institute on Aging. In this mixed-methods study, she is developing and testing a novel survey instrument designed to identify unmet needs that disproportionately drive avoidable nursing home placements.

Travers Altizer served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes, which released the landmark report The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality in April 2022. She has also delivered two congressional testimonies on the state of long-term care and its workforce.

Travers Altizer has published widely on topics including aging, long-term care, health disparities, workforce issues, vaccinations, and infections. She regularly presents her work at regional and national health services research, gerontological, nursing, and public health conferences.

Prior to joining the faculty at NYU Meyers, Travers Altizer completed postdoctoral training through the National Clinician Scholars Program at Yale University and a T32-funded fellowship at the New Courtland Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

PhD, Columbia University School of Nursing

MHS, Yale University

MSN in Adult-Gerontological Health, Stony Brook University

BSN, Adelphi University

Aging

Health Policy

Long-Term Care

Workforce

Academy Health

American Academy of Nursing

American Geriatrics Society

Eastern Nursing Research Society

Gerontological Society of America

New York Academy of Medicine

Dean’s Excellence in Research Award, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing (2024)

New York Academy of Medicine Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine (2024)

American Academy of Nursing Fellow, American Academy of Nursing (2024)

Nurse Researcher of the Year, Greater New York City Black Nurses Association (2024)

Health in Aging Foundation New Investigator Award, American Geriatrics Society (2022)

Rising Star Research Award, Eastern Nursing Research Society (2022)

Early Career Alumni Award: Emerging Nurse Leader, Columbia University (2020)

Scholar, National Clinician Scholars Program, Yale University (2020)

Committee Member, Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020)

Jonas Policy Scholar, American Academy of Nursing, Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare (2019)

Douglas Holmes Emerging Scholar Paper Award, Gerontological Society of America (2018)

Awardee, 10 Under 10 Young Alumni Recognition, Adelphi University (2018)

Associate Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania (2018)

Dean’s Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Vice Provost Office (2018)

Pre-Dissertation Student Research Award, The Behavioral & Social Sciences Section of The Gerontological Society of America (2016)

Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar, Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare (2016)

Nursing Home Reform in the Context of National Long-Term Care Services and Policy : The Devil in the Details of the National Academies Report

Degenholtz, H. B., Travers, J. T., Zimmerman, S., Teresi, J., Calkins, M., & Sloane, P. D. (2023). In Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Vols. 71, Issues 2, pp. 357-361). 10.1111/jgs.18273

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Palliation for the frail older adult and what meaningful longevity could be

Rosa, W. E., Connor, S., Ferrell, B. R., Fulmer, T., Travers, J. T., & Radbruch, L. (2023). In The Lancet Healthy Longevity (Vols. 4, Issues 10, pp. e528-e530). 10.1016/S2666-7568(23)00161-7

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Policy Priorities for a Well-Prepared Nursing Home Workforce

Mueller, C. A., & Travers, J. T. (2023). In Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Vols. 71, Issues 2, pp. 322-328). 10.1111/jgs.18261

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Pressures in the Ivory Tower : An Empirical Study of Burnout Scores among Nursing Faculty

Boamah, S. A., Kalu, M., Stennett, R., Belita, E., & Travers, J. T. (2023). In International journal of environmental research and public health (Vols. 20, Issues 5). 10.3390/ijerph20054398

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(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated incidents of burnout among academics in various fields and disciplines. Although burnout has been the subject of extensive research, few studies have focused on nursing faculty. This study aimed to investigate the differences in burnout scores among nursing faculty members in Canada. (2) Method: Using a descriptive cross-sectional design, data were collected via an online survey in summer 2021 using the Maslach Burnout Inventory general survey and analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. (3) Result: Faculty members (n = 645) with full-time employment status, worked more than 45 h, and taught 3–4 courses reported high burnout (score ≥ 3) compared to those teaching 1–2 courses. Although education levels, tenure status or rank, being on a graduate committee, or the percentage of hours dedicated to research and services were considered important personal and contextual factors, they were not associated with burnout. (4) Conclusions: Findings suggest that burnout manifests differently among faculty and at varying degrees. As such, targeted approaches based on individual and workload characteristics should be employed to address burnout and build resilience among faculty to improve retention and sustain the workforce.

Resident Factors Associated With Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Infections

Montoya, A., Wen, K., Travers, J. T., Rivera-Hernandez, M., White, E., Mor, V., & Berry, S. D. (2023). In Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.02.102

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Objective: To examine incidence of and resident characteristics associated with breakthrough infections (BTIs) and severe illness among residents with 2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccinations. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting and Participants: Nursing home (NH) residents who completed their primary series of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination by March 31, 2021. Methods: Electronic health records and Minimum Data Set assessments from a multistate NH data consortium were used to identify BTI and severe illness (a composite measure of hospitalization and/or death within 30 days of BTI) occurring prior to November 24, 2021. A t test for differences in means was used to compare covariates for residents with and without BTI. Finally, we estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for BTI with 95% CIs using a modified Poisson regression approach, comparing residents with BTI vs residents without. We adjusted for facility fixed effects in our model. Results: Our sample included 23,172 residents from 984 NHs who were at least 14 days past their second mRNA vaccine dose. Of those, 1173 (5%) developed an incident COVID-19 BTI (mean follow-up time: 250 days). Among residents with BTI, 8.6% were hospitalized or died within 30 days of BTI diagnosis. Factors associated with severe illness included age ≥85 years (IRR 2.08, 95% CI 1.08-4.02, reference age

Transforming Nursing Home Teams : What We Can Do Now to Build a Stronger Nursing Home Workforce

Travers, J. T., Scales, K., Bonner, A., Longobardi, I., & Maki, S. (2023). In Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (Vols. 24, Issues 12, pp. 1807-1808). 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.10.018

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The 17-minute vial : A reflection on quantity, quality and equity

Travers, J. T. (2022). In Journal of Advanced Nursing. 10.1111/jan.15515

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Antimicrobial Stewardship Interventions to Optimize Treatment of Infections in Nursing Home Residents : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aliyu, S., Travers, J. T., Heimlich, S. L., Ifill, J., & Smaldone, A. (2022). In Journal of Applied Gerontology (Vols. 41, Issues 3, pp. 892-901). 10.1177/07334648211018299

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Effects of antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) interventions to optimize antibiotic use for infections in nursing home (NH) residents remain unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess ASPs in NHs and their effects on antibiotic use, multi-drug-resistant organisms, antibiotic prescribing practices, and resident mortality. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using five databases (1988–2020). Nineteen articles were included, 10 met the criteria for quantitative synthesis. Inappropriate antibiotic use decreased following ASP intervention in eight studies with a pooled decrease of 13.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [4.7, 23.0]; Cochran’s Q = 166,837.8, p

Black Nurse Scholars' Experiences in an Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship

Montgomery, T. M., James, K. F., Mansfield, L. N., Gaitors, M. C., Burns, J. C., Travers, J. T., Laury, E., Conley, C., Thompson, K., Bulgin, D., & Jeffers, K. S. (2022). In Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (Vols. 27, Issue 1). 10.3912/OJIN.Vol27No01Man04

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Postdoctoral fellowship programs play an essential role in developing future leaders in nursing by providing opportunities for interprofessional education, training, and collaboration. Nurse leaders must carefully consider the climate and design of such programs, paying particular attention to the ability to support the career journeys of more doctorally-prepared nurses from diverse backgrounds. This article describes a self-study that considered the unique, yet collective, lived experiences of 11 Black, doctorally-prepared, nurses who completed (or are completing) the same interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship. We describe the study methods, results, discussion, and limitations. Five themes across three phases of the nurse scholars’ educational journeys describe lived experiences in spaces not traditionally designed to support minoritized women, including insight into the limits and benefits of these programs specific to Black nurse scholars. Finally, we suggest implications for nursing to inform interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship programs to strengthen Black nurse scholars as emerging leaders with interprofessional collaboration skills to improve healthcare services provided to diverse patient populations.

Characterizing caregiving supportive services use by caregiving relationship status

Travers, J. T., Rosa, W. E., Shenoy, S., Bergh, M., & Fabius, C. D. (2022). In Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 10.1111/jgs.18213

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Background: Informal caregivers of older adults experience a high degree of psychosocial burden and strain. These emotional experiences often stem from stressful tasks associated with caregiving. Caregiving supportive services that provide assistance for stressful tasks are instrumental in alleviating caregiving burden and strain. Research is limited on what types of supportive services caregivers are utilizing by relationship status and their source of information regarding these services. We sought to characterize caregiving supportive services use by caregiver relationship status. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the 2015 National Study of Caregiving limited to caregivers of older adults ≥65 years of age. Caregiver relationship status (i.e., spouse, child, other relative/non-relative) was the independent variable. Type of supportive service and source of information about supportive services were the dependent variables. Bivariate analyses were performed to examine the association with caregiver relationship status and associations between use of caregiving supportive services and caregiver and care recipient characteristics. Among service users, we measured associations between caregiver relationship status, type of supportive services used, and source of information about supportive services. Results: Our sample consisted of 1871 informal caregivers, 30.7% reported using supportive services. By caregiver relationship status, children had the greatest use of supportive services compared to spouses and other relatives/non-relatives (46.5% vs. 27.6% vs. 25.9%, p =