Meghan Eagen-Torkko

May 3, 2022

UW nursing, midwife experts address abortion issue in light of leaked SCOTUS opinion

Two University of Washington nursing and midwife experts in maternal health have provided the following quotes on the issue of restricting abortion or making it illegal — seen as increasingly likely due to the Supreme Court draft opinion, leaked to Politico on Monday. Molly Altman is an assistant professor in the UW School of Nursing and nurse midwife, whose scientific research focuses on respectful and equitable care during pregnancy and childbirth. Meghan Eagen-Torkko is associate professor and Director of Nursing…

April 7, 2021

Perinatal patients, nurses explain how hospital pandemic policies failed them

With a lethal, airborne virus spreading fast, hospitals had to change how they treated patients and policies for how caregivers provided that treatment. But for maternity patients and nurses some of those changes had negative outcomes, according to a new University of Washington study. “We found that visitor restrictions and separation policies were harming families and nurses. The effects for patients included loneliness, isolation and mistrust, while nurses described mistrust and low morale,” said Molly Altman, lead author of the…