The 10 Most Popular Posts in 2014 on the

Human Capital BlogPresented by the RWJF Human Capital Network

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital Blog is a forum for sharing the work and ideas of the portfolio’s leaders and grantees,

and for stimulating discussion about the challenges of building a diverse, well-trained health care workforce that meets the nation’s

current and emerging needs.

The Blog published nearly 400 posts in 2014.This presentation features the ten most-read posts.

Why Do Deaths from Drugs Like Oxycodone Occur in Different Neighborhoods than Deaths from Heroin?

How Stress Makes Us Sick

Misfortune at Birth

Combating Suicide in the Population Most at Risk: Older, White Men

The Primary Care Technician: A New Class of Health Care Providers

How to Address Disparities: Recognize Incarceration as a Major Threat to Health

Loneliness: A Significant Stressor that Requires Intervention

Adverse Working Conditions and Depression: A Strong Link

The Nursing Profession: A Platform for Leadership

Celebrating Four Years of Nurses Leading Change to Advance Health

The 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2014

Why Do Deaths from Drugs Like Oxycodone Occur in Different Neighborhoods than Deaths from Heroin?

This in-depth look at the role neighborhoods play in shaping substance abuse patterns was written by RWJF Health & Society Scholars program alumna Magdalena Cerdá, PhD, MPH. She compares neighborhoods that have more fatal overdoses of opiate-based painkillers to neighborhoods in which heroin and cocaine overdoses are more likely to occur, identifying characteristics of each. This piece generated the largest audience

of any post on this Blog this year, with more than 22,000 visits.

How Stress Makes Us Sick

“How Stress Makes Us Sick” was written by RWJF Health & Society Scholar Keely Muscatell, PhD. A social neuroscientist and psychoneuroimmunologist, Muscatell shares her research into the physical manifestations of stress, its relationship to inflammation, and ways people may be able to reframe their responses to stress in order to alleviate the physical reactions it can cause. Understanding how stress makes us sick, she writes, “is of extreme importance to the health and longevity of our nation.”

Misfortune at Birth

“Misfortune at Birth,” which drew the third-largest audience among the posts published on this Blog in 2014, asks whether some premature babies are simply born in the wrong place. It reports on nurse-led research that finds seven in ten black infants with very low birth weights have the misfortune of being born in hospitals with lower nurse staffing ratios and in work environments than other hospitals. The post was written by Eileen Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Jeannette Rogowski, PhD, based on their study funded by RWJF’s Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative.

Combating Suicide in the Population Most at Risk: Older, White Men

This post is an interview with RWJF Health & Society Scholars program alumna Briana Mezuk, PhD, who won an award for her research into suicide risk among those living at, or considering entering, long-term care facilities. Risk increases dramatically after age 75, Mezuk found, and risk factors include social isolation. Mezuk hopes her study will lead to effective interventions to prevent suicide among people transitioning into long-term care.

The Primary Care Technician: A New Class of Health Care Providers

This post features an interview with Arthur Kellermann, MD, MPH, FACEP, who proposes a new class of health care providers: primary care technicians. They could work remotely, Kellermannsuggests, under the online supervision of primary care physicians or nurse practitioners, to manage stable chronic disease patients, treat minor illnesses and injuries, and provide basic preventive services. Kellermann is an alumnus of the RWJF Clinical Scholars and Health Policy Fellows programs.

How to Address Disparities: Recognize Incarceration as a Major Threat to Health

RWJF Clinical Scholar Elizabeth Barnert, MD, MPH, MS, wrote this post as part of a series for National Minority Health Month. Barnert blogs about the risks faced by children of incarcerated parents. “To me, prisoners and former prisoners—and in particular, juvenile offenders—are among the most vulnerable individuals in our country. Embracing a Culture of Health for all requires us to meaningfully address incarceration and recognize it for what it is—a major threat to health.”

Loneliness: A Significant Stressor that Requires Intervention

In this post, RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Laurie A. Theeke, PhD, FNP-BC, notes that loneliness contributes to multiple chronic conditions, including hypertension, depression, and functional decline, and urges greater efforts to assess for and treat it. Her post was the seventh most-read 2014 post on this Blog this year.

Adverse Working Conditions and Depression: A Strong Link

This post is an interview with RWJF Health & Society Scholars program alumna Sarah A. Burgard, PhD, who found “a pretty strong correlation” between working conditions and depressive symptoms, even after controlling for age, race, education, occupational status, and more. “We’re very focused on treating depression at the individual level,” she concludes, “but a lot of jobs come with a whole host of adverse working conditions, and individuals are rarely in a position to ... change the conditions under which they have to work ...[T]reating individuals alone may not necessarily solve their mental health problems.”

The Nursing Profession: A Platform for Leadership

“For many nurses, the pathways you see will be the pathways you build,” blogs Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration in ”The Nursing Profession: A Platform for Leadership.” In this post, published for National Nurses Week, Wakefield shares her journey from rural North Dakota to leading a powerful federal health agency. She offers four lessons for aspiring nurse leaders.

Celebrating Four Years of Nurses Leading Change to Advance Health

This post was authored by Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, RWJF’s senior adviser for nursing and director of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. It marks the fourth anniversary of the release of The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, which has galvanized nurses and nurse champions to join health system transformation. Hassmiller’s piece describes the progress thus far in implementing the IOM’s recommendations.