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Gail Powell-Cope, Ph.D., M.S.N.
University of South Florida Colleges of Nursing and Public Health
Tampa Veterans Hospital, Tampa, FL
Research Interests: Adverse Events, Implementation Science, Mobility/Activity/Function, Nursing, TBI, Rehabilitation, Mixed Methods Research
Dr. Powell-Cope is Section Chief of Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, and Tampa Site Co-Director of the VA HSR&D/RR&D Center of Innovation on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. She also serves as Adjunct Faculty at the University of South Florida Colleges of Nursing and Public Health, and Associate Director/Team Leader of Safe Patient Handling for the VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry. She is the Tampa site Co-Director of the VA Interprofessional Fellowship in Patient Safety, and Director of the Tampa HSR&D postdoctoral research program. Dr. Powell-Cope has over 30 years of nursing experience and 24 years of experience in health services research, nursing research, survey and qualitative research methods, and quality improvement in patient safety. She has a track record in VA research funding from rehabilitation and health services research and development services, and in implementation research. Current implementation work involves partnership with the VHA Spinal Cord Injury Services and colleagues to evaluate national implement the SCI Pressure Ulcer Monitoring Tool (SCI-PUMT), developed through an VA-funded study. Additionally, she is the Director of Office of Nursing Service/QERI Partnered Evaluation Center that currently is evaluating implementation of the VHA Pressure Ulcer Prevention Handwork. She is the Principal Investigator of an HSR&D-funded study to engage Veterans with traumatic brain injury in assisting facilitating community reintegration following acute rehabilitation. Dr. Powell-Cope has been involved in Safe Patient Handling implementation and evaluation for almost 15 years, culminating in the recently completed evaluation of VA-wide program implementation in partnership with the Office of Public Health and the Office of Nursing Service.
