Dawn Denny, Ph.D., R.N., O.N.C.

Dawn Denny is an assistant professor of nursing at the University of North Dakota. She has more than seven years of teaching experience in nursing education and brings more than 22 years of clinical nursing practice experience. Much of her career has been spent caring for adults in acute care, long-term care and home health care settings in diverse roles, including staff nurse, educator, case manager and administrator.

She has published six nursing articles, with the majority reporting findings from original research. Her research primarily focuses on the impact of risk factors on delirium outcomes in older adults following orthopedic surgery. Given her active research program, she regularly mentors undergraduate and graduate students in research processes. Currently, she serves as co-investigator for a research mentoring program funded by the National Institutes of Health for undergraduate student scholars.

Denny has received several research awards, including the UND College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines Research Seed Award (2015, 2016, 2017); the UND Senate Scholarship Activities Committee Research Award (2015); the Charles and Julie Horter Endowment Award (2016, 2017); and the UND Senate Scholarship Activities Committee Travel Award  (2017). She earned her Ph.D. in Nursing from UND in 2014 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minn, in 1988.

Her national and professional contributions include regional, national and international research presentations and leadership roles in various professional organizations, including the National Association of Orthopedics Nurses Research Committee (co-chair) and the Midwest Research Nursing Society’s Symptom Science Research Interest Group (past chair). She also serves as a peer reviewer for several professional nursing journals.

Publications and Presentations

• Denny, D. L., & Lindseth, G. Pain, opioid intake and delirium symptoms in older adults following joint replacement surgery. In-press for publication in Western Journal of Nursing Research.
• Trotter, T., Denny, D. L., & Evanson, T. Literature review: Reliability and validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) as a screening tool for post-stroke depression (PSD). In-press for publication in Journal of Neuroscience Nursing.
• Denny, D. L., & Such, T. (2018). Exploration of the relationships between postoperative pain and subsyndromal delirium in older adults. Nursing Research, 67(6), 421-429.  doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000305
• Denny, D. L., & Lindseth, G. (2017). Preoperative risk factors for subsyndromal delirium in older adults who undergo joint replacement surgery, Orthopaedic Nursing, 36(6), 404-413. doi:10.1097/NOR.00000000000000402
• Lindseth, G., & Denny, D. L. (2014). Patients’ experiences with cholecystitis and a cholecystectomy. Gastroenterology Nursing, 37(6), 407-414. doi:10.1097/SGA.0000000000000072
• Denny, D. L., & Guido, G. (2012). Undertreatment of pain in older adults: An application of beneficence. Nursing Ethics, 19(6), 800-809. doi:10.1177/0969733012447015

Courses Taught

• NURS 301: Professional Nurse I
• NURS 331: Patient- and Family-Centered Nursing
• NURS 554: Grant Submission
• NURS 555: Writing for Publication
• NURS 558: Research Design
• NURS 577: Rural Healthcare Ethics
• NURS 602: Evidence-Based Research I
• NURS 603: Evidence-Based Research II

Areas of Expertise

• Research design
• Professionalism
• Orthopedic nursing
• Delirium in older adults
• Ethics related to pain management

Contact Information
Phone: 701.777.2699
Email: dawn.denny@UND.edu