Faculty Member
Kathryn A. Nichol PhD, MHSc, BScN
- Email Address(es)
- k.nichol(at)utoronto.ca, knichol(at)vha.ca
- Office Address
- VHA Home HealthCare 30 Soudan Avenue Toronto, ON M4S 1V6
- Division(s)/Institute(s)
- Epidemiology Division
Occupational & Environmental Health Division - Position
- Assistant Professor
- SGS Status
- Associate Member
- Appointment Status
- Status Only
Research Interests
healthy work environments; occupational health and safety; occupational skin disease, contact dermatitis; infection prevention and control; acute care hospitals; nurses; personal protective equipment; respiratory protection; facial protective equipment; communicable respiratory illness; adherence to safe work behaviours; barriers and facilitators of adherent behaviours; workplace violence prevention; sharps injury prevention; joint health and safety committee functioning and effectiveness; workplace safety culture; interactions between worker health and patient safety in healthcare; home care
Education
2010 PhD Medical Science, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto
1996 MHSc Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
1989 BScN Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Certifications/Licenses
2023 Rotman-ICD Governance Essentials Certificate, University of Toronto
2022 Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching, Royal Roads University, British Columbia
2020 San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Certificate, Provincial Health Services Authority British Columbia
2016 Certificate in Effective Governance in Quality and Patient Safety, Governance Centre of Excellence
2013 Rotman Executive Leadership Certificate, University of Toronto and University Health Network
1989 Registered Nursing License, College of Nurses of Ontario
Appointments
Associate Director and Investigator, Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease
Member, Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease Advisory Committee
Chair, The Institute for Education Research Advisory Committee, The Michener Institute of Education at UHN
Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Ontario Community Support Association
Professional Appointment
President and CEO, VHA Home HealthCare, Toronto
Current Grants
2023 – 2025 King E, Holness DL, VanHulle H, Miller S, Nichol K. MLTSD Grants Program$125,242. Occupational Hand Dermatitis e-learning adaptation & evaluation for the food services & manufacturing sector (under review).
2022 – 2023 King E, Giosa J, Zagrodney K, McKay S, Nichol K, Holness DL. Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease Subgrant $10,000. A two-site study of factors influencing Facial Protective Equipment use by Rehabilitation Providers in Home Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Site 1.
2022 – 2023 Giosa J, King E, Zagrodney K, McKay S, Nichol K, Holness DL. Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease Subgrant $10,000. A two-site study of factors influencing Facial Protective Equipment use by Rehabilitation Providers in Home Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Site 2.
2021 – 2023 Nichol K, Holness DL, Giosa J, Holubiec I, McKay S, King E. Ministry of Labour, Training & Skills Development $220,659 – New home health care worker safety practices during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Publications – Last 5 years
1. Zagrodney K, King E, Simon D, Nichol K, McKay S. A good investment: Expanding capacity to care for older adults in the home and community care sector through increased Personal Support Worker wages. Canadian Journal on Aging (in press).
2. Nizzer S, Ruco A, Moreira N, Holness DL, Nichol K, King E, McKay S. “You have to be careful about every detail” – How the COVID-19 Pandemic Shaped the Experiences of Canadian Personal Support Workers Working in Home Care. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (in press).
3. Zagrodney K, King E, Mohammed E, Nichol K, Holness DL. Occupational Hand Dermatitis in HealthCare: Development and Evaluation of an Online Training E-module. Dermatitis (in press).
4. Zagrodney K, King E, Simon D, Nichol K, McKay S. Economic Evidence in Support of Home and Community Care Sector Investment: The Case for PSW Wage Parity in Ontario. Longwoods Healthcare Policy (in press).
5. Ruco A, Nichol K, Edwards B, Roy M, Morgan D, Holness DL, McKay S. Spot It, Prevent It: Evaluation of a Rapid Response Algorithm for Managing Workplace Violence Among Home Care Workers. Workplace Health Saf. 2022 Aug 17:21650799221110891. doi: 10.1177/21650799221110891. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35975760.
6. Nichol K, Ruco A, Holness DL. Construction sector joint health and safety committees: Can their effectiveness be assessed using the JHSC assessment eTool? Work. 2022;73(1):247-254. doi: 10.3233/WOR-205211. PMID: 35871379.
7. King E, Zagrodney K, McKay S, Holness DL and Nichol K. Determinants of nurse’s and personal support worker’s adherence to facial protective equipment in a community setting during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada: A pilot study. American Journal of Infection Control. Published: July 30, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2022.07.021.
8. Holness DL, King E, Nichol K, Zagrodney K. Occupational Dermatitis – What’s New? Journal of the Ontario Occupational Health Nurses. Spring Summer 2022, p. 17-20
9. Ruco A, Nichol K, Morassaei S, Bola R, Di Prospero L. Supporting discovery and inquiry: A Canadian hospital’s approach to building research and innovation capacity in point-of-care health professionals. Quality Management in Health Care: April 08, 2021 – Volume Publish Ahead of Print – Issue – doi: 10.1097/QMH.0000000000000294
10. McGilton K, Vellani S, Krassikova A, Robertson S, Irwin C, Cumal A, Bethell J, Bronskill S, Burr E, Keatings M, McKay S, Nichol K, Puts M, Singh A, Wodchis W, Sidani S. Understanding transitional care programs for older adults who experience delayed discharge: A scoping review. BMC Geriatr 21, 210 (2021). doi:10.1186/s12877-021-02099-9
11. Plummer C, Smith KA, Chandler J, Ash P, McMillan S, Di Prospero L, Morassaei S, Nichol K. Building capacity in health professionals to conduct quality improvement: evaluation and insights from a collaborative inter-organizational pilot program. Journal of Nursing Care Quality: Oct. 19, 2020 – epub ahead of print -doi: 10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000520
12. McGilton K, Vellani S, Babineau J, Bethell J, Bronskill S, Burr E, Keatings M, McElhaney J, McKay S, Nichol K, Omar A, Puts M, Singh A, Tamblyn Watts L, Wodchis W, Sidani S. Understanding transitional care programmes for older adults who experience delayed discharge: a scoping review protocol – BMJ Open 2019;9:e032149. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032149.
13. Nichol K, Kudla I, Young V, Eriksson J, Budd D and Holness DL. Testing the joint health and safety committee assessment tool in the education sector – Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health 2019 Apr 16. doi: 10.1080/19338244.2019.1594662.
14. Nichol K, Copes R, Kersey K, Eriksson J, Holness DL. Screening for Hand Dermatitis in Healthcare Workers: Comparing Workplace Screening with Dermatologist Photo Screening – Contact Dermatitis 2019 Jan 25. doi: 10.1111/cod.13233.