Faculty Sketch
Thomas H. Cook, PhD, RN, FNP
Assistant Professor of Nursingtom.cook@vanderbilt.edu
Current Research Interests
Dr. Tom Cook, Assistant Professor, received his BSN from Loyola University and an MSN in Cardiovascular Nursing from St. Louis University. He is also a family nurse practitioner. His doctoral preparation was completed at Vanderbilt University where he studied health policy development and program evaluation. His research interests address his graduate program foci. Those interests include the prevention of cardiovascular disease through the use of nutrition and physical education programs in school-aged children.
Dr. Cook was the Principal Investigator on a KO1 award that uses an ecological approach to view the child in context of school and family. The purpose of the study was to pilot test the feasibility of conducting a population-based intervention program directed toward improving cardiovascular health promoting behaviors (nutrition and physical activity) of elementary school children.
Dr. Cook is the Principal Investigator for the “Live It! Go for the Red, White and Blue” instructional program designed to provide nutritional and exercise instruction to students in the Nashville Davidson County middle school grades. This program is a joint effort between the Monroe Carroll Children’s Hospital and the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
Dr. Cook's research also explores health care outcomes and the context in which these outcomes occur. Dr. Cook's dissertation explored the effects of inpatient case management on patient and provider satisfaction, quality of care, length of stay and cost of care. He has used research synthesis methods to identify what is already known about the effectiveness of inpatient case management and the context of those results.
Grants
| January 2004-Present | Principal Investigator Live It: Go for the Red, White and Blue Funded by Dell Computer, Inc. |
$50,000.00 |
| May 2001-April 2005 | Principal Investigator Energy Balance in Children 1 K01 NR 00140-01 Funded by NIH/NINR |
$250,802.00 |
| July 1998-June 1999 | Principal Investigator Establishing Psychometric Properties of a Client Satisfaction Instrument. Funded By Vanderbilt University Research Council. |
$5,122.00 |
| July 1995-June 1996 | Principal Investigator Health Promotion Lifestyle Practices of TennCare Patients in a Nurse Practitioner Managed Primary Care Center. Funded by Vanderbilt University Research Council. |
$4,850.00 |
| December 1993 | Co-Principal Investigator, (F.K. Bushnell), Health Promotion Lifestyle Instrument Search. Funded by Sigma Theta Tau (IOTA Chapter). |
$250.00 |
Representative Publications
Cook, T.H., Gilmer, M.J, & Bess, C.G. (2003). Beginning Students’ Definitions of Nursing: An Inductive Framework of Professional identity. Journal of Nursing Education, 42(7), 311-317.
Book Chapters
Cook, T.H. (2007). Historical Factors: Community Health Nursing in Context. In M. Nies, J. McEwen (Eds.), Community Health Nursing; 3rd edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders & Co.
Abstracts and Proceedings
Cook, T.H. (2004). Increasing Healthy Heart Knowledge in Children. In National Congress on the State of the Science in Nursing Research - Working Toward a Healthier Nation (p. 452), Washington, D.C.
Cook, T.H. (2004). School-Based Exercise Intervention Increases Free Living Exercise Behaviors in Children. In Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2004, New Orleans, LA.
Professional Research
| July 1996-2003 | Manuscript Reviewer. u>The Journal of Military Nursing and Research. |
| Dec. 1997-2005 | International Editorial Board Member. The Journal of Nursing Management, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, England. |
| Jan. 2001-2005 | Manuscript Review, Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. |
| June 2002-2004 | Manuscript Review. Journal of Nursing Education. |
| Dec. 2002-Present | Healthy Nashville Leadership Council, Coordinator Nashville STEPS. |
| Nov. 2004-Present | Tennessee on the Move, Member, Board of Directors |
| June 2005-2007 | Institute of Medicine, Committee on Nutrition Standards for Schools. |
| January 2007-Present | Manuscript Reviewer. The Journal of Pediatric Nursing. |