For Matt Depenbrock, the path to nursing was anything but linear. After studying psychology and working as a certified sommelier traveling the country, it was his desire to care for others and a willingness to start over that brought him into healthcare.
Depenbrock began his nursing career in an adult medical ICU just before the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience left a lasting mark - long hours, inadequate protective equipment, and families unable to be present with loved ones at their most vulnerable moments. "We really had no rule book," he says. "I almost got out of nursing entirely because of that."
Instead, he made a pivotal change, accepting a position in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. "That's where I found my passion again," he recalls.
Working in one of the nation's leading NICUs, Depenbrock cares for some of the most medically complex newborns, many arriving from around the world. The work exposed him to both extraordinary recoveries and devastating losses.
To ensure his work remained grounded in real clinical needs, Depenbrock built his project team with leaders from within his own NICU, in addition to his project chair, Dr. Robyn Stamm. He reached out to researchers in the United Kingdom and Australia to use validated measurement tools and their response reinforced the significance of his work.
The result was Project HEALS: Improving NICU Nurses' End-of-Life Care Competence, an eight-week quality improvement initiative built around 11 short, flexible educational modules designed specifically for NICU nurses. Each module addressed key gaps he had observed firsthand - from communication during end-of-life care to cultural considerations and nurse self-care. "I wanted something that would work for real life."
Featured image: Matt Depenbrock on the UC campus. / Photo provided
