Linda Chlan

Linda L. Chlan, PhD, RN, ATSF, FAAN, describes herself as a curious, inquisitive individual. These traits led her to career in nursing, and later led her to engage in transformative research on symptom management interventions.

“I saw nursing as an ideal career path to combine my love of science, curiosity about health and illness, as well as my desire to help people,” Linda said.

Soon after Linda became an ICU nurse, she became frustrated by the limits of her ‘toolbox’ to help patients manage their distressful symptoms, like anxiety. Her curiosity led her to conduct her own research on the matter and found that sedatives and analgesic medications were the only options for helping these patients. This wasn’t enough as patients continued to experience distressful symptoms despite receiving medications.

“I realized I needed to acquire additional skills and knowledge in order to discover and integrate solutions into managing the myriad of symptoms ICU patients experience in order to improve their health and well-being,” Linda said.

So, she went back to school to obtain a master’s degree. While in her program, she quickly learned that she had a passion for conducting research. She began a clinical study, where she tested music listening on critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients to promote relaxation. A faculty advisor, who recognized the potential of her work, suggested that Linda explore the PhD program, which is where her research career truly began.

After completing her PhD program and post-doctoral training to acquire additional research skills, Linda pursued an academic faculty role. For the last six years, she has been the Associate Dean for Nursing Research at Mayo Clinic, where leads and grows nursing research across all Mayo locations. Her work today continues to be focused on what it was all those years before—the development and testing of symptom management interventions to improve outcomes and well-being among critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilatory support.

Linda understands that to limit the suffering and distress of patients, she must empower them to participate in their care as able. Only they know what’s best for them.

“My two main lines of scientific inquiry are focused on empowering patients to co-manage anxiety with appropriately selected relaxing music or self-manage their own administration of sedative therapy as needed,” Linda said.

The music listening research that Linda conducted throughout her studies and research career has shown to be successful, and it was mentioned as a non-pharmacological intervention in the 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Pain, Agitation/Sedation, Delirium, Immobility, and Sleep Disruption in Adult Patients in the ICU (PADIS Guidelines).

Unfortunately, music listening interventions are still not well integrated as standard care for ICU patients, but Linda remains hopeful. She knows that music listening has the power to reduce pain and anxiety, promote sleep, and provide enjoyment—and she has a vision for its successful implementation.

“I envision a day when an extensive menu of music choices and genres will be readily available free of charge to any and all patients,” Linda said. “I would like to see care of critically ill patients be based on assessment of symptoms with personalized, preferred interventions to manage the plethora of burdensome and distressful experiences endured by these vulnerable patients.”

Linda’s curious, inquisitive personality led her to be a researcher, and hopefully one day soon, it will lead to an application of new standards for symptom management, like music listening, in ICUs everywhere.

Linda Chlan, PhD, RN, ATSF, FAAN, has dedicated 25 years to her sustained program of research. Linda was a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Thrive Task Force to Improve Post-ICU Outcome and is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. In 2012 she was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and has received several awards pertaining to her work, including the Circle of Excellence Award, a Presidential Citation for contribution to Society of Critical Care Medicine, the DAISY Foundation Faculty mentor award, among others. Linda joined Sigma’s Theta XI Chapter in 1983. Since then, she has contributed to Sigma’s Journal of Nursing Scholarship and Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. She was recently inducted into Sigma’s International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.