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March 2006
Children's Research Institute News Brief
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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First Children's Research Day at MUSC
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| Dr. Charles P. Darby, Executive Director, Center for Child Advocacy |
The DCRI celebrated its first anniversary with a wonderfully attended and varied, one-day poster session on Feb. 16. This session
featured 81 posters covering a broad array of topics, including clinical, translational and basic research. It increased awareness
of ongoing research and stimulated discussion about future research possibilities among attendees from across campus.
We hope this celebration will become an annual event and opportunity to celebrate children's research with colleagues MUSC-wide.
This event represents the first children's research day ever conducted at MUSC.
More than 150 people from all six colleges, including Nursing, visited the Institute during the DCRI open-house. Nursing and ongoing
nursing research efforts at MUSC were an important part of the session, emphasizing how important it is for all children's researchers
across our six colleges to come together to share expertise. Several nurses presented at the session, and the College of Nursing sponsored
a booth to get the word out about the start of a new chapter of the Society of Pediatric Nurses.
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| Barbara Rivers, Director of Development, Children's Hospital Fund and Dr. Maria |
The DCRI is the perfect platform to demonstrate the inherent value of nursing in terms of patient care at the Children's Hospital and
research mission. Though there are currently no nurses at the Institute conducting basic research per se, there is quite a bit of children's
research that involves nursing and that integrates DCRI research themes. Nurses will continue to play a bigger and bigger role in the goals
of bringing the bench to the bedside, and the bedside to the community. Our goal is to facilitate and increase that collaboration and involvement.
The poster session provided great visibility for this goal; as attendee Kimberly Harris-Eaton, RN, MSN, remarked after the session: "We knew
nurses were involved in research, but now we're really able to identify just how many, where they are, what they're doing. We're trying to get
more nurses to come over, to experience and learn about what's going on in the DCRI. We're trying to bridge that gap."
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| Dr. L. Lyndon Key and Maria and the visiting professor from Harvard Scott L. Pomeroy, M.D., Ph.D. Neurologist-in-Chief |
Among the many nurses conducting significant research is Robin Bissinger, NNP, RNC, PhDc, who coordinated a study by a group of neonatal nurse
practitioners looking at secondary surfactant deficiency.
"It's a new concept for which there is no standard in the country," she explains. "Our research involves neonatologists, neonatal nurse
practitioners, an epidemiologist and statistician," explains Bissinger. "It outlines how multidisciplinary teams can work together to research
questions and find answers."
A randomized control study is the next step; Bissinger forsees the research being performed in close collaboration with Dr. John Baatz's pulmonary
biology program in the DCRI. Dr. Baatz is a nationally prominent surfactant biologist.
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| Kimberly Harris Eaton RN MSN, Nurse Manager 8DHD Infant & Toddler Unit
Shelia Scarbrough RN B.S.N. Pediatric Educator
Meredith Sanders, MHA, Hospital Administration resident
Debbie Browning, RN B.S.N., Nurse manager, Pediatric Emergency Room and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
and Dr. Maria |
Also conducting research that could have a national impact is Jean Ann Rhodes, RN, PhD, who, as manager of the Children's Hospital Lactation
Consultation Service, recognized a need for investigation into the shelf life of thawed human donor milk. Mentored by Dr. Carol Wagner, co-director
of the pediatric nutritional sciences program in the DCRI, and guided by Dr. Lisa Steed, director of the Microbiology Lab, Rhodes conducted a pilot
study then followed it with a larger study. Though the results have not yet been published, Rhodes anticipates that the national standards for the
shelf life of thawed and refrigerated human donor milk will be expanded.
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| Scott L. Pomeroy and Inderjit Singh, Scientific Director, DCRI |
By offering the opportunity to combine patient care with research opportunities, the Children's Hospital has become and continues to grow into a
wonderful environment for nurses. Pam Smith, RN, BSN, Nurse Alliance Chair elect, is developing research that addresses issues in the pediatric
emergency arena. Debbie Browning, RN, BSN, presented a study on which she collaborated with Joseph Losek, MD, at the February 16 poster session.
Also presented at the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) conference, the study examined a multidisciplinary
approach to optimizing care in the Children's Emergency Department. "We pulled together a multidisciplinary group of professionals who work in the ED,"
explains Browning. So what are the results of their research? Patient satisfaction increased, and length of stay in the Emergency Room decreased.
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| Guy Leclerc, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor Dept. of Peds HEMOC and Jon Samuvel |
This first annual Children's Research Day at the DCRI brought many of these innovative nurse researchers together and increased their awareness of one
another's work. It illustrated the power of integrating what goes on in the Children's Hospital with research throughout MUSC and that of the Institute.
"The poster session was an opportunity to share findings and stimulate discussion for future research," says Bissinger. "Children's research is vital.
There are so many health care issues and, through our multidisciplinary efforts, we can impact the care and the outcomes for this very vulnerable population."
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| Dr. Maria and John Raymond, VP of Academic Affairs and Provost |
As we strive to create a synergy, we must recognize that the medical advances we benefit from today are the product of yesterday's research, and that
the research we conduct today is the basis for tomorrow's treatments.
Photography courtesy of Barbara E. Maria.
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