VCU School of Nursing faculty to present cutting-edge research at national conference

By Sathya Achia Abraham

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 15, 2004) – Four Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing faculty members have been invited to present their research in maternal-child health and adult health at the National Congress on the State of the Science in Nursing Research in Washington, D.C.

The biennial conference, held this year Oct. 7-9, offers an opportunity for nurse researchers, nursing organizations, experts and academic leaders from around the United States to network and to explore advances in nursing-related science.

“Presenting at the National Congress is significant for VCU’s School of Nursing because it signals to the national nursing community that research being conducted by our nursing faculty is indeed viewed as state-of-the-science,” said Nancy F. Langston, Ph.D., RN, dean of the VCU School of Nursing. “This type of visibility for the School of Nursing increases the potential for VCU to attract additional faculty who have programs of research that fit with the type of work that we are undertaking here.”

VCU faculty presenting research papers include:

Mary Jo Grap, Ph.D., RN, ACNP, professor in the department of adult health, will present pilot work examining the effect of backrest position on the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Previous studies have shown that patients who are mechanically ventilated have a greater risk of developing pneumonia than those who are not mechanically ventilated. Grap observed 66 patients for up to seven days and monitored each patient’s backrest elevation. The initial findings suggest that the first 24 hours are critical in terms of keeping a patient’s backrest position elevated.

Grap’s future research will examine issues related to patient comfort and nursing care issues associated with elevated backrest. Grap has been with VCU for 20 years.

Cindy Munro, Ph.D., RN, ANP, professor in the department of adult health, will present initial findings of a study investigating oral-care intervention in mechanically ventilated adults. Sixty-six mechanically ventilated patients were examined over seven days for the presence of dental plaque. Patients in critical care usually carry more disease-producing organisms in their mouths, which can predispose them to pneumonia more so than their healthy counterparts, Munroe said. She has used these findings as the basis of a five-year intervention study currently under way in which four groups of patients are being given different care techniques. The patients in group one are receiving regular care. Those in group two are having their teeth brushed daily. Those patients in the third group are being given an antibacterial mouthwash, chlorhexidine, to reduce plaque, and group four members are having their teeth brushed and are receiving chlorhexidine. Her goal is to find the most ideal intervention for these patients.

Munro is the recipient of the 2003 VCU School of Nursing Senior Investigator Research Award. She has been with VCU since 1992.

Rita Pickler, Ph.D., RN, PNP, professor and chair of the department of maternal-child nursing, will present the initial findings from her research on bottle-feeding readiness in preterm infants. Pickler examined feeding outcomes in preterm infants, including feeding efficiency, feeding behavior and physiological signs. The goals of her research are to better understand factors that influence a preterm infant’s ability to feed and to improve short-and-long-term developmental outcomes in preterm infants. Pickler has studied the mechanisms of bottle feeding since the early 1990s. She joined VCU in 1991. 

Gayle M. Roux, Ph.D., RN, CNS, NP-C, assistant professor in maternal-child nursing, has devised an instrument known as the Inner Strength Questionnaire to evaluate changes in the health status of women living with chronic health conditions. The ISQ will provide the research community with a scientific mechanism to measure and to examine if a woman has actually enhanced her inner strength based on her score, which could be low, medium or high. A high ISQ score indicates that the patient has a higher degree of well-being. The ISQ takes about 10 minutes to complete, and has 27 questions based on quality of life. Roux also tested the instrument for ease of use and it can be implemented at any stage of a patient’s treatment. Roux is the recipient of a research-mentoring award — the NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Scholar for 2001-2005 from the VCU Institute of Women’s Health.

“The prominence of our researchers in this conference is simply another measure of the influence that the School of Nursing has on the development of knowledge that is responsive to the national agenda for the nation’s health — and specifically the priorities that have been established by the National Institute of Nursing Research at National Institutes of Health. This is another type of validation of the prominence of the school,” said Langston.

The VCU School of Nursing ranks 25th in the United States in National Institutes of Health funding to nursing schools.

The National Congress on the State of the Science in Nursing Research is sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science and the National Institute of Nursing Research.