This fall, the College of Health Sciences Office of External Funding (OEF) awarded three Developmental Mini-Research Grants to faculty in order to further the faculty\u2019s research projects.<\/p>\n
Lonny Ashworth, MEd, RRT<\/strong> from the Department of Respiratory Care was awarded $5,000 to support development and testing of a Mass Casualty Ventilator prototype in collaboration with Dr. Michelle Sabick and Seth Kuhlman in Boise State University\u2019s mechanical and biomedical engineering department. None of the ventilators currently included in medical stockpiles set aside for emergency circumstances (e.g. pandemic, natural disaster, terrorist attacks) meet all of the pre-defined design specifications to be able to work effectively in environments that are typically found during mass-casualty events. If this works, it would be the only ventilator on the market to meet all of the criteria established\u00a0in the \u201cGuidelines for Acquisition of Ventilators to Meet Demands for Pandemic Flu and Mass Casualty Incidents,\u201d developed by the American Association for Respiratory Care. This OEF grant is being leveraged with other sources of in-kind and monetary support provided by the College of Engineering and the COHS.<\/p>\n Jane Grassley, PhD, RN<\/strong> from the School of Nursing was awarded $4,997.60 for a pilot study to \u201cExplore Enhancing Recruitment and Reducing Attrition of Adolescent Participants in a Research Study.\u201d The aims of the study are to explore the feasibility of recruiting adolescent mothers-to-be through the Canyon County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for a future comprehensive maternity nursing intervention; explore effective strategies for obtaining parental consent; and identify strategies to reduce participant attrition.<\/p>\n