The National Institute of Nursing Research has awarded the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing a five-year, $1 million grant to create and fund a Healthy Heart Center. The center expands research at the college through five pilot studies focused on promoting health in Nebraskans living in rural areas with, or at risk, for heart disease.
The funding also enables faculty to build successful research programs that later can help them secure major funding.
“This center is vital to developing research that improves the cardiovascular health of those living in rural Nebraska,” said Carol Pullen, Ed.D., principal investigator of the grant and professor, UNMC College of Nursing. “With heart disease the number one killer, we need to develop new ways to reduce the death and effect on quality of life that it causes.
“Nebraskans in rural areas are at higher risk for heart disease and engage in fewer things that promote healthy lifestyles such as exercise and other health promotion activities,” she said. “We need better interventions to help engage them in lifestyle behaviors that have an impact on improving cardiovascular health.”
Dr. Pullen said overall the five studies will involve about 240 study participants. They will focus on:
• health outcomes in spouses who are caregivers of older adult coronary artery bypass surgery patients;
• weight loss in cardiac rehabilitation patients;
• physical activity after coronary procedures;
• breath retraining in heart failure patients, and weight maintenance for rural women who have lost weight.
One of the major strengths of the center, she said, is its focus on reducing rural health disparities by using technology to overcome distance barriers. Communication tools will include computers and cell phones. Some studies will use podcasts and blogs to deliver study interventions to rural study participants.
“The College of Nursing has decades of experience in using technology to extend clinical and educational programs to those in rural areas,” Dr. Pullen said. “We also are collaborating with faculty from other health disciplines, including the UNMC College of Medicine and College of Public Health.”
As the state’s only academic health science center, UNMC is on the leading edge of health care. Breakthroughs are possible because hard-working researchers, educators and clinicians are resolved to work together to fuel discovery. In 2009, UNMC’s extramural research support topped $100 million for the first time, resulting in the creation of 3,600 jobs in Nebraska. UNMC’s academic excellence is shown through its award-winning programs, and its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading health care centers. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 550 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
-30-