NIH to spotlight UNMC nursing study
UNMC’s Michele Balas, PhD, has been invited to present her clinical research at a national level on Feb. 28. The UNMC College of Nursing associate dean of research and Dorothy Hodges Olson Distinguished Professor of Nursing is a featured speaker for one of the National Institutes of Health’s Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Grand Rounds.
Pragmatic clinical trials address questions of major public health importance and provide proof of concept for innovative pragmatic research designs. Dr. Balas’ 12 p.m. CST presentation is titled “Behavioral Economic and Staffing Strategies to Increase Adoption of the ABCDEF Bundle in the Intensive Care Unit (BEST ICU): Protocol, Challenges, and Major Updates.”
Watch the presentation via Zoom.
In a landmark study for UNMC, Dr. Balas leads the med center’s first multisite, PCORnet® Study to assess strategies on how best to implement these evidence-based practices, known as the ABCDEF Bundle.
“The ABCDEF Bundle is considered the standard of care and should be given to every single patient, every single day in the ICU whether or not they are on the ventilator,” she said in a 2024 UNMC Today story. Her study will help answer how best to get evidence-based research – in this case the effective but underutilized ABCDEF Bundle – more quickly into clinical practice.
Dr. Kang has new book on pseudoscience
Lydia Kang, MD, assistant professor in the UNMC Division of General Internal Medicine, has a new book coming out this month. “Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them,” co-written with Nate Pederson, tackles the subject why people insist on believing in things such as Bigfoot and Mothman.
The authors recently discussed the book on NPR, noting that it takes a lighthearted look at topics such as astrology and aliens, as well as exploring why people like to believe in things that they probably know aren’t true.
But Dr. Kang told the interviewer, “I don’t think it’s appropriate to take a lighthearted tone when it comes to hitting some really seriously horrible situations that are surrounded in pseudoscience.”
Dr. Kang is the New York Times bestselling author of nonfiction works such as “Quackery: The Worst Way to Cure Everything,” also co-written with Pederson, and fiction such as “Opium and Absinthe” and “Cataclysm,” a “Star Wars” novel.
Disclosure form can be completed
UNMC Campus Compliance has been working to resolve issues with the UNMC Annual Disclosure of Financial Interest – COI Smart. Users have reported previous entries missing and new entries not saving and the vendor has reported that these issues have been resolved.
Staff who still have disclosures to make are encouraged to complete the disclosure at their convenience and report any issues or questions via email to Sara Ward, associate director, UNMC Campus Compliance. The compliance office apologizes for the inconvenience and appreciates respondents’ patience and understanding.
Campus food vendor schedule
Food vendors are available on the UNMC Omaha campus on both the east and west sides of campus, serving from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The current schedule is:
East end of campus (Sorrell Center, Alumni Commons area):
- Monday – Taste of Heaven
- Tuesday – Zemogs
- Wednesday – Taste of Heaven
- Thursday – Tikka Talk
- Friday – Pim’s Thai Catering & Take Out
West end of campus (Durham Research Center’s Maurer Commons area):
- Monday – Tikka Talk
- Tuesday – TBD
- Wednesday – Tikka Talk
- Thursday – Pim’s Thai Catering & Take Out
- Friday – TBD
Questions? Email Rick Boldt in the UNMC Office of Business and Finance.