Grant to Explore Telemedicine Impact on ICU care

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently awarded its first $50,000 AACN Impact Research Grant to Ruth Kleinpell, Ph.D., RN-CS, FAAN, director, Center for Clinical Research, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, and professor, Rush University College of Nursing.

Kleinpell will explore the impact of telemedicine on ICU nursing care with co-investigators from Sutter Health, Sacramento-Sierra region, Calif.; Baptist Health South Florida, Miami; Resurrection Health Care, Chicago; UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester; and Eastern Maine Medical Center, Portland. They will conduct a two-phase study that includes national benchmarking of a random sample of 350 nurses who work in tele-ICUs to identify the impact of telemedicine on nursing care, including barriers and benefits.

Kleinpell received AACN's 2010 Flame of Excellence Award for sustained regional and national contributions to acute and critical care nursing. A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Washington, D.C.; American College of Critical Care Medicine, Mount Prospect, Ill.; and Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Austin, Texas, she edited "Outcome Assessment in Advanced Practice Nursing," 2nd edition, which earned a 2009 Advanced Practice Nursing Book of the Year award from the American Journal of Nursing.