| Monday, November 14, 2005: 10:30 AM-11:45 AM | |||
| Multi-Site Research: Testing Protocols for Rural Sample Data Collection | |||
| Learning Objective #1: Identify protocols that ensure the stability of samples to be tested for inflammatory cytokines and indoor air allergens | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify the attributes of using either a laptop computer or a PDA for computerized data collection | |||
| Nearly eight million of the 214 million Americans, who suffer from asthma, are children. To address this problem, the long-range goal of our inter-institutional effort is to improve the respiratory health of children in rural areas through an intervention that may decrease the inflammatory response of the respiratory system through breastfeeding and decreasing the infants’ exposure to environmental triggers such as tobacco smoke, animal dander, and dust mites. The central intent of this study was to develop, test, and validate specimen collection and analysis protocols useful in monitoring clinical biomarkers and aeroallergens that reflect the inflammatory response of the respiratory system of children who are 1-2 years of age. Three aims of this project were to: evaluate a protocol for measuring airway inflammatory cytokines, CRP, and EPX via infant urine samples; evaluate a protocol for measuring indoor air allergens; and test the use of computerized data collection questionnaires. Rural multi-site nursing research poses many tactical problems including: research team separated by long distances, uniformity of data collection, and distance from data collection site to laboratory. To maximize the effectiveness of data collection, efforts must be made to ensure the integrity of biological samples and questionnaire data. The purpose of this symposium is to present results of a multi-site rural research project designed to test protocols for data collection. First, an overview of the project will be provided. Second, results related to infant urine sample collection and transport of samples to be used in the measurement of inflammatory biomarkers will be presented. Information on the protocol used to collect dust samples for analysis of aeroallergens will be explored in the third presentation. In the fourth presentation, the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers for survey data collection will be discussed. | |||
| Organizer: | Mary Beth Flanders Stepans, RN, PhD | ||
| Presenters: | Clarann Weinert, RN, SC, PhD, FAAN T. Kim Rodehorst, RN, PhD Susan Wilhelm, RN, PhD | ||
| Evaluating Protocols for the Measurement of Inflammatory Biomarkers T. Kim Rodehorst, PhD, RN, Derek Smith, PhD | |||
| Evaluating a Protocol to Measure Indoor Air Allergens Mary Beth Flanders Stepans, RN, PhD | |||
| Analysis of Application of Computerized Questionnaires Susan Wilhelm, RN, PhD | |||