CIRAR - Federally Funded Projects

CIRAR-affiliated Projects Funded in 2009

NEW: Grant # RC1 MD004109
Title: Appropriate Care of URI in Children of Latino Immigrants: The ACURI Project
PI: Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

The major goals of this project are to evaluate the impact of a tailored intervention, the ACURI project, on A) health literacy levels regarding upper respiratory infections (URI) specifically focusing on predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors and B) pediatric emergency department visits for viral URI, among Latino households in Early Head Start/Head Start as well as to perform a cost effective analysis of the URI health literacy intervention.

Grant # R01 AI082536
Title: Risk Factors for Spread of Staphylococcus Aureus in Prisons
Co-PIs: Franklin D. Lowy, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Division of Infectious Diseases, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing

The dramatic rise in community-based S. aureus infections, many due to methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), has become an important public health problem. This proposal will focus on prisoners, a high-risk group that has received limited attention. The long term goal of this project is to develop strategies that will prevent and control transmission of S. aureus within the prison system as well as in similar crowded environments.

Improving Health Literacy Regarding URI in Families in Home Visitation Programs
Co-PIs:

Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Marina Catallozzi, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

The major goal of this pilot project is to evaluate an educational intervention regarding upper respiratory infections in families in a home visitation program.

Grant # R13 HS018099
Title: CMS Changes in Reimbursement for HAIs: Setting a Research Agenda
PI: Patricia W. Stone, RN, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing
Co-PIs: Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research; Sherry Glied, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management; Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics

The purpose of this conference, which took place on April 24, 2009 at the New York Academy of Sciences, was to develop a research agenda to assess the impact of the recent changes in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement policies for hospital associated infections (HAI), which are a large portion of hospital acquired conditions (HAC), and have significant impact on the health of the public. Convening a group of national experts to discuss the issues and articulate a research agenda to evaluate the policy change is a first step in gaining knowledge regarding its impact.

CIRAR-affiliated Projects Funded in 2008

Improving Appropriate Use of Antibiotics for URI in Children of Recently Immigrated Latinos
Co-PIs:

Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Marina Catallozzi, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

The long term goal of this project is to develop and test an intervention to decrease inappropriate antibiotic use for URI in children among recently immigrated Latino community members, based on the CDC action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Thrasher Research Fund--New Researcher Award
Title: Persistence of Antibiotic Resistance Organisms in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Neonates: A Pilot Study
PI: Sameer J. Patel, MD, Clinical Fellow, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Columbia University Medical Center
Mentor: Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University

The goal of this study is describe the rate of persistence of gastrointestinal antibiotic resistant organism (ARO) carriage in infants known to be colonized at discharge from the NICU to the community; determine risk factors for long term colonization (≥ 3 months); and to determine if AROs are transmitted between infants and mothers.

Grant # R01 NR010821
Title: Improving Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
PI: Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University

The long-term objectives of this clinical trial are to reduce antimicrobial resistance by implementing innovative interdisciplinary interventions aimed to improve antibiotic prescribing practices in the neonatal intensive care unit and thereby define the optimal interventions for this population.

Grant # TS-1431 (5 U50 CD3000-860-21)
Title: Impact of Automated Surveillance on MRSA Isolation
Co-PIs: Maryam Behta, PharmD, Director, Quality Research and Technology Utilization, Department of Information Services, NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare Medical Centers, and Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Despite the fact that CDC publishes recommendations to prevent transmission of multiply-drug resistant organisms, the extent to which these are actually practiced is unclear. This project will test the impact of an automated surveillance system on the monitoring of and compliance with isolation precautions to prevent the spread of a major healthcare-associated pathogen, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

CIRAR-affiliated Projects Funded in 2007

Grant # R01 CI000537, Applied Research in Antimicrobial Resistance: Studies of Susceptibility Testing on Gram-negative Multidrug Resistant Organisms
PI: Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University

The goals of this project are to: 1) determine strategies to improve the treatment of patients infected with MDR-GNB and thus improve clinical and microbiological outcomes of such infections, (2) assess which laboratory algorithms for in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing most closely correlate with improved outcomes for MDR-GNB infections, and (3) evaluate how healthcare professionals actually use in vitro susceptibility data to choose and modify treatment regimens for MDR-GNB infections.

Grant # T90 NR010824
Title: Training in Interdisciplinary Research to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance (TIRAR)
Program Co-Directors: Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Richard Kessin, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University

This training grant prepares pre- and post-doctoral scholars for participation and leadership in interdisciplinary research to reduce antimicrobial resistance by creating an interdisciplinary research curriculum; developing CIRAR pre- and postdoctoral training programs; implementing a faculty training program in interdisciplinary research; and developing and maintaining programmatic self-evaluation and revision mechanisms.

Grant # R01 NR010822
Title: Distribution of the Costs of Antimicrobial Resistant Infections
PI: Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic and Pharmaceutical Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

The project will develop estimates of the distribution of the extra costs associated with antimicrobial resistance and assess how policies that change incentives could spur adoption of effective interventions.

Grant # R21 NR010823
Title: Electronic Communication for Antimicrobial Management (ECAM)
PI: Leanne Currie, RN, DNSc, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing

The goal of this study is to improve the appropriate and judicious use of antibiotics in the neonatal intensive care unit by developing and testing an automated method to remind clinicians to stop or change inappropriate antibiotics.

Grant # R01 NR010107 Prevention of Nosocomial Infections and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (P-NICE)
PI: Patricia W. Stone, RN, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing

The aims of this study are to: 1) describe the level of infection control staffing and intensity of infection prevention and control interventions currently in place in intensive care units (ICU) across the nation; 2) determine associations between current infection control staffing and intensity of infection prevention and control interventions, and probability healthcare-associated infections and short term survival in elderly ICU patients; 3) estimate the long term outcomes attributable to healthcare-associated infections in elderly patients; and 4) determine the cost-effectiveness of effective infection control staffing and infection prevention and control interventions in ICU.

Visit the P-NICE Web Site

FUNDED PROJECTS