Updates on the Kingwood College respiratory care research class


On April 9, 2000 the National Council of Instructional Administrators awarded Kingwood College their annual award for outstanding educational program in the category of workforce development. This contest was on the national level and there were sixty-six other schools competing for the award with hundreds of educational programs being assessed.

Our college president Dr. Linda Stegall, ed. D., and Professor Katharine Pearson , vice-president of Education Program. & Resources as well as  William R. Scott , respiratory faculty member flew to Washington DC to receive the award, which now resides in our faculty office.

This first project could not have been done without the enthusiastic support of Don Sieverson CRTT, RCP who is the cardiopulmonary department director at  Northeast Medical Center Hospital in Humble Texas. Mr. Sieverson, who is also an active  member of our advisory board,  lent Kingwood College both the use of NEMC's  arterial blood gas lab, as well as the assistance of credentialed therapists so that our students' measurements could be done within federal CLIA regulations.

In the first year of the Respiratory Care program's research class, the students shared a single research project, but in 1999, we broke the class into teams to pursue independent research projects which each team presented at the end of the year.

That year, the research class was altered by the addition of regularly scheduled Round table discussions in which the students reported on the current status of their projects. Instruction in Power Point was included at this time, so that the students' posters would be standardized. Our cosmetology faculty and students were available for makeup prior to the videotaped presentations.

Four teams presented their data in December. A slide show was created and the rest of the campus was invited to the presentations. Some team presentations included Power Point animation and sound tracts.

In 1999, the faculty included a field trip to NASA for the entire class as well as the biology and respiratory faculty members of the team.  NASA Inspection 99 is a three-day display of the various research projects done by NASA. In order to get a better appreciation of the mindset of the research community, our students were able to speak to researchers and NASA scientists one-on-one. They were able to inspect poster presentations in NASA's Life Sciences department that were compatible to their own posters.

In 2000, the lecture series was expanded by the inclusion of the speech faculty, in the person of Professor Dom Bongiorni. This year we also made the trip to NASA a requirement of the course. We continued the roundtable discussions but further augmented them by pacing the students' independent projects with the lectures, so that the students immediately applied the lecture to their teams' projects. We also adopted a text book,  Rose Marie Nieswiadomy's Foundations of Nursing Research. For the first time, the students' abstracts will be added to our web page at the end of the semester.

Our trip to NASA was a success and quite fun for all involved. The first year class and instructors went on November 1, 2000, while the research class attended the event on the second day. Unfortunately, the space lab's hospital mock up was in use for simulations, so we could not climb around inside it. However, we were able to view the equipment used by the medical team in Building 2.  Of particular interest was the mechanical ventilator used in the hospital. It was an extremely tiny ventilator, simple to operate and stripped down to the basics.  An RCP could appreciate the difficulties involved in designing flow meters that did not need gravity to operate.

Other facts of interest included the virtual reality programs for practicing movement on the space station and the special challenges of the exercise treadmills in the space station. When the astronaut runs on the treadmill, the entire structure will rattle. This problem is being assessed by the acoustic lab where we were able to see the largest "amp" in the world---one that is capable of creating vibration and sound at lethal levels. The sound bay we entered was nine stories tall.


In 2001 the respiratory research class will be changed from REPS 2102 to RSPT 2243 Research Applications and the class will expand from two contact hours to three contact hours.


Year 2000 Abstracts are now available. Click here.


In August 2001, Mary Johnson of the Computer Information department of Kingwood College has joined us. She will teach the units on Power Point presentation. This computer technology is used to create the tables and graphics for the students' posters.
Unfortunately, NASA has canceled Inspection '01 so that the facility can concentrate on the International Space Station. We hope next year's class will be able to attend Inspection '01.

The syllabus for RSPT 2243 Research Applications is ready. Click here to see pictures of the 2001 research class in action.

The abstracts for the 2001 research class are available---click here.


Year 2002 has started out with a bang. The class immediately separated into 3 teams.

The topics under study will be:
    1.    the effect of the Vest (tm) running at therapeutic parameters on the slow Vital Capacity of the normal healthy adult
    2.    Titration of liter flow and inspired 02 during quiet breathing and hyperventilation on the BiPap/ST
    3.    The effect of changes in patient position on the return Vt of the BiPap/ST

Unfortunately, NASA will not be having Inspection '02 so that they can concentrate on the international space lab, so the class will have to defer the field trip. Maybe next year?
Margarita Valdes RN will take over the informed consent lecture and Kenny McCowen will step in for medical ethics.


The abstracts for 2002 are now available. Click here.
 
 
 
 

Research class 2003

The class of 2003 is a larger class, with bigger teams, so their projects are more involved.

The topics under study will include:

1.  Fi02 fluctuations on the BiPAP ST/D
2.  Effects of the leg torso ratio on normal inspiratory capacity and Incentive spirometry goals
3.  The effect of the "Vest" on IC measured by Incentive spirometry
4.  the effect of breathing cold dry air on the BiPAP ST/D on the pulmonary functions

The changes in the research class this year are as follows. We streamlined some of the lectures and moved the midterm proposal up a week to allow time for more data collection. We increased the number of staff on the Ethics Committee from 2 to 5 persons. The students must now get 3 out of 5 approvals for their research before proceeding with their work.


Undergraduate researcher gets a measurement from testing subject


 Methodology must be worked out prior to starting data collection



 Working out measurement instruments prior to starting test

The abstracts for 2003 are here:

Research class 2004

The class of 2004 selected the following subjects for study: [1] comparison of the affects of EzPap R and IPPB on the hemodynamics of healthy adults [2] Perceptions of lung health between college students in three different locations in a major metropolitan area [3] comparison PFT before and after ingestion of caffeinated coffee.

 

On November 19, 2004 the class attended a undergraduate poster competition hosted by UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. This event was presented at the Edwin Hornberger Conference Center in the Texas Medical Center. The class was invited to participate in the competition next year and listened to a lecture by Dr. Kendra Woods on the proper format for a poster presentation.

Students use the new computers located in their classroom to work on their projects

Measurement of the baseline blood pressures is done prior to placing the test subject on the EzPap R

Pulmonary function testing for the caffeine study

The abstracts for 2004 are located here.

In August 31, 2005 the new research assignments include:

·         Comparison of the effects of various means of relaxation on VS and perceptions of well being

·         Comparison of the effects of various high frequency chest compression devices on Ve and PetC02

·         Effects of changes in position on the Vt delivered by NIPPV at a given IPAP

·         Effects of EzPap on non-invasive hemodyamics

On September 13, 2005 the Research class will attend a one-day seminar on critical thinking skill at Herman Cullen Center in Houston. Because we are studying the effects of stress and relaxation, members of the psychology department will be acting as resource persons for our students. Instead of inviting the Math faculty to help with the creation of statistics, the students’ Math Club has been invited to help RCP students calculate statistical data November 11.

Team members testing alveolar ventilation and the Vest take a break from data collection to smile for the camera

Some students recruited spouses as test subjects

Prior to inclusion in the study, potential test subjects are given questionnaires or physical exams to rule out medical problems that might prevent them performing the experiment safely

 

Data is collected and recorded by a researcher before the test subject can roll into the next position

Sometimes the researcher must teach his test subject how to breathe on the equipment, before accurate measurements can be made

 

After data collection, the research team must collate the data prior to writing their discussions

 

The abstracts for 2005 are located here.

2006

This year, with the new curriculum, the research course changed to RSPT 2243 Research in Respiratory Care, we added an extra hour and moved the class to the summer [5th] semester.  In a general mood for change, the class assignment this semester is to form a journal club in which each member of the class must present a peer reviewed recent paper in respiratory care or pulmonary medicine on a weekly bases.

The group will discuss the ramifications of the paper and will suggest new topics for research.

At the end of the course, 4 member teams will present a cluster of papers on a single topic. This meta-analysis will be presented as a Powerpoint project.

·         HFO vs. Conventional mechanical ventilation

·         ECMO vs. conventional mechanical ventilation

·         iNO low dose vs. high dose

The meta-analysis for 2006 located here.

 

2007

The course project this year is the creation of a day-long seminar on Emergency Preparedness, with lecturers coming from the healthcare community including respiratory therapists, EMTs, paramedics, hazmat specialists and local governmental officials.  The students created committees that met weekly to plan this seminar which is scheduled for November 20th  2007.

The budget and logistic committee arranged for meals during this event. The program and CEU committees worked with nursing CEU to get Type II nursing CEU in addition to Respiratory Care CEU. The grants committee explored funding and sponsorships.

Link to the committees: G:\respcare\seminar.ppt

Link to the program:  TBA

 

The first annual Kingwood college respiratory care seminar was held on November 20th 2007.  This day-long conference was given in partnership with the Texas Society for Respiratory Care Texas Society for Respiratory Care . With  110 respiratory care practitioners and Kingwood  students attending,  it was a great success for the community and for the college.

 

 

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