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NPHF/Purdue Pharma L.P. Pain Management Award

Five awards of $5000 each were given to practicing nurse practitioners and graduate nurse practitioner students whose research or educational projects are related to pain management. Priority was given to projects that target pain relief while avoiding misuse/abuse/diversion. Supported through an educational grant from Purdue Pharma L.P.

This award is no longer being offered until we find new funding to support it.

Past Winners

Jessica Cooper, BSN, MSN, CPNP, APRN — is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who practices at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center general surgery department in Hartford, Connecticut. The NPHF/Purdue Pharma L.P. “Pain Management Award” will support Ms. Cooper’s research into the pain experience of children after discharge following a laparoscopic appendectomy. Her research will concentrate on home opioid use to arrive at a protocol for prescribers to make informed opioid analgesic prescribing decisions to provide pain relief while preventing drug diversion.

Lorena Jaimes, RN, BSN, DNP(c) — is pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Acute Care at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. She works as a Registered Nurse in the Inpatient Spinal Cord Injury Unit at the Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Seattle, Washington and is a teaching assistant in the nursing skills lab at the University of Washington. This award will provide funding for Ms. Jaimes’ research into the knowledge of rehabilitation nurses regarding pain management for combat-related traumatic brain injuries in order to identify gaps in knowledge, propose recommendations and modifications for existing protocols, and improve care.

Rita Marie John, DNP, EdD, CPNP — is an Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing and the PNP/NNP Program Director at Columbia University in New York, New York. Dr. John is a member of the Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy, which recognizes outstanding educators, and she has received numerous other awards and honors as a teacher. This award will fund research to evaluate the effectiveness of two different buzzers in reducing immunization pain in adolescents between the ages of 10-18. Her other research interests include informatics, innovative nursing education methods, and childhood obesity.

Denay Mershman, RN, BSN, BA — is pursuing her Masters degree in the Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Ms. Mershman practices as a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department of Children’s Hospital of Michigan. The NPHF/Purdue Pharma L.P. “Pain Management” Award will support research concerning the efficacy of needle free jet injections of lidocaine for pediatric acute pain control during venous punctures. Ms. Mershman hopes to determine if there is a correlation between acute pain control and overall parent/caregiver satisfaction with their children’s stay in the Emergency Department.

Michael Wolf, CRNA, APNP — is pursuing his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mr. Wolf is a certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. He is the Vice President/Administrator and Senior Partner of Central Wisconsin Anesthesia Associates and Clinical Coordinator/Adjunct Faculty for the U.S. Army Program for Nursing Anesthesia and York University Nurse Anesthesia. In 2010, Mr. Wolf was recognized as the 2010 Clinical Instructor of the Year by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. This award will provide funding for the design of a program of study for both Nurse Anesthesia Programs and currently practicing CRNAs, which will provide training in palliative care and pain control for dying patients.