Acute Care

PI: Corinne Peek-Asa
University of Iowa, College of Public Health
Occupational and Environmental Health

Funding source: NIH/Fogarty

Our University of Iowa training program builds on a successful decade of capacity building for injury and violence research in Romania, where our partnership helped establish the Cluj School of Public Health and its independently-funded injury research unit. Training will be conducted in partnership, demonstrating a successful transition in Romania from trainees to trainers. The aims of our training program are to: train a critical mass of researchers from Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova to conduct innovative research; facilitate the transition of trainees to positions of leadership; develop our partner institutions as sustainable centers of excellence in injury research and education; and, engage partners to translate research into effective prevention and treatment programs.  Based on the needs of our partner countries and expertise of the project leadership, we will focus on three areas: road traffic safety; violence against women and children; and, acute care.

PI: Marizen Ramirez
University of Iowa, College of Public Health
Occupational and Environmental Health

Funding source: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Injuries from car crashes, burns, and falls are the leading cause of hospitalization for children. Children can recover physically, but often have problems dealing with emotional and social effects of their injuries. Symptoms include difficulty sleeping, eating, or concentrating. Many of these reactions are normal and resolve with time. However, some children can develop serious conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Parents who notice these negative reactions often do not know what to do about them.

This project will compare two approaches that parents use in helping children recover emotionally and socially from injuries. One is a program we have developed called Link for Injured Kids, which guides parents on how best to speak with their child after an injury, how to identify signs of distress, and how to obtain more care for their child if needed. The second approach is Trauma Education, an educational booklet given to families as they leave a hospital after a child’s injury. We will identify 300 children ages 10 to 17 who were admitted because of unintentional injury to four Children’s Hospitals –University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, Blank Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and Children’s Mercy Hospital- Kansas City. Six weeks, three months, and six months after a child’s hospitalization, we will collect information from the parents and children about school attendance and performance, children’s emotional health and quality of life, and overall family relationships (especially regarding support and communication). Our goal is to give health care professionals evidence-based tools to help parents promote their children’s full emotional recovery from injury.

PI: Corinne Peek-Asa
University of Iowa, College of Public Health
Occupational and Environmental Health

Funding source: NIH/Fogarty

The burden of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) disproportionately affects low and middle income countries (LMIC), in which TBI prevalence is high and patients are twice as likely to die from their TBI as those in high income countries. LMICs in Eastern European and Central Asia are characterized by growing economies but relatively poor health infrastructures. The Injury Prevention Research Center and Babes-Bolyai University’s Center for Health Policy and Public Health located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania are collaborating to increase research capacity in three LMICs located in Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova: three countries strategically located between Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. The specific aims are to: 1) identify and describe current TBI data collection practices; 2) develop a comparable TBI registry system; and 3) to conduct comparative analyses of TBI data. The project will be implemented in a number of phases, each of which integrates participatory practices.