Chlorhexidine and Pneumonia in Nursing Home Residents

这项为期四年的研究生涯奖励的直接目标是进一步发展候选人作为一个以患者为导向的研究人员，重点是口腔健康和全身性疾病。职业发展计划将建立在她作为全科住院医师项目主任的临床经验和她在流行病学方面的研究培训基础上。职业发展计划的长期目标是使候选人成为口腔和全身健康研究的独立研究者，并作为面向患者的初级研究人员的导师。具体培养目标如下：1)掌握临床试验设计与实施的扎实知识基础；2)临床试验和数据分析方法的课程和咨询；3)理解临床试验设计和实施过程中出现的程序、哲学和伦理问题；4)根据本研究的结果和提出的问题，开展一项多地点临床有效性试验，以改善养老院依赖患者的口腔和全身健康，6)将研究成果传播给牙科和其他生物医学领域的研究者。在临床试验高级研究员、结果研究所主任Dan Sessler博士、口腔健康与全身性疾病中心高级研究科学家、主任Denis Kinane博士和口腔健康与全身性疾病中心老年医学医师Christine Ritchie博士的指导下，候选人将从事重点临床研究项目，并将接受临床研究各方面的正式和实践指导。拟议的临床研究需要增加关于口腔健康和全身性疾病在健康差异人群中的作用的知识。候选人的第一手研究培训将包括实施一项随机、安慰剂对照的试点临床试验，研究氯己定口服喷雾剂在减少依赖疗养院患者肺炎方面的效果。拟议研究的结果将作为在奖励结束前设计和提交研究人员发起的研究计划的基础。

The immediate goal of this four-year research career award is to further the candidate's development as a patient-oriented researcher, with a focus on oral health and systemic disease. The career development plan will build on her clinical experience as a General Practice Residency Program director and on her research training in Epidemiology. The long-term goal of the career development plan is to enable the candidate to become an independent investigator in oral and systemic health research and to serve as a mentor for junior patient-oriented researchers. The specific training targets are as follows: 1) Attainment of a solid knowledge base in the design and conduct of clinical trials; 2) coursework and consultation in clinical trial and data analytic methods; 3) understanding of procedural, philosophical, and ethical issues arising in the design and conduct of clinical trials; 4) development, based on results and questions raised by the proposed study, of a multi-site clinical effectiveness trial to improve the oral and systemic health of dependent nursing home patients, and 6) dissemination of research findings to investigators in dentistry and other biomedical fields. Under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Sessler, a senior investigator in clinical trials and Director of the Outcomes Research Institute, Dr. Denis Kinane, a senior research scientist and Director of the Center for Oral Health and Systemic Disease, and Dr. Christine Ritchie, a Geriatric Medicine physician at the Center for Oral Health and Systemic Disease, the candidate will pursue a focused clinical research project and will receive formal and practical instruction in all aspects of clinical investigation. The proposed clinical research is needed to add to the knowledge concerning the role of oral health and systemic disease in a population with health disparities. The candidate's firsthand research training will involve the implementation of a pilot randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial of the effects of chlorhexidine oral spray in reducing pneumonia in dependent nursing home patients. The results of the proposed research will serve as the basis for the design and submission of an investigator-initiated research proposal before the end of the award.