Chlorhexidine and Pneumonia in Nursing Home Residents

这一为期四年的研究职业生涯奖的直接目标是促进候选人作为一名以患者为导向的研究人员的发展，重点是口腔健康和系统性疾病。职业发展计划将建立在她作为全科住院医师计划主任的临床经验和她在流行病学方面的研究培训的基础上。职业发展计划的长期目标是使应聘者能够成为口腔和全身健康研究的独立调查员，并担任以患者为导向的初级研究人员的导师。具体的培训目标如下：1)在临床试验的设计和实施方面获得坚实的知识基础；2)临床试验和数据分析方法的课程工作和咨询；3)对临床试验设计和实施中出现的程序、哲学和伦理问题的理解；4)根据拟议研究提出的结果和问题，开发多地点临床有效性试验，以改善依赖疗养院患者的口腔和系统健康；以及6)向牙科和其他生物医学领域的研究人员传播研究结果。在临床试验高级研究员兼结果研究所主任Dan Sessler博士、高级研究科学家兼口腔健康和系统疾病中心主任Denis Kinane博士和口腔健康和系统疾病中心老年内科医生Christine Ritchie博士的指导下，候选人将进行重点临床研究项目，并将在临床研究的所有方面接受正式和实用的指导。拟议的临床研究需要增加关于口腔健康和系统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试验性随机、安慰剂对照临床试验，以了解洗必泰口腔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设计和在颁奖结束前提交由调查员发起的研究提案的基础。

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.