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GSN students and faculty receive top honors for anesthesia research

Competing against their civilian counterparts from all over the United States, nurse anesthesia students from USU's Graduate School of Nursing took several top honors during the 76th annual meeting of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesias on August 9.

Army students MAJ Laura Gallaway, MAJ Robert Morris, MAJ Joseph Romeo, CPT Corey Jones, and CPT Gregory Phillips, along with GSN faculty members Navy CDR John Maye, Army LTC Danette Cruthirds, and Navy CAPT Mark Larsen, were selected for their poster " Quantification of Regenerative Skeletal Muscle Components in a Malignant Hypothermia Susceptible Porcine Model: a Possible Link to Prolonged Muscle Weakness."

In addition, researchers from the former Navy Nurse Corps Anesthesia Program, which recently merged into USU's program, were chosen for their work, "Patient Controlled Epidural Anesthesia Versus Patient Controlled Anesthesia, Plus Continuous Lumbar Epidural Anesthesia in Laboring Women."

The presenters included Navy LT Shane Lawson, LCDR Allecia Webster, CDR Gregory Nezat, and retired CAPT Joseph Pellegrini.

Both groups were among only eight out of 40 submissions for the AANA Foundation's "State of the Science" competition selected for presentation. Five of the eight presentations chosen were from military programs, with USU's two groups among the five.
The USU CRNA students also took first place in two out of three categories — clinical, scientific and leadership — for the poster presentations. Air Force Capts. Amanda Siango, Clinton Hartman, Danny Sandefur, James Spencer Jr., and Air Force LTC Christopher Dyer, CAPT Larsen and LTC Cruthirds won top honors in the Scientific category for their poster, " Effect of Immobilization Stress and Hormonal Treatment on Nociception."

The second poster, "An Analysis of Selection Criteria for Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Nurse Anesthesia Program," took first place in the Leadership category and was authored by Public Health Service LCDRs Shane Parks and Kristal Dye, and USU GSN faculty member Air Force LTC Kevin Bohan.

Gallaway, Morris, Romeo, Jones and Phillips received additional honors as the recipients of one of only five AANA " Program Administrator Outstanding Student Research Awards" for their presented work. COL Bruce Schoneboom, GSN associate dean for Academic Affairs, and retired-Air Force Lt. Col. Adrienne Hartgerink, director for USU's CRNA program, made the presentations on behalf of the AANA during the conference's Army breakout session.