For the second consecutive year, a student in the nurse anesthesia master’s program at FGCU has won national recognition.
Radhika Patel of Atlanta won first place among 95 entrants from across the country for the best evidence-based practice research poster at the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists’ (AANA) Annual Congress this fall in Salt Lake City. Seven other FGCU students presented posters in the competition, which included students and professionals from high-profile research institutions such as Columbia University, the Mayo Clinic and Duke University.
“It was an amazing experience representing FGCU at the national conference,” says Patel, who will complete her master’s in May. “That moment we found out we won was truly special.”
Rosann M. Spiegel, Assistant Professor and Program Director of the MSN Nurse Anesthesia Program, expressed pride in Patel and in all of FGCU’s nurse anesthesia students.
“Winning first place two years in a row has brought national recognition to FGCU and the School of Nursing, and presenting posters at the AANA Annual Congress has been a wonderful opportunity for our students to make a meaningful contribution to the practice of anesthesia,” she says.
Patel’s poster was part of her master’s capstone project, for which she researched the role of tranexamic acid in trauma surgical patients. The drug is used to treat or prevent excessive blood loss.
“From my literature review, I found that tranexamic acid significantly reduces mortality and blood transfusion requirements in adult trauma patients,” Patel says. “Tranexamic acid is not only a safer alternative to blood transfusions but is also more cost effective. I’m recommending that practitioners such as nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists use tranexamic acid in trauma patients presenting for surgery.”
Currently, blood transfusions remain the sole treatment for bleeding in trauma patients and during emergency surgeries, according to Patel. Although the safety of transfusions has improved with the screening of donated blood for infections, the procedure still presents risks. It’s linked to increased mortality, longer hospital stays, infections, sepsis and multi-organ system dysfunction, Patel says. Furthermore, the transfusion of one unit of packed red blood cells costs $700-$1,200.
Tranexamic acid, on the other hand, has been included on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines — drugs that can save the most lives at the lowest cost.
Trauma is the sixth leading cause of death in all age groups and the first leading cause of death in individuals younger than 35 worldwide, according to “Epidemiology of Severe Trauma,” published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Hemorrhaging during the first few hours of injury accounts for 80 percent of all trauma deaths.
“The widespread use of tranexamic acid is predicted to save 70,000 to 100,000 lives per year around the world,” says Patel, who earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
- Learn more about FGCU’s School of Nursing and its Nurse Anesthesia Program