Present and discuss a topic that you are interested in researching for this course.

Explain why this

topic interests you. Provide a brief background of the topic and speculate on arguments you
could pose or problems you could solve. Additionally, draft a potential problem statement. Pose
ideas and solicit feedback from your peers on your ideas.
Hello professor Brodie and fellow classmates.
Choice of Topic and Why: Topic: An Incidence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) in
Neonatal Population. I work in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I choose this topic because
recently we had three incidences of NEC in one day; where one infant was born at 32 weeks of
gestation age who lost 95% of his bowel, second infant was born at 28 weeks of age who ended
up dying, and the third infant was born at term, but suffered from various long-term
complications of NEC. This was very emotional and unforgettable experience for me to
encounter in my entire NICU career which influenced me to choose this topic.
Background: “The premature infant has immature lungs and immature intestines.
Therefore, any decrease in oxygen delivery to the intestines, because the lungs cannot oxygenate
the blood adequately, will damage the lining of the intestinal wall” (“Necrotizing Enterocolitis,”
2018, para. 2). This indicates that NEC is extremely life-threatening disease process that affects
the intestine due to bacterial invasion on hypoxic area of the intestine. Such invasion causes an
intestinal infection and inflammation. This can lead to necrosis of the intestine which can result
in perforation of the bowel and can cause death of the infant. NEC affects roughly 10% of
premature infants but can also affects term infant. (“Necrotizing Enterocolitis,” 2018, para. 2)
Problem Statement: “The economic cost of NEC is high, accounting for approximately
19% of neonatal expenditures and an estimated $5 billion per year for hospitalizations in the
United States alone” (Gephart, Mcgrath, Effken, & Halpern, 2012, para. 2). This indicates that
medical management of NEC is costly and can eventually contribute to the increase cost of
healthcare. NEC accounts for nearly 20% of NICU cost annually due to required invasive
medical interventions like surgeries and increase length of stay in NICU. It is also associated
with increase rate of mortality and morbidity. (Gephart, Mcgrath, Effken, & Halpern, 2012)
Although prematurity and formula feeding is a well-known factor for NEC in neonatal
population, bringing awareness of other risk factors and adopting practices that can help to
decrease the risk of NEC should be prioritize.
Finally, further research will be focus on identifying other risk factors of NEC and
relevant practices that will aid in decrease incidences of NEC in neonatal population.

References:
Necrotizing Enterocolitis. (2018, October 16). Retrieved from https://www.chla.org/necrotizing-
enterocolitis
Gephart, S. M., Mcgrath, J. M., Effken, J. A., & Halpern, M. D. (2012). Necrotizing
Enterocolitis Risk. Advances in Neonatal Care, 12(2), 77-87.
doi:10.1097/anc.0b013e31824cee94
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357630/
https://www.chla.org/necrotizing-enterocolitis
http://samples.jbpub.com/9781449695071/81968_CH05_121_146.pdf

DB 1 week 1 Peer Response 1:

Danay Ortega,

Hello Danay,
I like your choice of topic. I have my parents and my mother in-law who resides with me
and I see them suffering everyday with chronic pain. Management of chronic pain can be very
challenging. I have not explored Implantable Intrathecal Pump and Spinal Cord Stimulator
options for any of my parent yet. I would like to see what your research findings suggest about
these two options. There are more than 100 million people suffer from chronic arthritis, back,
and musculoskeletal pain which costs the US businesses more than $61 billion per year due to
loss of productivity. (“Chronic Pain: Study of Complementary and Alternative Treatments,”
2015) You are right when you mentioned that there are numerous treatment options that are
available to manage chronic pain. I always like to address the underlying cause of pain and
explore minimally invasive treatment options prior to choosing invasive options. For example, it
is hard to manage neuropathic pain for diabetic patients. I think controlling diabetes should be a
priority to prevent further nerve damage instead of focusing solely on symptoms management of
neuropathic pain. I agree with professor Brodie’s suggestion that exploring treatment option like
complementary alternative therapies would be good to add in the research. Just for an example,
maybe you can pick a chronic disease process and explore how non-pharmacological treatment
options and pharmacologic treatment option work.
Reference: 18444
Chronic Pain: Study of Complementary and Alternative Treatments. (2015, April 15). Retrieved
from https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/complementary/chronic-pain-study-
complementary-alternative-treatments

DB 1 week 1 Peer Response 2:

Sonia Molina
Hello Sonia,
You have selected a very good topic of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) for your
research. The issue of HAI has always fascinated me. I work in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Addressing issue of HAI for babies is extremely important for us to keep our precious babies free
from infections as much as possible; especially as we know premature and newborn babies do
not have immunity to fight off infection. Thus, it can be very challenging for them to fight off the
exposure to pathogens. (“Infection and the Immune System of a Premature Baby,” n.d.) The
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) classifies HAI as one of the conditions that
could have been reasonably prevented through the application of evidence-based guidelines.
CMMS requires each hospital to report such situations and clarifies that the additional cost of
hospitalization will not be reimbursed to the hospitals. (“Hospital-Acquired Conditions,” 2018)
You have provided a good statistic that helps to understand how easily HAI can increase
suffering for patients and also drive up the healthcare cost. You also have a good idea about how
to provide surveillance to assess the improvement in performance to decrease HAI rate.
I was wondering, for the research purpose, if you would be choosing a specific type of
HAI situation and conducting a research on relevant surveillance methods?
Reference:
Infection and the Immune System of a Premature Baby. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article?contentid=1778&language=English
Hospital-Acquired Conditions. (2018, August 30). Retrieved from
https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/HospitalAcqCond/Hospital-
Acquired_Conditions.html