In the VCU School of Nursing, quality of life is getting a quantitative nod from research, and along the way some of life’s most vulnerable members are reaping substantial benefits.

Inside both the Department of Maternal Child Health and the Center for Biobehavioral Clinical Research, investigators have access to some of the most innovative equipment available. That’s due in large part to HEETF funding, which has helped pay for items such as an electrical signal conditioning unit, new critical care pulse oximeters, a multiplex bead array system and a scintillation counter.

Though the names might not roll off the tongue, the benefits to research and the people it ultimately helps are invaluable.

A cancer patient might not be able to explain how the Bio-Plex system measures numerous cytokines at once, allowing investigators to more quickly study how these small proteins (which serve as signaling and regulating molecules for cells inside the immune system) are affecting his own immune system. But when he recovers more quickly from a cold or has fewer side effects from chemotherapy, it’s earned his favor.

“If we can reduce the psychological and emotional stress, we may be able to boost the immune system,” says professor Nancy McCain, R.N., DSN, FAAN, director of the Center for Biobehavioral Clinical Research. “For those who have chronic or critical diseases, even small improvements can add significant quality to life.”

McCain points to the Bio-Plex system as a representative HEETF-funded instrument because it’s proving advantageous in so many ways. In addition to expediting and sharpening research, it’s one of several HEETF pieces that combine for a state-of-the-art core lab accessible to other researchers as common-use equipment.

“Two or three years ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed of this lab,” says McCain, adding that with each piece of equipment, VCU’s School of Nursing offers students better opportunities and attracts strong faculty. “All of that, in turn, strengthens our reputation and reinforces the grants process.”

Much like the cancer patient, the mother of a preterm infant who’s finally enjoying motherhood instead of agonizing that her child isn’t gaining weight, knows the importance of the electrical signal conditioning unit without understanding even what it is, much less how it works.

Professor Rita Pickler, R.N., Ph.D., PNP, chair of the maternal child health department, has been researching feeding behaviors in preterm infants since the early 1990s. Currently the principal investigator on a five-year, $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant studying “feeding readiness” in preterms, Pickler underscores the importance of HEETF equipment in the ongoing research.

“The equipment has allowed us to build on our research over the years,” she says, adding that investigators are still getting strong information from equipment that’s been in use since early studies. “We have equipment that’s provided data from thousands of feedings, now. If we can get more use out of it, we do.”

This reuse aspect is often cited in reviews and applications for additional funding and renewals, she says.

The electrical signal conditioning unit, for example, helps capture data electronically that was once hand-counted and recorded, Pickler says, explaining that though full-term newborns are able to coordinate the suck-swallow-breathe combination that’s necessary to successfully feed, preterms often have difficulty. Tools like the electrical signal conditioning unit and the coordinating plethysmograph allow investigators to study with more efficiency and precision how the skill matures.

“The only language that’s accessible to us is their behavior, which includes their physiologic responses,” she says. “The better we can gauge those, the more accurately we can measure, the better we understand what they’re telling us.