Media

OTTAWA, February 10, 2011  —  The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), the CHEO Research Institute and the School of Nursing of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences are proud to announce the appointment of Professor Denise Margaret Harrison as the first CHEO Research Chair in Nursing Care of Children, Youth and Their Families.

An endowed chair of nursing care finds new approaches to patient care through innovative research and education. Denise Harrison, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences, is a world-class researcher in the field of pediatric pain whose work has resulted in the development of a number of clinical practice guidelines used around the world for the treatment of pain in hospitalized infants.

“Nurses ask different questions, given their clinical role. I see my job as helping support the search for these answers and, ultimately, helping improve care,” says Professor Harrison. “I remember inserting an IV drip in a very sick baby more than 10 years ago. The baby became very distressed, and I asked myself, ‘How can we do this better?’ From that day forward, I was committed to finding answers to this and many other questions posed by nurses. I look forward to bringing that passion to CHEO, where there is already strong research and a commitment to quality care.”

In her new position, Professor Harrison will further build on her nursing research, work on better enabling the translation of research into clinical practice and integrate research into her teaching at the School of Nursing, which will, among other things, provide research opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. She also plans to continue working with community research partners to find answers to their questions.

“We are thrilled to have Denise Margaret Harrison as our first Nursing Research Chair. Her work is a great example of how nursing health research improves patient management at the bedside, thus directly improving the quality and effectiveness of care of our youngest patients,” says Dr. Martin Osmond, CEO of the CHEO Research Institute. “Her work will lead to new treatment plans in pediatric care and to stellar research collaborations locally and nationally.”

“We are very proud to see the expertise and passion for pediatric care of our colleague Denise Harrison put forward in this very particular field of nursing. Her work will enhance the knowledge base for nursing of children and families and provide excellent teaching resources for our undergraduate and graduate students,” concludes Betty Cragg, director of the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

Professor Harrison hails from Australia and received her PhD in nursing from the University of Melbourne in 2007, after working as a nurse for close to 25 years. She is a co-investigator leading work under a grant through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Knowledge Synthesis funding opportunities aimed at reviewing the use of sweet solutions for relief of acute pain in infants. The aim of this project is to synthesize and translate knowledge about the analgesic effects of sweet-tasting solutions in infants, with the goal of reducing pain in infants who require painful procedures.

About the CHEO Research Institute: Established in 1984, the CHEO Research Institute coordinates the research activities of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and is one of the institutes associated with the University of Ottawa’s teaching hospitals. The Research Institute brings together health professionals from within CHEO to share their efforts in solving pediatric health problems. It also promotes collaborative research outside the hospital with partners from the immediate community, industry and the international scientific world.

About CHEO: The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario is a pediatric health and research centre providing outstanding family-centred patient care, pioneering breakthrough research and training the health care professionals of tomorrow. Built in 1974, CHEO provides a full spectrum of pediatric services in a family-centred model of care to children and youth from Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

About the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences: Founded in 1933 as the first professional school at the University of Ottawa, the School of Nursing prepares nurses at the bachelor, master’s and PhD levels. The School’s professors are at the forefront of nursing research in Canada and receive major funding from federal and provincial governments, foundations and donors. Professor Harrison, the first CHEO chair, joins three other chair recipients at the School.