Keeping early-warning systems working in low-resource hospitals to protect children with cancer
Official title: Sustainability determinants of an intervention to identify clinical deterioration and improve childhood cancer survival in low-resource hospitals
Funded at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · NIH-11372794 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project finds ways hospitals in low-resource settings can keep using an early-warning system that spots when children with cancer are getting worse so more kids survive.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R37 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | St. Jude Children's Research Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Memphis, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2023 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $665,701 |
| NIH project number | 5R37CA276215-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11372794 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children with cancer who are cared for at participating low-resource hospitals (largely in Latin America and similar settings) are the ideal population for this work.
✕Less likely to help
Children treated in hospitals that do not implement PEWS or in high-resource centers where PEWS is already fully sustained may not directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If my child is treated at a participating hospital, the team will follow 92 low-resource hospitals over time as they adopt and try to keep using a Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) that flags clinical deterioration. They will survey about 13 clinical staff at each center five to nine times across adoption, implementation, and sustainment phases to measure the hospital's capacity to keep the program running. The researchers will link these capacity measures to whether PEWS is sustained and to deaths from clinical deterioration among children with cancer. This work builds on a St. Jude–Wash U collaborative and the Proyecto EVAT network to learn practical steps hospitals can take to maintain PEWS.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, hospitals will more reliably use PEWS so worsening illness is caught earlier and fewer children with cancer die from preventable deterioration.
How similar studies have gone: PEWS has shown benefit in prior studies for detecting deterioration and improving outcomes, but long-term sustainment in low-resource hospitals is less well tested.
Where this research is happening
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St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Memphis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Agulnik, Asya — St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Study coordinator: Agulnik, Asya
Related research
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Sustainability of pediatric early warning systems to protect children with cancer in low-resource hospitals
Aimed at keeping children with cancer safer in low-resource hospitals by studying how a simple warning and action system (PEWS) is being adopted and kept going across multiple hospitals.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.