Sustainability of pediatric early warning systems to protect children with cancer in low-resource hospitals
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-11540216 · Data updated 2026-11-12
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.
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) | $117,640 |
| NIH project number | 3R37CA276215-04S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11540216 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Hospitals and healthcare teams caring for hospitalized children with cancer in low-resource settings.
✕Less likely to help
Individual patients may not directly participate; hospitals and staff are the primary subjects of this research.
What this research studies
This project follows an existing program to improve outcomes for children with cancer in settings with limited resources. It will look at how hospitals have adopted a pediatric early warning system, including a scoring tool and action steps, and what helps or hinders its long-term use. Researchers will collect information from hospitals using a cross-sectional survey with both fixed options and open-ended questions to understand real-world implementation and sustainability. The findings will highlight practical, low-burden strategies to spread and maintain PEWS beyond initial collaborators. The work builds on prior funding and dissemination efforts at St. Jude and partner sites to identify scalable approaches for sustaining improvements in patient care.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could reveal practical ways to keep PEWS functioning in low-resource hospitals, potentially improving early detection of deterioration and survival for children with cancer.
How similar studies have gone: Prior examples suggest that PEWS adoption can be sustained in diverse settings, but this project examines real-world diffusion and sustainability across multiple sites.
Where this research is happening
-
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
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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.