PRN PAIN Lab

"My 11-month-old daughter underwent open heart surgery without analgesia. I was alarmed by the lack of sensitivity, recognition, and priority her intelligent and caring healthcare providers gave to her postoperative pain and suffering. I have since dedicated my career to improving pediatric pain care.

I have learned that knowledge and attitudes regarding pediatric pain assessment and management improve with educational programs. However, these improvements are not translated into clinical practice; and are not retained in the bureaucracy of healthcare. Despite ever improving resources for pain assessment and management, preventable and treatable pain remains prevalent in pediatric healthcare services, including health maintenance, illness, and procedural care."

Our research focuses on improving pediatric pain assessment, management, and outcomes through innovative technologies and evidence-based practice. We combine expertise in nursing science, computer science, industrial engineering, and data science to develop solutions that address gaps in pain care for vulnerable populations.

Current projects include MIDAS (Modeling Inter-individual Differences to Address Pain of Sickle Cell Disease), an NIH-funded initiative using machine learning to predict and prevent chronic pain in sickle cell disease, and PRAMS (Pain Recognition and Assessment Monitoring System), an NSF-funded project developing AI-driven neonatal pain detection using federated learning. We also maintain the Pediatric Pain PRN Curriculum, an open-access resource for evidence-based pediatric pain education.