Alisha Bruner always knew she was meant to work with kids. What she didn't know was that oral cryotherapy, a simple, low-cost intervention, would become the centerpiece of her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project and a potential game changer for pediatric oncology patients battling one of chemotherapy's most painful side effects.
Bruner is a registered nurse in the hematology oncology unit at Akron Children's Hospital, a floor she first stepped onto as a nurse tech while still in college. But staying put professionally was never in her nature, so her choice was never whether to pursue an advanced degree, but how far to go.
When researching paths to becoming a nurse practitioner, the DNP seems to make the most sense for Bruner. "Nursing has more routes than most people realize and I wanted to be ready for all of them," she explains. "The DNP will give me options if I ever decide to pivot away from clinical positions to leadership or administrative roles."
For Bruner's DNP project, she turned her attention to a problem she saw regularly on her floor: mucositis, a painful inflammatory condition caused by certain chemotherapy agents affecting the entire lining of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth all the way through. One of the most common and debilitating side effects of chemotherapy in pediatric oncology patients, the condition causes painful ulcerations that make it difficult to eat, drink, or swallow.
"These are patients who are already vulnerable," Bruner says. "Mucositis creates new complications."
Research has shown that oral cryotherapy, or the use of ice chips or cold liquids held in the mouth during chemotherapy infusion, can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of mucositis, as cold causes blood vessels in the mouth and throat to constrict, reducing the amount of chemotherapy that reaches the mucosal tissue and limiting the damage it can cause.
Featured image: Alisha Bruner at Akron's Children's Hospital. / Photo provided
