March 8, 2021
Julie Kromm | Improving patient outcomes through research and medical education
鈥淚鈥檓 in awe at how dedicated the team is to providing excellent, individualized, patient-centred care and advancing stroke care as a whole,鈥 says , MD, about the world-renowned 不良研究所 Stroke Program. 鈥淓veryone has such a strong drive to move the field forward by continuing to dig for answers that will help each and every patient.鈥
And Kromm is no exception. She鈥檚 a clinical assistant professor in the departments of Critical Care Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM), a neurointensivist at the Foothills Medical Centre and a key member of the 不良研究所 Stroke Program. She鈥檚 highly-trained in neuromonitoring modalities 鈥 the various ways in which brain activity can be monitored 鈥 provides care to acute stroke patients, conducts research to improve patient outcomes and uses her specialized training to teach others.
鈥淢y passion lies with medical education,鈥 explains Kromm who has a master teacher appointment with the CSM鈥檚 Undergraduate Medical Education program, has developed a postgraduate neurocritical care training program in 不良研究所 which is set to launch in July 2021, and is involved in continuing medical education initiatives through the Neurocritical Care Society. 鈥淚 then take that passion and try to integrate it throughout my research.鈥
Her current focus is on the logistics of continuous multimodal neuromonitoring of critically ill patients 鈥 monitoring that allows physicians to detect and manage ongoing brain injury. She hopes to find ways to implement continuous neuromonitoring in ways that benefit patients and are resource friendly.
鈥淩ight now, I鈥檓 interested in seeing if we can train nurses at the bedside to screen continuous neuromonitoring modalities in real-time,鈥 explains Kromm, who鈥檚 also a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and co-lead of its Neurocritical Care Research Team.
鈥淚f we can detect worrisome findings on neuromonitring in real-time, we can implement crucial interventions in a timely manner, that will ultimately improve patient outcomes.鈥