Exploring New Research for Sickle Cell Disease: Q&A With Marcy Cain Purnell

“Advancing Practice,” a Mississippi Association of Nurse Practitioners publication, recently featured an article about sickle cell disease research written by Marcy Cain Purnell, Ph.D., FNP-C, Baptist Health Sciences University (BHSU) graduate nursing program chair and associate professor and Stern Cardiovascular family nurse practitioner. We talked with her to learn more about her interest in sickle cell disease research and her work at BHSU.

What would you like to share about your interest in sickle cell disease research?

Sometimes, the best things in life are unexpected. While I had participated in the care of sickle cell patients, I did not see myself as a researcher in the area until a pain management physician who was working with me in bioelectrodynamics research asked me about the possibility.

He asked how this bioelectrodynamic research approach might help with pain management in sickle cell disease patients. As I pondered his question, a potential new trigger for sickle cell disease crisis was discovered involving the control of serum blood glucose and serum blood cation levels.

This mechanism is now the focus of new research in sickle cell disease. A research team of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, clinical psychologists, geneticists and nurses are pursuing both bench science and clinical studies to further investigate this discovery.

I’m also hopeful we can improve outcomes for sickle cell disease patients through advances in pharmaceutical therapy management, nutritional guidelines and IV hydration management.

Could you share more about your role as graduate nursing program chair at BHSU?

I have served in the role since August 2022. We offer two programs: Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Doctor of Nursing Practice and Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Doctor of Nursing Practice. This graduate program was launched in 2018 by Dean of Nursing Cathy Stepter and is continuing to grow and thrive under her leadership.

What would you like to highlight about the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at BHSU?

We are very proud of our Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. With the support of Baptist Memorial Health Care, we can provide our students with a wealth of resources and experiences to serve health care needs in the community.

System Director of Advanced Practice Providers Amanda Comer has been instrumental in ensuring our students have clinical placement with preceptors. These clinical placements are critical to our students’ success, and she has worked diligently to ensure we have what we need.

We also have consistently had high certification exam pass rates and high employment rates for our graduates, which speaks to the high level of commitment from BHSU faculty and staff. The success of the graduate program is truly a team effort, and we have an amazing team!

Would you like to add anything else?

It has been an honor and a blessing to have served in the field of nursing for the past 38 years. Nursing is an amazing career, and a noteworthy inspiration for me has always been Florence Nightingale, English social reformer, statistician and founder of modern nursing. The foundation she laid is an amazing one for nurses, advanced practice nurses, nurse midwives, nurse scientists and nurse anesthetists to build upon as we continue to play a significant role in health care.

This quote attributed to Florence Nightingale is the perfect summary: “Let us never consider ourselves finished nurses. We must be learning all of our lives.”

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This article was originally published on Baptist Leader.