Sharon Y. Irving, PhD, CRNP, FCCM, FAAN
Sharon Y. Irving’s commitment to improving the odds of survival and healthy development for seriously ill infants and young children began with her work as a staff nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit.
As a doctoral student at Penn Nursing, Dr. Irving investigated weight change patterns in postsurgical infants with congenital heart disease in her dissertation. Today, Dr. Irving’s clinical practice and research focus on improving care delivery for critically ill infants and children through the provision of appropriate nutrition.
“Through my clinical practice and my research, I strive to improve nutritional outcomes for critically ill infants and children.”
Education
- PhD, University of Pennsylvania , 2011
- MSN , University of Pennsylvania , 1993
- BSN, Marquette University, 1980
Teaching
Dr. Irving teaches in the undergraduate pediatric nursing course and guest lectures in the clinical tract of the school’s Pediatric Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Program. She also serves as a preceptor for Penn Nursing students working in the pediatric intensive care unit at CHOP.
Research
As a clinician educator, Dr. Irving uses her hands-on clinical experience to guide her research and uses insights from her research to improve care delivery for critically ill infants and children at CHOP. In one project, for example, she is evaluating outcomes of the nutrition pathway, exploring questions such as: How long does it take to start feeding a child?, How long do these children remain in the hospital?, and How well do they achieve the nutritional goals established for them?
With funding from CHOP’s Center for Pediatric Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, Dr. Irving is evaluating the system-wide practice change on the placement of temporary feeding tubes.
Clinical Practice
As a clinician educator, Dr. Irving practices as a pediatric nurse practitioner at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where she provides patient care in the pediatric intensive care and pediatric progressive care units. She led a multi-disciplinary ICU-Pediatric Nutrition Team in designing and implementing a nutrition pathway to improve the way infants and children receive nutrition during and immediately following critical illness. The pathway includes ensuring timely initiation of nutrient provision to attain appropriate caloric and protein intake, by using the most appropriate method for delivering nutrients: intravenous or through the gastrointestinal tract. The ICU-Pediatric Nutrition team includes physicians, registered dieticians, advance practice and clinical nurses, and a clinical pharmacist.
Opportunities to Learn and Collaborate at Penn Nursing
Dr. Irving entered Penn Nursing as a graduate nursing student in 1991, and later returned to join the faculty in 2012. Based on her own research and practice experience as a graduate student, Dr. Irving knows that Penn Nursing offers students the opportunity to engage in research from day one and to immerse themselves in cutting-edge clinical practice. She mentors students in their clinical work and engages them through her research projects.
Selected Career Highlights
- Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 2016
- Fellow, American College of Critical Care Medicine, Society of Critical Care Medicine, 2013
- Distinguished Alumna in Service to Nursing Award, Marquette University, 2013
- Dean’s Award for Exemplary Professional Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 2013
Selected Publications
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Northington, L., Lyman, B., Guenter, P., Irving, S.Y., Duesing, L. (2017). Current practices in home management of nasogastric tube placement in pediatric patients: A survery of parents and homecare providers. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 33: 46-53. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2017.01.005. Epub 2017 Feb 7.
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Karsch, E., Irving, S.Y., Aylward, B.S., Mahle, W.T. (2017). The prevalence and effects of aspiration among neonates at time of discharge. Cardiology in the Young. [Epub ahead of print] 2017 Feb 6. doi: 10.1017/S104795111600278X.
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Medoff-Cooper, B., Irving, S.Y., Hanlon, A.L., Golfenshtein, N., Radcliffe, J., Stallings, V.A., Marino, B.S., Ravishankar C. (2016). The Association Between Feeding Mode, Growth and Developmental Outcomes in Infants with Complex Congenital Heart Disease at 6 and 12 Months of Age. The Journal of Pediatrics, 169:154-9.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.10.017. Epub 2015 Nov 11.
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Goodwin, M., & Irving, S.Y. (2015). Cerebral Salt Wasting. In A. Kline-Tilford, C. Haut (Eds.), Pediatric Acute Care Certification Review. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barlett Learning.
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Brown, A.M., Carpenter, D., Keller, G., Morgan, S., & Irving, S.Y. (2015). Enteral nutrition in the PICU: Current status and ongoing challenges. Journal of Pediatric Intensive Care, .
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Irving, S.Y., Seiple, S., Nagle, M., Falk, S., Mascarenhas, M., Srinivasan, V. (2015). Perceived barriers to anthropometry measurements in critically ill children. American Journal of Critical Care, 24(6): e99-e107. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2015807.
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Trabulsi, J.C., Irving, S.Y., Papas, M.A., Hollowell, C., Ravishankar, C., Marino, B.S., Medoff-Cooper, B., Schall, J.I., Stallings, V.A. (2015). Total energy expenditure of infants with congenital heart disease who have undergone surgical intervention. Pediatric Cardiology, 36(8): 1670-1679. doi: 10.1007/s00246-015-1216-3. Epub 2015 Jun 21.
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Lyman, B., Kemper, C., Northington, L., Yaworski, J.A., Wilder, K., Moore, C., Duesing, L.A., Irving, S.Y. (2015). Use of Temporary Enteral Access Devices in Hospitalized Neonatal and Pediatric Patients in the US. JPEN Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 40(4): 574-80. doi: 10.1177/0148607114567712. Epub 7 Jan 2015.
- Irving, S.Y., Lyman, B., Northington, L., Bartlett, J., Kemper, C., & NOVEL Project Workgroup (2014). Nasogastric tube placement and verification in children: Review of the current literature. Critical Care Nurse, 34(3), 67-78 (PMID: 24735587).10.4037/ccn2014606
- Irving, S.Y., Lyman, B., Northington, L., Bartlett, J., Kemper, C., & NOVEL Project Workgroup (2014). Nasogastric tube placement and verification in children: Review of the current literature. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 29(3), 267-276 (PMID: 24737681).10.1177/0884533614531456
Related News
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A.S.P.E.N. Honors Irving
Penn Nursing ’s Sharon Y. Irving, PhD, CRNP, FCCM, FAAN , Assistant Professor, has been awarded a Distinguished Nutrition Support Nurse Service Award from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.)
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New Best Practices Recommended for Feeding Tube Location Verification in Pediatric Patients
Placement of nasogastric (NG) tubes (feeding tubes) in pediatric patients is a common practice, however, the insertion procedure carries risk of serious or even potentially lethal complications. While there are numerous methods of verifying an NG tube has been placed correctly, none of those methods are considered universally standard.
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Applying Implementation Science to Improve Cervical Cancer Prevention in sub-Saharan Africa
While cervical cancer – one of the most common cancers in women – has significantly decreased in the United States, it is still the second most common cancer in women who live in less developed countries, according to the World Health Organization. Women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have the largest age-standardized incidence and mortality rates of this potentially preventable and non-communicable disease due to the difficulty in implementing prevention, screening, and treatment programs.