Pravecek earns College of Nursing's Outstanding Researcher Award

Brandi Pravecek, a clinical assistant professor in South Dakota State University's College of Nursing, was named the college's Outstanding Researcher for 2023. It is the first time Pravecek has won the award. 

Pravecek graduated from SDSU in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. She then worked as a registered nurse in Tyndall in a critical access hospital before returning to SDSU in pursuit of a graduate degree. In 2002, she graduated from SDSU with her Master of Science in Nursing degree with a specialization in family nurse practitioner. 

She practiced as a nurse practitioner in Scotland and Yankton before again returning to SDSU to pursue her doctorate. In 2018, Pravecek became "Dr. Pravecek" upon receiving her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. 

Pravecek has had two stints teaching at SDSU, the first being between 2002 and 2004. In 2016, she returned to SDSU full time and has been with the university ever since. 

All the while, she has continued to work as a nurse practitioner at Scotland Medical Clinic Avera and Landmann-Jungman Memorial Hospital Avera. Her experience in rural health is what inspired her initial research project. 

"My own DNP project served as the impetus for my involvement in palliative care research, particularly in the rural area," Pravecek explained. "My research focuses on the lack of access to specialty palliative care services for rural residents in South Dakota." 

As part of her final project for her doctorate, Pravecek obtained an Advanced Practice RN Certificate in Palliative Care from the California State University Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care in 2018. The certificate enabled her to develop a palliative care program in her rural health care setting that she had been working in for many years. Her clinic and hospital are a significant distance from a major health care service center, making it a challenge to receive specialty services, like palliative care, for her patients, many of whom are elderly. 

"For people to have to drive a significant distance, especially if they are facing a life-threatening illness, their families are already stressed because of the burden of disease, is just not always feasible," Pravecek said. "Many providers and nurses may not always feel comfortable with palliative and end-of-life care in a rural setting if it’s not something they work with all the time and they don't have that access to specialty services. 

"That's really where my research focus blossomed from," Pravecek added. "It was recognizing that need in my own community." 

Through SDSU's Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Challenge Fund, Pravecek completed a statewide study on the role of familiarity with health care professionals and palliative care. 

"For example, I take care of patients in my community that I have known my entire life," Pravecek said. "Being in that unique role to sometimes care for family members or family members of friends, or just people that I know well, I wondered, does this familiarity with patients in a rural community impact the timing of when palliative care conversations happen?" 

As Pravecek notes, in rural communities, those tough conversations about palliative care services don't happen until it’s too late and the patient then needs hospice services. 

"That's unfortunate because there is an opportunity for palliative care to bridge that gap, from the time they are diagnosed with that life-threatening illness to the time of death," Pravecek said. 

This research also gave Pravecek the opportunity to partner with her mentor, Mary Isaacson, an associate professor in the college. 

"We have different roles in research, but it was a really good opportunity for us to demonstrate collaboration and how our two roles can come together," Pravecek said. "It was an excellent opportunity to bring her research expertise and my clinical expertise and bring that all together." 

Pravecek was also a part of the South Dakota Palliative Care Network, in which the research team looked to improve palliative care access to rural areas in the state. 

"We designed an entire palliative care education program that was implemented in several universities across the state for nursing students," Pravecek said. 

Currently, Pravecek is working on disseminating the results of the research and is expected to present at a few conferences later in the spring. She hopes to continue her research on palliative care services in a rural setting in the future.