On Valentines Day, Saint Louis University nursing professor Norma Metheny, RN, Ph.D., had something to celebrate. When she received the 2006 Distinguished Nutrition Nurse Award from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

The award was presented at the Clinical Nutrition Week Conference in Dallas. At this annual conference, nutrition professionals meet to discus the latest research, clinical practice and technological advances in clinical nutrition.

Since 1987, Metheny has received five major grants from the National Institute of Health for her work and has been conducting a number of studies regarding the health and care of patients with feeding tubes.

“My work is focused on helping nurses make sure feeding tubes are in the correct positions. If inserted incorrectly, they can cause patients to aspirate tube feeding formula into their lungs, which causes pneumonia,” said Metheny.

Metheny discovered this issue “by accident,” she says. “One of my graduate nursing students asked me how we could tell if a feeding tube was in the correct position, and I didn’t have an immediate answer for her.”

Prior to her research, the only way to determine correct positioning of feeding tubes was through X-rays. And as Metheny said, “We can hardly do an X-ray several times a day to make sure a tube has remained in the correct position.”

Her research has allowed her to help develop guidelines that are used by nurses throughout the world.

“Once I got started, things just snowballed,” Metheny said. “After every question I’ve answered, there has been another one I have been unable to answer.”

This has not been the first award Metheny has received. Since 2004 she has been the recipient of four other major nursing and research awards.

This May she is speaking at a conference for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, where she will accept their 2006 Distinguished Research Lecturer Award.

Metheny was very humble about her success, saying, “It seems like a bunch of awards hit all at the same time . which is nice; I’m not complaining.”