Karla Krewulak
I am a senior research associate working with Dr. Kirsten Fiest in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Calgary. I am also an executive member of the Canadian Critical Care Research Coordinator Group. In my current role, I coordinate Dr. Fiest's research programs: 1) transitions in care, 2) restricted family presence during COVID-19, and 3) ICU family member involvement with delirium prevention, detection, and management. I also conduct research on how to improve research engagement with patients, families, and members of the ICU care team. My areas of expertise include patient and family-oriented research, ICU delirium research, qualitative data collection & analysis, and systematic/scoping reviews.
Recent work
Krewulak KD, Jaworska N, Spence KL, Mizen SJ, Kupsch S, Stelfox HT, Parsons Leigh J, Fiest KM. Impact of Restricted Visitation Policies during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Communication between Critically Ill Patients, Families, and Clinicians: A Qualitative Interview Study. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2022 Jul;19(7):1169-1176. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202107-877OC. PMID: 34914537; PMCID: PMC9278629.
Krewulak KD, Hiploylee C, Ely EW, Stelfox HT, Inouye SK, Fiest KM. Adaptation and Validation of a Chart-Based Delirium Detection Tool for the ICU (CHART-DEL-ICU). J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Apr;69(4):1027-1034. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16987. Epub 2020 Dec 21. PMID: 33348428; PMCID: PMC8049975.
Krewulak KD, Rosgen BK, Ely EW, Stelfox HT, Fiest KM. The CAM-ICU-7 and ICDSC as measures of delirium severity in critically ill adult patients. PLoS One. 2020 Nov 16;15(11):e0242378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242378. PMID: 33196655; PMCID: PMC7668609.