The Barbara Prowant lectureship at the Annual Dialysis Conference

and Barbara Prowant Scholarship Fund

Barbara Fristoe Prowant: 1953- 2009

It is with great sadness that we write this piece about our beloved friend, and colleague, Barbara Prowant. During the opening ceremonies of the 29th Annual Dialysis Conference, Barbara, one of the conference founders and driving forces died at the age of 55 after a fight with cancer.

Barbara Prowant’s contributions to the field of nephrology, especially to peritoneal dialysis, made her one of the most well known and most highly respected nephrology nurses in the world. In her nearly 30 years as a nephrology nurse she had an enormous impact on patient care, education and the advancement of knowledge through clinical research. Her publications, presentations and editing efforts were a credit to her and to the Nephrology Division of the University of Missouri.

Her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (magna cum laude) was awarded by Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska and her Master of Science degree in nursing was awarded by the University of Missouri in 1989. She was certified as a nephrology nurse in 1988 and as a peritoneal dialysis nurse in 1989.

Barbara joined the Nephrology Division at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center in 1977 as the Coordinator of the CAPD program. Since 1979, she served as a Research Associate and coordinated clinical research activities in the Division of Nephrology. Many of the nephrology fellows and faculty learned how to do high quality clinical research, how to analyze data and how to write abstracts and papers from her. She also encouraged and mentored many nurses to participate in clinical research. She was a principal investigator of 5 grants and a co-investigator of 2 other grants.

Barb served on the Planning Committee of the Annual Dialysis Conference since its inception in 1981 and had the major responsibility for the nursing components of the program. She served as a Co-Chair of the General Session at the Annual Dialysis Conference also since 1981.

Since the University of Missouri was only the second clinical center to offer CAPD (starting in 1977), Barbara helped pioneer some the early nursing procedures for the therapy. She prepared procedure manuals (guidelines) for peritoneal dialysis nurses for the University of Missouri and or many national and international organizations. She was invited to lecture all over the world at meetings and centers as “the world expert” in CAPD nursing techniques. The first instillation of peritoneal dialysis fluid from a plastic bag in the USA was first done at the University of Missouri under Barb's supervision. At many CAPD meetings, Barbara was the only nurse invited to speak mainly to physicians. Her thoughts and opinions were highly regarded.

Her publications include over 160 abstracts, 140 papers, 14 book chapters, 2 electronic papers, 15 continuing educational
programs, 8 editorials, 5 letters to editors, 7 book reviews, 3 patient education publications, and 40 news articles. She was co-editor of the Nephrology Nursing Standards of Practice and Guidelines for Care published in 2005. Barbara made over 260 presentations and chaired 48 sessions at national and international meetings. She had over twenty-one editorial responsibilities including serving as Associate Editor of Peritoneal Dialysis International, Co-Editor of Advances in Peritoneal Dialysis and Deputy Editor of Home Hemodialysis International.

Barb had over 10 awards to her credit. One of the most prestigious of these is the 1995 Maher Award from the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis for contributions to peritoneal dialysis. She is the only nurse to have ever received this award. She also received the Ron Brady Memorial Award for Excellence in Volunteer Leadership from the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association in 1998.

Barbara was active in 10 professional organizations. She was a co-founder and the first president of the Central Missouri
Chapter of the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association and served as treasurer of the ANNA national Board of Directors. She served on the board of the Nephrology Nursing Certification Commission for many years. She served in an advisory capacity for many boards and agencies and was a member of the Technical Expert Panel for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, End Stage Renal Disease Clinical Performance Measures.

A very important role for Barbara involved serving as the Nursing Advisor for the NIH National CAPD Registry from 1981-1988.The University of Missouri was the Clinical Coordinating Center for the Registry and was eventually following near 20,000 patients on CAPD at 400 centers.

Barbara leaves a husband, Leonard, two children, Greg, who has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Mizzou, and Lori, an Elementary School Teacher. Her personal life was just as busy and full and rewarding as her professional accomplishments. She was active in her church and volunteered in various capacities including church clerk. She had many hobbies and always took time to spend the week-ends outdoors to enjoy her love and passion: wildflowers. She also loved bird watching, hiking and gardening. Indoors, she found it relaxing to do needlepoint, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking and table tennis.

Barbara touched and influenced so many lives both personally and professionally. Her death leaves a big void among those who were fortunate enough to know her. We will miss her very much.

The Barbara Prowant lectureship at the Annual Dialysis Conference as well as Barbara Prowant Scholarship Fund has been established in her honor. The scholarship fund will be used to promote nephrology nursing education and research. For more information, you may contact Elaine Rogers at 573-882-9973 or e-mail at rogerse@health.missouri.edu