Karin T. Kirchhoff: Nurse researcher, canine’s friend

March 24, 2004, will be a memorable day for Karin T. Kirchhoff, Rodefer Chair and professor at the College of Nursing. On that day, she will return to her alma mater—Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit, Mich.—to accept the Alumni of the Year award and to present a prestigious lecture.

Kirchhoff’s seminal work in evidence-based practice and end-of-life care in the ICU has earned her the distinction of renowned scholar to give the Katharine Faville lecture, named in honor of the founding dean of WSU College of Nursing. This year’s theme being interdisciplinary research; Kirchhoff will present “End of Life Care: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”

On the evening following the lecture, Wayne State will confer the Alumni of the Year Award to Kirchhoff. She, in turn, will honor WSU by thanking them for serving as catalyst for her research career.

“They provided me with a very good launch into my clinical research career, she explains. “I came to them as a diploma nurse … an RN/bachelor’s completion student. I finished my bachelor’s there and then my master’s there. They launched me into my teaching career and then my research career.”

And ultimately, the UW-Madison School of Nursing benefited from such direction. Kirchhoff came to UW-Madison in June of 2000 from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Enticement to come to Wisconsin came in the form of the endowed Rodefer Chair, awarded to “the most productive and acclaimed scholars and scientists … who have demonstrated expertise in his or her fields of endeavor.”

Kirchhoff and her team of researchers are devoted to exploring and promoting ways to improve the care of the dying and to help ensure a peaceful death in the often-anxious atmosphere of the ICU.

“Most end-of-life issues are presumed to occur around cancer,” she explains, but a surprising statistic is that possibly 20 percent of the U.S. population die in the ICU.

The Driving Force

The impetus for exploration in this area of research came during the impending death of her mother, when Kirchhoff shared in her mother’s very humane care from hospice. Kirchhoff describes the experience as “how death ought to be … very calm, very kind.” Transferring this delivery of care to the ICU is what Kirchhoff wants to achieve through training and research.

She continually strives to raise awareness that the ICU is also a site of end-of-life care. Kirchhoff recently visited the National Institute of Nursing Research in Bethesda, Maryland, to help plan an end-of-life summer institute for 2005.

“They specifically invited me to ensure that all clinical settings would be represented,” she says. “The ICU tends to get neglected because we don’t think of it as a place where people die.”

Lessons from a Friend

Beyond the intensity of her research lies one of life’s elixirs. They go by the names of Angie and Benji—her two Maltese dogs. Kirchhoff’s relaxation time is spent with her canine companions on long walks. Every third weekend, Kirchhoff—turned barber—shampoos, clips, and trims her dogs plus two neighborhood Maltese purchased after the owner fell in love with Angie and Benji.

Kirchhoff’s love of dogs has not been life-long. As a child, she was attacked by dogs twice and, to no one’s surprise, developed a fear of them. Over the years, her friends and acquaintances happened to be owners of “small white dogs,” allowing Kirchhoff to adjust to them.

What brought her into the fold of dog lovers, and oddly enough ties to her research, was a third white dog, who would sit by Kirchhoff when her mother was dying.

“The dog would sit there and just be very quiet and supportive, but nestle in so I knew that she was there,” Kirchhoff explains. She points to a little adage on her research door that says, “If a dog were the teacher, you would learn stuff like: When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.”

Figuring that small white dogs would be okay, she came upon Angie in a pet store.

“I started visiting her every night, says, Kirchhoff, “and I lived 60 blocks away!”

Not long after, she scoured the newspaper ads and found Angie’s playmate, Benji, who, Kirchhoff discloses, is mothered by Angie and is truly the baby of the family.

To know Kirchhoff is to understand her adoration for her dogs and, conversely, their adoring behavior. Her relationship with them, she says, is summed up in her favorite little prayer: “God, make me as good as my dogs think I am.”

Kirchhoff offers a final slant on the interwoven lives of dogs and humans: Summarizing the thrust of a poem by Dr. Patricia McConnell—noted dog behaviorist—she says, “Why do we love our dogs? … We love them because they haven’t told us what they really think about us.”