Craig Weinert, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Medicine
weine006@umn.edu
Contact Information

Summary of Academic Program

My primary research interest is to find interventions that accelerate recovery from critical illness. I have focused on psychiatric conditions such as depression and PTSD and I am investigating whether early administration of SSRI medications to patients with acute respiratory failure can safely prevent post-ICU depression. I am collaborating with Bernadette Longo, PhD from the Department of Rhetoric and  Ayse Gurses, PhD, a systems engineer from the School of Publih Health, on a study to examine the instructional design elements of ICU protocols and to characterize the ICU adminstrative process whereby published critical care research protocols are incorporated into patient care. We have obtained funding as a Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship from the Graduate School to visit every intensive care unit in Minnesota; obtain and characterize their critical care protocols and to conduct structured interviews with administrators and clinicians about their use of ICU protocols.

I also am a co-investigator in two clinical trials being performed in the Medical ICU at the University of Minnesota Medical Center:

      1. Music therapy to decrease sedative exposure during mechanical ventilation
      2. Patient-controlled sedation for mechanically-ventilated patients

I am also an active member of the Academic Health Center's Center for Excellence in Critical Care, http://www.pharmacy.umn.edu/centers/cecc/home.html that participated in a peer-institution network that jointly implemented ventilator weaning and sedation reduction protocols.

Additional Clinical, Educational and Administrative Work

• Pulmonary Outreach Clinic: Fairview Northland, Princeton, MN
• Co-Medical Director, MICU: University of MN Medical Center
• Firm Director, MICU, UMMC: University of MN Internal Medicine Residency Program
• Chair, Critical Care Committee: University of MN Medical Center
• Medical Director, Rapid Response Team: University of MN Medical Center

Selected Recent Publications:

Weinert C, Meller W. Epidemiology of depression and antidepressant therapy after acute respiratory failure. Psychosomatics    2006; 47(5):399-407.

Weinert CR, Calvin AD. Epidemiology of sedation and sedation adequacy for mechanically ventilated patients in a medical and surgical intensive care unit. Crit Care Med 2007; 35(2):393-401.

Fountain K, Weinert C, Longo B.  Implementation of medical research findings through insulin protocols:   Preliminary results from an ongoing study of document design and visual display. J Tech Writing Communications. 2007, 37:435-452.

Weinert C, Meller W. Medical post-traumatic stress disorder: catching up with the cutting edge in stress research. Crit Care 2007; 11(1):118.

Weinert CR, Sprenkle M. Post-ICU consequences of patient wakefulness and sedative exposure during mechanical ventilation. Intensive Care Med     2008; 34(1):82-90.

Partnership for Excellence in Critical Care Writing Committee: Robertson T, Mann H, Hyzy R, Rogers A, Douglas I, Waxman A,  Weinert C, Alapat, P, Guntupalli K, Buchman T.  Multicenter implementation of evidence-based protocols: spontaneous breathing trials. In press October 2008 Critical Care Medicine.

Weinert C and Mann H. 2008. The science of implementation: changing the practice of critical care. Current Opinion in Critical Care. 14:460-465.

Weinert C. 2008. "Psychiatric illness during and after discharge from Intensive Care Units" Chapter 46 in: Core Topics in Cardiothoracic Critical Care. A. Klein, A Vuylsteke, S Nashef editors. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom. 

Current Research Support

R34MH082156  Weinert (PI)          6/1/08  -  5/30/11
NIH/NIMH Feasibility study of primary prevention of post-ICU depression The goal of this RCT is to determine the feasibility and safety of a RCT whereby patients with acute respiratory failure are administered an SSRI medication or placebo early in the course of respiratory failure and continued for 8 weeks.
Role:  PI

R01NR009295 Chlan (PI)                    4/1/2006 – 1/31/2010
NIH/NINR        
Reducing Sedative Exposure in Ventilated ICU Patients
The goal of this project is to conduct a multi-center RCT enrolling 186 subjects to test the effectiveness of a music therapy intervention to reduce sedative exposure in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation.
Role: Co-Investigator, Medical Safety Officer

No grant number. Chlan (PI)                      6/2005 – 12/2008
University of Minnesota Academic Health Center Faculty Research Development Grant
Patient-controlled Sedation Feasibility Study
The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of having mechanically ventilated patients control their level of sedation by medication delivered by a self-triggered PCA machine.
Role: Co-Investigator

No grant number. Weinert (PI)                     6/2006 – 5/2008
University of Minnesota Graduate School Grant-in-aid
Information Design Analysis of Clinical Protocols in Intensive Care Units
Study goals are to describe the administrative process in which ICU protocols are developed, implemented and modified and to analyze protocol documents using techniques of technical document design.  Role: PI