Outcomes and Health PolicyPatient-oriented research in the perioperative period has often focused on end-points and outcomes that are only transient at best, and apparent at worst. Recent emphasis has been placed on longer term outcome measures for the many interventions patients receive in this intensive and invasive health-care experience. Several members of the department are focusing on how best to alter patient care to improve these long-term outcomes. For example, the chair, Lee Fleisher, has focused on risk assessment and risk reduction strategies in two distinct populations: those with known or risk factors for cardiovascular disease and those undergoing ambulatory surgery. He has an ongoing collaboration with Jeffrey Silber in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB). Maureen McCunn studies the sociological characteristics of successful, high performing trauma teams, and the obstacles to achieving the same. Her specific interest is in gender characteristics of leadership. She has been involved in research and in education in global trauma care and is active in evaluating and introducing improved trauma systems worldwide. Mark Neuman’s research focuses on two related goals: assessing the comparative effectiveness of alternate perioperative management strategies for vulnerable older adults, and understanding the determinants of medical decision-making across a range of perioperative settings. Current projects employ multiple approaches, including analyses of administrative databases, survey research, and qualitative methods. Mark is also a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Meghann Lane-Fall’s research interests include processes of care in critically ill patients and advancement of quality improvement research in the perioperative setting. She is particularly focused on communication and teamwork in the intensive care unit and adequacy of documentation in the operating room. Meghann is currently an instructor and receives research support from both the CHIPS fellowship and a T32 training grant administered by the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. David Strum is investigating surgical schedules and capacity planning using tools associated with operations research. Finally, David Jobes also using outcomes research, is studying hemostasis and coagulation related to cardiac surgery for adult and pediatric patients. The Department is integrated into two University-wide interdisciplinary programs, the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) and the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics (LDI).
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