Digital Commons Network^™

Analyzing The Patient-Provider Relationship And Assessing Shortages In Oral Healthcare In Arenac County, Michigan, Aaron Norfleet

Honors Projects

The purpose of this prospective study will be to assess the patient-provider relationship in Arenac County, Michigan, analyze barriers to treatment for rural patients, and develop a meaningful plan to improve upon these categories. The intended outcomes of this study will be the development of a resource for rural oral healthcare providers to better understand and treat the needs of their patients based on knowledge from beyond the chairside, as well as the development of an easily repeatable model for patient-provider analysis. Furthermore, the questionnaires and data collected from this could assist in informing governmental or non-governmental organizations in identifying …

Analysis Of A Future Dentist, Monica J. Nagy

Honors Projects

My Senior Honors Project at GVSU is centered around the options I will have in front of me once I graduate from dental school. First I researched what the future of dentistry will look like 10 years from now. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the dental field, creating better sanitation and procedural changes that will likely last forever. The second part of my project entailed the creation of a Business Model Canvas for owning a private dental practice. The final aspect of my project is a presentation of my potential plans of action. The powerpoint provides the steps for …

Oral Healthcare Education, Equity And Policy Implementation In Rural Honduran Communities, Alexander J.R. Dyke

Honors Projects

Rural Honduras encompasses many individuals with limited access to a dental professional. Many public health studies demonstrate that dental shortage areas have more dental cavities, missing teeth, and more complex restorations that need periodic treatment. Dental hygiene is undermined at home with limited access to oral health advocates, and dental education becomes more essential. Here, we report an educational consensus and perspectives of rural Honduras through a questionnaire distributed at 13 mobile dental clinics in remote villages. To assess the effectiveness of education, the World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed two important indices in assessing trends: Community Periodontal Index of …

The Interactions Between Oral Biofilms, Antibiotic Resistance, And Dentistry, Maxine Taylor

Honors Projects

Antibiotic resistance is a pressing concern that demands further action to reduce and develop new countermeasures. Antibiotic resistance impacts all fields of health and medicine, including dentistry. Many of the preventive and restorative dental procedures are due to a bacterial cause. Knowledge of oral biofilm development mechanisms and the interactions and relationships between oral microbiota is necessary to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance and develop more effective dental treatments. Exploring how the oral microbiomes and their treatments impact the health of the rest of the body is another important consideration since dentistry is part of the general healthcare system. …

Improving Health Care Accessibility Among Geriatric Patients In Rural Communities, Capriana Calvachi

Honors Projects

The following literature review and analysis compiles information regarding ways to improve rural geriatric healthcare accessibility through the use of interprofessional care and outreach. I also wish to bring to light the various deficiencies often seen in this realm of care, and the reasons behind the inadequate rural physician retention rates. Using this background information, I compiled various collaborative approaches which seek to ease the strain faced by the healthcare system and its elderly patients.

Improving healthcare accessibility through the use of interprofessional care and outreach is an essential facet in geriatric medicine. By exploring the deficiencies of geriactric healthcare …

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease And The Pnpla3 Gene, Lori Houghton-Rahrig, Debra Schutte, Jenifer I. Fenton, Jennifer Awad

Peer Reviewed Articles

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a rapidly emerging worldwide public health concern strongly associated with obesity, insulin resistance/diabetes type 2, and the metabolic syndrome (Younossi et al., 2011). It is the most common cause of liver disease in the world (World Gastro - enterology Organisation [WGO], 2012). Defined as a total liver weight comprised of more than 5% fat, NAFLD can progress from simple fatty liver disease to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with or without fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure resulting in premature death (Levene & Goldin, 2012). The development and progression of NAFLD is influenced by genetic …

Creating And Conducting Intergenerational Learning In Higher Education, Andrea Lauren Holt

Honors Projects

The creation, conduction and revision of a one of a kind intergenerational course taught in the Grand Valley State University Fredrick Meijer Honors College. Elders and Traditional Honors College Freshman came together in a mixed classroom in order to bridge the gaps of communication and misunderstanding between generations.

Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, And Non-Binary Experiences With The Us Health Care System, Brenna Wyffels

Honors Projects

This research aims to identify health care obstacles faced by members of the trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary community. Through a literature review and a Qualtrics survey distributed to university students in the target community via email, obstacles to health care access and solutions to the obstacles were identified. Data collected from survey participants included demographic information, anecdotes about inclusive and exclusive health care experiences, and proposed solutions to health care obstacles. Obstacles to health care access stemmed from many sources, including from biases of health care providers. Solutions ranged from changes that individual providers could make to nation-wide education …

Improving Outcomes In Adults With Diabetes Through An Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Program, Jean Nagelkerk, Margaret E. Thompson, Michael Bouthillier, Amy Tompkins, Lawrence J. Baer, Jeff Trytko, Andrew Booth, Adam Stevens, Kayleah Groeneveld

Funded Articles

In 2014, the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research Center partnered with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to implement an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) education program to improve the health of adult patients with diabetes and to improve practice efficiency. This partnership included integrating an interprofessional team of students with the practice team. Twenty-five students and 20 staff engaged in the IPCP program, which included completion of educational modules on IPCP and implementation of daily huddles, focus patient visits, phone calls, team-based case presentations, medication reconciliation, and student-led group diabetes education classes. This study used a sequential mixed methods …

Improving Outcomes In Adults With Diabetes Through An Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Program, Jean Nagelkerk, Margaret Thompson, Michael Bouthillier, Amy Tompkins, Lawrence Baer, Jeff Trytko, Andrew Booth, Adam Stevens, Kayleah Groeneveld

Funded Articles

In 2014, the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research Center partnered with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to implement an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) education program to improve the health of adult patients with diabetes and to improve practice efficiency. This partnership included integrating an interprofessional team of students with the practice team. Twenty-five students and 20 staff engaged in the IPCP program, which included completion of educational modules on IPCP and implementation of daily huddles, focus patient visits, phone calls, team-based case presentations, medication reconciliation, and student-led group diabetes education classes. This study used a sequential mixed methods …

Bilateral Ovarian Dermoid Cysts’ Treatment, Hilary Skalski

Honors Projects

Ovarian dermoid cysts are the most common neoplasm found in the ovary. They are also the most commonly removed ovarian neoplasm. Still, most reported cases of ovarian dermoid cysts are unilateral, so there is little research on bilateral ovarian dermoids. Nevertheless, bilateral treatment options should be explored, due to an increased likelihood of obtaining complications from a treatment or lack thereof. A meta-analysis on ovarian dermoid literature from 1991 to 2015 was performed to compile a treatment and prognosis for bilateral dermoids. The results found that a bilateral laparoscopic cystectomy was the optimal treatment method when treatment was desired. There …

Shape Ontogeny Of The Distal Femur In The Hominidae With Implications For The Evolution Of Bipedality, Melissa Tallman

Funded Articles

Heterochrony has been invoked to explain differences in the morphology of modern humans as compared to other great apes. The distal femur is one area where heterochrony has been hypothesized to explain morphological differentiation among Plio-Pleistocene hominins. This hypothesis is evaluated here using geometric morphometric data to describe the ontogenetic shape trajectories of extant hominine distal femora and place Plio-Pleistocene hominins within that context. Results of multivariate statistical analyses showed that in both Homo and Gorilla, the shape of the distal femur changes significantly over the course of development, whereas that of Pan changes very little. Development of the …

Characterization Of Fast-Scan Cyclic Voltammetric Electrodes Using Paraffin As An Effective Sealant With In Vitro And In Vivo Applications, Eric Ramsson, Albert Dionise, Daniel Cholger, Nicholas Poirer, Avery Andrus, Randi Curtiss

Funded Articles

Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is a powerful technique for measuring sub-second changes in neurotransmitter levels. A great time-limiting factor in the use of FSCV is the production of high-quality recording electrodes; common recording electrodes consist of cylindrical carbon fiber encased in borosilicate glass. When the borosilicate is heated and pulled, the molten glass ideally forms a tight seal around the carbon fiber cylinder. It is often difficult, however, to guarantee a perfect seal between the glass and carbon. Indeed, much of the time spent creating electrodes is in an effort to find a good seal. Even though epoxy resins can …

An Overview Of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Ryan Durkee

Honors Projects

Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a rare disease with an estimated 20,830 new cases in the U.S. in 2015.4 Although it is a rare disease it is crucial to understand the history, pathophysiology, and epidemiology of AML. Comprehending the steps behind treating AML is another crucial aspect in appreciating the care that must be put into AML and the patients that suffer from it. A comprehensive look into these two aspects of AML will give a better understanding for what causes AML, how it is treated, and what these patients experience. Through this comprehensive study the future of this field will …

New Youth For Health Care: The Affordable Care Act Story, Thomas Nieboer

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

A Rehabilitation Program For Lung Cancer Patients During Postthoracotomy Chemotherapy, Amy J. Hoffman, Ruth Ann Britnall, Alexander Von Eye, Lee W. Jones, Gordon Alderink, Lawrence H. Patzelt, Jean K. Brown

Peer Reviewed Articles

Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to describe the effects of a 16-week home-based rehabilitative exercise program on cancer-related fatigue (CRF), other symptoms, functional status, and quality of life (QOL) for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after thoracotomy starting within days after hospital discharge and continuing through the initiation and completion of chemotherapy.

Materials and methods: Five patients with NSCLC completed the Brief Fatigue Inventory (measuring CRF severity) and the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (measuring symptom severity) before and after thoractomy, and at the end of each week of the 16-week exercise program. Additionally, the Medical …

Measuring The Impact Of Health Education Modules In Cameroon, West Africa, Paulette A. Chaponniere, Susan M. Cherup, Lillie Lodge

Peer Reviewed Articles

Each year, more than two million people die from diarrhea-associated diseases. Although there is a global need for safe drinking water, culturally appropriate health teaching is essential to behavior change. This study evaluated the impact of a health education program in a small rural community in Cameroon. Flash cards and a modified version of the CDC-KPC 2000 survey were used to collect data in 57 homes. Children who lived in households with working Manz BioSand filters were less likely to have had diarrhea in the 2 weeks prior to the evaluation. There remained a gap between health knowledge and healthy …