Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Healthcare: Changing Us Health Policy, Georgia Barber

Honors Projects

The United States healthcare system differs from any other system because of its unique health coverage that varies depending on the individual. In other developed countries, healthcare access has been deemed a human right, and insurance access and healthcare costs are equal and shared among citizens. The US has failed to create a healthcare system that values the life of the American rather than the monetary value that the healthcare sector can provide for the country. Countries with far less gross domestic product have more inclusive healthcare systems that provide equal access to residents. Additionally, the US has various healthcare …

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 …

Focusing On Candidate Experience To Decenter White Professionalism In Hiring And Onboarding, Annie Bélanger, Kat Bell, Lori Cawthorne, Jesus Espinoza

Presentations

In Focusing on Candidate Experience to Decenter White Professionalism in Hiring and Onboarding, participants will engage with the presenters and one another to dive into hiring and onboarding practices within libraries. The workshop will be structured along the hiring to onboarding life cycle with a focus on leading practices for inclusive processes. Learning about these processes will help those on the job search in better navigating processes and in making informed decisions about an organization as well as those interested in leadership in considering ways to foster healthy candidate-focused processes. Lastly, the presenters will provide practical tips on being an …

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. …

In-Vivo Evaluation Of Molybdenum As Bioabsorbable Stent Candidate, Malgorzata Sikora-Jasinska, Lea M. Morath, Maria P. Kwesiga, Margaret E. Plank, Alexia L. Nelson, Alexander A. Oliver, Martin L. Bocks, Roger J. Guillory Ii, Jeremy Goldman

Peer Reviewed Articles

Biodegradable stents have tremendous theoretical potential as an alternative to bare metal stents and drugeluting stents for the treatment of obstructive coronary artery disease. Any bioresorbable or biodegradable scaffold material needs to possess optimal mechanical properties and uniform degradation behavior that avoids local and systemic toxicity. Recently, molybdenum (Mo) has been investigated as a potential novel biodegradable material for this purpose. With its proven moderate degradation rate and excellent mechanical properties, Mo may represent an ideal source material for clinical cardiac and vascular applications. The present study was performed to evaluate the mechanical performance of metallic Mo in vitro and …

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 …

Twiggy: An Osteological Reconstruction Of A Skeletal Model's Identity, Alexis Rausch

Student Scholars Day Posters

Since the 1990s, GVSU’s Anthropology Department has housed the disarticulated hanging skeleton of an individual nicknamed Twiggy who was originally used as a medical model. Typically little is known about individuals used as medical models, as is true in this individual’s case. To continue using these remains as teaching material, it is imperative that we understand more about their life. In alignment with post-processual archaeological theory, this project aims to reconstruct the life of one individual. In order to do so, a profile will be constructed for the individual by estimating traits such as age, sex, and stature. Their remains …

Analysis Of Dental Topography Of Early Eocene North American Tetonius Lineages In The Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, Emily Dear, Emily Elliott, Emma Miller, Jeremy Wood

Student Scholars Day Posters

Changes in the structure of ecological communities are often correlated with changes in the surrounding environment. The Bighorn Basin in Wyoming presents fossil evidence that depicts significant shifts in the community structure of North American mammalian species at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. This diversity can be credited to marked temperature increases during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The association between temperature and dietary niche of omomyid euprimates, specifically the Tetonius lineage, was examined using reconstructed relief index, a dental topographic measure (N=20). A correlation analysis supported the hypothesis that abiotic changes in climate during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum were linked to variation …

Audio Data Capture/Tagging Tools For Machine Learning Apps, Alvaro Eugenio Ardila Perez

Technical Library

Machine learning is based on two things, data and statistics, by feeding data into a computer and applying statistics the application can learn any type of pattern behind the administered data. Based on this we wanted to create an application that allows people to control and improve their dental hygiene by listening to the user brushing their teeth. However, during the study of the project, it was identified that for this specific objective there was not enough data for the development and execution of this project. Therefore, we decided to create a tool to gather, label and categorize audio files …

Life In A Rural Emergency Department: Patients Speak To Underlying, Fundamental Disparities In Physician And Resource Allocation, Jessica Gustad

Honors Projects

In the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, access to health care was defined as, “The availability of an adequate supply of health care services and the individual’s opportunity to obtain health care when it is wanted or needed” (MacKinney, 2014). Current trends in rural emergency departments are trying to communicate a critical message about the fundamental problems with the distribution of health care services in America today and the inability to properly meet the definition above. In rural communities, patient complaints and behaviors demonstrate the pressing concerns of inadequate access to primary care, limited specialty care, insufficient mental …

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 …

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 042, Number 06, November 6, 2017, Grand Valley State University

2017-2018, Volume 42

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Health Check: Analyzing Trends In West Michigan 2017, Grand Valley State University

Health Check: Analyzing Trends in West Michigan

No abstract provided.

Lanthorn, Vol. 51, No. 25, November 17, 2016, Grand Valley State University

Volume 51, July 11, 2016 - June 5, 2017

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

The First Hominin From The Early Pleistocene Paleocave Of Haasgat, South Africa, Ab Leece, Anthony D T Kegley, Rodrigo S. Lacruz, Andy I R Herries, Jason Hemingway, Lazarus Kgasi, Stephany Potze, Justin W. Adams

Peer Reviewed Articles

Haasgat is a primate-rich fossil locality in the northeastern part of the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we report the first hominin identified from Haasgat, a partial maxillary molar (HGT 500), that was recovered from an ex situ calcified sediment block sampled from the locality. The in situ fossil bearing deposits of the Haasgat paleokarstic deposits are estimated to date to slightly older than 1.95 Ma based on magnetobiostratigraphy. This places the hominin specimen at a critical time period in South Africa that marks the last occurrence of Australopithecus around 1.98 Ma and the …

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 …

Lanthorn, Vol. 50, No. 44, February 22, 2016, Grand Valley State University

Volume 50, July 13, 2015 - June 6, 2016

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

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 …

Health Check: Analyzing Trends In West Michigan 2016, Grand Valley State University

Health Check: Analyzing Trends in West Michigan

No abstract provided.

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.

Lanthorn, Vol. 49, No. 56, April 6, 2015, Grand Valley State University

Volume 49, July 7, 2014 - June 1, 2015

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 49, No. 41, February 5, 2015, Grand Valley State University

Volume 49, July 7, 2014 - June 1, 2015

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.