Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Transmission Of Yellow Fever Vaccine Virus Through Blood Transfusion And Organ Transplantation In The Usa In 2021: Report Of An Investigation, Carolyn V. Gould, Rebecca J. Free, Julu Bhatnagar, Raymond A. Soto, Tricia L. Royer, Warren R. Maley, Sean Moss, Matthew A. Berk, Rebecca Craig-Shapiro, Rosy Priya L. Kodiyanplakkal, Lars F. Westblade, Thangamani Muthukumar, Yoram A. Puius, Amresh Raina, Azam Hadi, Kymberly A. Gyure, Danielle Trief, Marcus Pereira, Matthew J. Kuehnert, Vennus Ballen, Debra A. Kessler, Kimberly Dailey, Charles Omura, Thuy Doan, Steve Miller, Michael R. Wilson, Jennifer A. Lehman, Jana M. Ritter, Elizabeth Lee, Luciana Silva-Flannery, Sarah Reagan-Steiner, Jason O. Velez, Janeen J. Laven, Kelly A. Fitzpatrick, Amanda Panella, Emily H. Davis, Holly R. Hughes, Aaron C. Brault, Kirsten St George, Amy B. Dean, Joel Ackelsberg, Sridhar V. Basavaraju, Charles Y. Chiu, J. Erin Staples

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: In 2021, four patients who had received solid organ transplants in the USA developed encephalitis beginning 2-6 weeks after transplantation from a common organ donor. We describe an investigation into the cause of encephalitis in these patients.

METHODS: From Nov 7, 2021, to Feb 24, 2022, we conducted a public health investigation involving 15 agencies and medical centres in the USA. We tested various specimens (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, intraocular fluid, serum, and tissues) from the organ donor and recipients by serology, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, metagenomic next-generation sequencing, and host gene expression, and conducted a traceback of blood transfusions received by …

Her3 Targeting Augments The Efficacy Of Panobinostat In Claudin-Low Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Hui Lyu, Defu Hou, Hao Liu, Sanbao Ruan, Congcong Tan, Jiande Wu, Chindo Hicks, Bolin Liu

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a poor prognosis and high relapse rate due to limited therapeutic options. This study was conducted to determine the mechanisms of action of panobinostat, a pan-inhibitor of histone deacetylase (HDAC) and FDA-approved medication for multiple myeloma, in TNBC and to provide a rationale for effective drug combinations against this aggressive disease. RNA sequencing analyses of the claudin-low (CL) TNBC (MDA-MB-231) cells untreated or treated with panobinostat were performed to identify the differentially expressed genes. Adaptive alterations in gene expression were analyzed and validated in additional CL TNBC cells. Tumor xenograft models were used …

Effects Of Dietary Phytoestrogens On Spermatogenesis And Male Reproductive Tract In Mice, Trenton A. Dalm

Masters Theses

Increases in infertility over the past 50 years are linked to environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). One type of EDC is phytoestrogens, commonly found in soy-based diets and foods such as cauliflower, tofu, and broccoli. Phytoestrogens may bind estrogen receptors and have positive or negative effects on receptor signaling. The developing male reproductive tract is potentially susceptible to endocrine disruptors leading to changes in adult reproductive function and possibly infertility. We hypothesized that dietary phytoestrogen exposure would have a dose dependent effect with the high diet yielding the lowest sperm count and worst performance compared to the medium …

Combined Crispri And Proteomics Screening Reveal A Cohesin-Ctcf-Bound Allele Contributing To Increased Expression Of Ruvbl1 And Prostate Cancer Progression, Yijun Tian, Dandan Dong, Zixian Wang, Lang Wu, Jong Y Park, Gong-Hong Wei, Liang Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genome-wide association studies along with expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping have identified hundreds of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their target genes in prostate cancer (PCa), yet functional characterization of these risk loci remains challenging. To screen for potential regulatory SNPs, we designed a CRISPRi library containing 9,133 guide RNAs (gRNAs) to cover 2,166 candidate SNP loci implicated in PCa and identified 117 SNPs that could regulate 90 genes for PCa cell growth advantage. Among these, rs60464856 was covered by multiple gRNAs significantly depleted in screening (FDR < 0.05). Pooled SNP association analysis in the PRACTICAL and FinnGen cohorts showed significantly higher PCa risk for the rs60464856 G allele (p value = 1.2 × 10

Genotype Error Due To Low-Coverage Sequencing Induces Uncertainty In Polygenic Scoring, Ella Petter, Yi Ding, Kangcheng Hou, Arjun Bhattacharya, Alexander Gusev, Noah Zaitlen, Bogdan Pasaniuc

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Polygenic scores (PGSs) have emerged as a standard approach to predict phenotypes from genotype data in a wide array of applications from socio-genomics to personalized medicine. Traditional PGSs assume genotype data to be error-free, ignoring possible errors and uncertainties introduced from genotyping, sequencing, and/or imputation. In this work, we investigate the effects of genotyping error due to low coverage sequencing on PGS estimation. We leverage SNP array and low-coverage whole-genome sequencing data (lcWGS, median coverage 0.04×) of 802 individuals from the Dana-Farber PROFILE cohort to show that PGS error correlates with sequencing depth (p = 1.2 × 10

Moving The Pendulum For Glioblastoma Treatment: One Injection At A Time, Xizi Wu, Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite advances, glioblastoma is characterized by exceptionally high rates of recurrence and resistance to therapy. This commentary remarks on the recently published article by Maruyama et al, which reports the PMDA review of G47Δ injection for malignant glioma, in which the efficacy and safety results of G47Δ were evaluated and approval conditions clarified.

Facs-Based Genome-Wide Crispr Screens Define Key Regulators Of Dna Damage Signaling Pathways, Min Huang, Fuwen Yao, Litong Nie, Chao Wang, Dan Su, Huimin Zhang, Siting Li, Mengfan Tang, Xu Feng, Bin Yu, Zhen Chen, Shimin Wang, Ling Yin, Lisha Mou, Traver Hart, Junjie Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DNA damage-activated signaling pathways are critical for coordinating multiple cellular processes, which must be tightly regulated to maintain genome stability. To provide a comprehensive and unbiased perspective of DNA damage response (DDR) signaling pathways, we performed 30 fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)-based genome-wide CRISPR screens in human cell lines with antibodies recognizing distinct endogenous DNA damage signaling proteins to identify critical regulators involved in DDR. We discovered that proteasome-mediated processing is an early and prerequisite event for cells to trigger camptothecin- and etoposide-induced DDR signaling. Furthermore, we identified PRMT1 and PRMT5 as modulators that regulate ATM protein level. Moreover, we discovered …

Two Structurally Defined Aβ Polymorphs Promote Different Pathological Changes In Susceptible Mice, Ruben Gomez-Gutierrez, Ujjayini Ghosh, Wai-Ming Yau, Nazaret Gamez, Katherine Do, Carlos Kramm, Hamid Shirani, Laura Vegas-Gomez, Jonathan Schulz, Ines Moreno-Gonzalez, Antonia Gutierrez, K Peter R Nilsson, Robert Tycko, Claudio Soto, Rodrigo Morales

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Misfolded Aβ is involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the role of its polymorphic variants or conformational strains in AD pathogenesis is not fully understood. Here, we study the seeding properties of two structurally defined synthetic misfolded Aβ strains (termed 2F and 3F) using in vitro and in vivo assays. We show that 2F and 3F strains differ in their biochemical properties, including resistance to proteolysis, binding to strain-specific dyes, and in vitro seeding. Injection of these strains into a transgenic mouse model produces different pathological features, namely different rates of aggregation, formation of different plaque types, …

Piezo2 In Somatosensory Neurons Controls Gastrointestinal Transit, M Rocio Servin-Vences, Ruby M Lam, Alize Koolen, Yu Wang, Dimah N Saade, Meaghan Loud, Halil Kacmaz, Suzanne Frausto, Yunxiao Zhang, Arthur Beyder, Kara L Marshall, Carsten G Bönnemann, Alexander T Chesler, Ardem Patapoutian

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

The gastrointestinal tract is in a state of constant motion. These movements are tightly regulated by the presence of food and help digestion by mechanically breaking down and propelling gut content. Mechanical sensing in the gut is thought to be essential for regulating motility; however, the identity of the neuronal populations, the molecules involved, and the functional consequences of this sensation are unknown. Here, we show that humans lacking PIEZO2 exhibit impaired bowel sensation and motility. Piezo2 in mouse dorsal root, but not nodose ganglia is required to sense gut content, and this activity slows down food transit rates in …

Safety And Efficacy Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors In Patients With Cancer And Viral Hepatitis: The Md Anderson Cancer Center Experience, Mirella Nardo, Bulent Yilmaz, Blessie Elizabeth Nelson, Harrys A Torres, Lan Sun Wang, Bruno Palma Granwehr, Juhee Song, Hanna R F Dalla Pria, Van A Trinh, Isabella C Glitza Oliva, Sapna P Patel, Nizar M Tannir, Ahmed Omar Kaseb, Mehmet Altan, Sunyoung S Lee, Ethan Miller, Hao Zhang, Bettzy A Stephen, Aung Naing

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Despite the clinical benefit of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), patients with a viral hepatitis have been excluded from clinical trials because of safety concerns. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence rate of adverse events (AEs) in patients with viral hepatitis who received ICIs for cancer treatment.

Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective study in patients with cancer and concurrent hepatitis B or C, who had undergone treatment with ICI at MD Anderson Cancer Center from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019.

Results: Of the 1076 patients screened, we identified 33 with concurrent hepatitis. …

Novel Murine Glioblastoma Models That Reflect The Immunotherapy Resistance Profile Of A Human Disease, Chao-Hsien Chen, Renee L Chin, Genevieve P Hartley, Spencer T Lea, Brian J Engel, Cheng-En Hsieh, Rishika Prasad, Jason Roszik, Takashi Shingu, Gregory A Lizee, Amy B Heimberger, Steven W Millward, Jian Hu, David S Hong, Michael A Curran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The lack of murine glioblastoma models that mimic the immunobiology of human disease has impeded basic and translational immunology research. We, therefore, developed murine glioblastoma stem cell lines derived from Nestin-CreERT2QkL/L; Trp53L/L; PtenL/L (QPP) mice driven by clinically relevant genetic mutations common in human glioblastoma. This study aims to determine the immune sensitivities of these QPP lines in immunocompetent hosts and their underlying mechanisms.

METHODS: The differential responsiveness of QPP lines was assessed in the brain and flank in untreated, anti-PD-1, or anti-CTLA-4 treated mice. The impact of genomic landscape on the responsiveness of each tumor was measured through …

Mavs Signaling Is Required For Preventing Persistent Chikungunya Heart Infection And Chronic Vascular Tissue Inflammation, Maria G Noval, Sophie N Spector, Eric Bartnicki, Franco Izzo, Navneet Narula, Stephen T Yeung, Payal Damani-Yokota, M Zahidunnabi Dewan, Valeria Mezzano, Bruno A Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Cynthia Loomis, Kamal M Khanna, Kenneth A Stapleford

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection has been associated with severe cardiac manifestations, yet, how CHIKV infection leads to heart disease remains unknown. Here, we leveraged both mouse models and human primary cardiac cells to define the mechanisms of CHIKV heart infection. Using an immunocompetent mouse model of CHIKV infection as well as human primary cardiac cells, we demonstrate that CHIKV directly infects and actively replicates in cardiac fibroblasts. In immunocompetent mice, CHIKV is cleared from cardiac tissue without significant damage through the induction of a local type I interferon response from both infected and non-infected cardiac cells. Using mice deficient in …

Effectiveness Of An Emergency Department-Based Machine Learning Clinical Decision Support Tool To Prevent Outpatient Falls Among Older Adults: Protocol For A Quasi-Experimental Study, Daniel J Hekman, Amy L Cochran, Apoorva P Maru, Hanna J Barton, Manish N Shah, Douglas Wiegmann, Maureen A Smith, Frank Liao, Brian W Patterson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background

Emergency department (ED) providers are important collaborators in preventing falls for older adults because they are often the first health care providers to see a patient after a fall and because at-home falls are often preceded by previous ED visits. Previous work has shown that ED referrals to falls interventions can reduce the risk of an at-home fall by 38%. Screening patients at risk for a fall can be time-consuming and difficult to implement in the ED setting. Machine learning (ML) and clinical decision support (CDS) offer the potential of automating the screening process. However, it remains unclear whether …

Urachal Xanthogranuloma: A Rare But Important Case Presenting As A Urachal Mass, Kunal Jain, Esha Jain, Richard Dilena, Rola Saleeb, Umesh Jain

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: A urachal mass is a relatively rare presentation to the urologists' practice, often requiring radical surgical excision for a definitive diagnosis. Xanthogranulomatous inflammation of the urachus is an extremely rare entity with few cases reported worldwide, and to the best of our knowledge, no cases reported in the western world.

CASE PRESENTATION: In this case, a 55-year-old male patient presented with bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms and computed tomography findings demonstrating a urachal mass that was worrisome for urachal carcinoma. Following surgical intervention, histopathology revealed urachal xanthogranuloma. Post-operatively, the patient recovered well, and eventually, he had symptomatic and radiologic …

Spatial Distribution Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Mrna And Secreted Antigens In Acid-Fast Negative Human Antemortem And Resected Tissue, Job Dekker, Frank Alber, Sarah Aufmkolk, Brian J Beliveau, Benoit G Bruneau, Andrew S Belmont, Lacramioara Bintu, Alistair Boettiger, Riccardo Calandrelli, Christine M Disteche, David M Gilbert, Thomas Gregor, Anders S Hansen, Bo Huang, Danwei Huangfu, Reza Kalhor, Christina S Leslie, Wenbo Li, Yun Li, Jian Ma, William S Noble, Peter J Park, Jennifer E Phillips-Cremins, Katherine S Pollard, Susanne M Rafelski, Bing Ren, Yijun Ruan, Yaron Shav-Tal, Yin Shen, Jay Shendure, Xiaokun Shu, Caterina Strambio-De-Castillia, Anastassiia Vertii, Huaiying Zhang, Sheng Zhong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The four-dimensional nucleome (4DN) consortium studies the architecture of the genome and the nucleus in space and time. We summarize progress by the consortium and highlight the development of technologies for (1) mapping genome folding and identifying roles of nuclear components and bodies, proteins, and RNA, (2) characterizing nuclear organization with time or single-cell resolution, and (3) imaging of nuclear organization. With these tools, the consortium has provided over 2,000 public datasets. Integrative computational models based on these data are starting to reveal connections between genome structure and function. We then present a forward-looking perspective and outline current aims to …

Donor-Recipient Specificity And Age-Dependency In Fecal Microbiota Therapy And Probiotic Resolution Of Gastrointestinal Symptoms, Qinglong Wu, Prapaporn Boonma, Shyam Badu, Nazli Yalcinkaya, Sik Yu So, Kevin W Garey, Kent Williams, L Eugene Arnold, Robert J Shulman, Richard Kellermayer, Tor C Savidge

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has proven to be an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) in both adult and pediatric patients. However, as microbiome development is a critical factor in children, it remains unclear whether adult fecal donors can provide age-appropriate functional restoration in pediatric patients. To address this issue, we conducted an integrated systems approach and found that concordant donor strain engraftment, along with metabolite restoration, are associated with FMT outcomes in both adult and pediatric rCDI patients. Although functional restoration after FMT is not strain-specific, specialized metabolic functions are retained in pediatric patients when adult fecal …

Proteogenomic Analysis Of Chemo-Refractory High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Shrabanti Chowdhury, Jacob J Kennedy, Richard G Ivey, Oscar D Murillo, Noshad Hosseini, Xiaoyu Song, Francesca Petralia, Anna Calinawan, Sara R Savage, Anna B Berry, Boris Reva, Umut Ozbek, Azra Krek, Weiping Ma, Felipe Da Veiga Leprevost, Jiayi Ji, Seungyeul Yoo, Chenwei Lin, Uliana J Voytovich, Yajue Huang, Sun-Hee Lee, Lindsay Bergan, Travis D Lorentzen, Mehdi Mesri, Henry Rodriguez, Andrew N Hoofnagle, Zachary T Herbert, Alexey I Nesvizhskii, Bing Zhang, Jeffrey R Whiteaker, David Fenyo, Wilson Mckerrow, Joshua Wang, Stephan C Schürer, Vasileios Stathias, X Steven Chen, Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff, Timothy K Starr, Boris J Winterhoff, Andrew C Nelson, Samuel C Mok, Scott H Kaufmann, Charles Drescher, Marcin Cieslik, Pei Wang, Michael J Birrer, Amanda G Paulovich

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

To improve the understanding of chemo-refractory high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOCs), we characterized the proteogenomic landscape of 242 (refractory and sensitive) HGSOCs, representing one discovery and two validation cohorts across two biospecimen types (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded and frozen). We identified a 64-protein signature that predicts with high specificity a subset of HGSOCs refractory to initial platinum-based therapy and is validated in two independent patient cohorts. We detected significant association between lack of Ch17 loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and chemo-refractoriness. Based on pathway protein expression, we identified 5 clusters of HGSOC, which validated across two independent patient cohorts and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) …

Beyond The Exome: What’S Next In Diagnostic Testing For Mendelian Conditions, Monica H Wojcik, Chloe M Reuter, Shruti Marwaha, Medhat Mahmoud, Michael H Duyzend, Hayk Barseghyan, Bo Yuan, Philip M Boone, Emily E Groopman, Emmanuèle C Délot, Deepti Jain, Alba Sanchis-Juan, Genomics Research To Elucidate The Genetics Of Rare Diseases (Gregor) Consortium, Lea M Starita, Michael Talkowski, Stephen B Montgomery, Michael J Bamshad, Jessica X Chong, Matthew T Wheeler, Seth I Berger, Anne O'Donnell-Luria, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Danny E Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite advances in clinical genetic testing, including the introduction of exome sequencing (ES), more than 50% of individuals with a suspected Mendelian condition lack a precise molecular diagnosis. Clinical evaluation is increasingly undertaken by specialists outside of clinical genetics, often occurring in a tiered fashion and typically ending after ES. The current diagnostic rate reflects multiple factors, including technical limitations, incomplete understanding of variant pathogenicity, missing genotype-phenotype associations, complex gene-environment interactions, and reporting differences between clinical labs. Maintaining a clear understanding of the rapidly evolving landscape of diagnostic tests beyond ES, and their limitations, presents a challenge for non-genetics professionals. …

Monoallelic Variation In Dhx9, The Gene Encoding The Dexh-Box Helicase Dhx9, Underlies Neurodevelopment Disorders And Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Daniel G Calame, Tianyu Guo, Chen Wang, Lillian Garrett, Angad Jolly, Moez Dawood, Alina Kurolap, Noa Zunz Henig, Jawid M Fatih, Isabella Herman, Haowei Du, Tadahiro Mitani, Lore Becker, Birgit Rathkolb, Raffaele Gerlini, Claudia Seisenberger, Susan Marschall, Jill V Hunter, Amanda Gerard, Alexis Heidlebaugh, Thomas Challman, Rebecca C Spillmann, Shalini N Jhangiani, Zeynep Coban-Akdemir, Seema Lalani, Lingxiao Liu, Anya Revah-Politi, Alejandro Iglesias, Edwin Guzman, Evan Baugh, Nathalie Boddaert, Sophie Rondeau, Clothide Ormieres, Giulia Barcia, Queenie K G Tan, Isabelle Thiffault, Tomi Pastinen, Kazim Sheikh, Suur Biliciler, Davide Mei, Federico Melani, Vandana Shashi, Yuval Yaron, Mary Steele, Emma Wakeling, Elsebet Østergaard, Lusine Nazaryan-Petersen, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Francisca Millan, Teresa Santiago-Sim, Julien Thevenon, Ange-Line Bruel, Christel Thauvin-Robinet, Denny Popp, Konrad Platzer, Pawel Gawlinski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Dana Marafi, Davut Pehlivan, Jennifer E Posey, Richard A Gibbs, Valerie Gailus-Durner, Renzo Guerrini, Helmut Fuchs, Martin Hrabě De Angelis, Sabine M Hölter, Hoi-Hung Cheung, Shen Gu, James R Lupski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DExD/H-box RNA helicases (DDX/DHX) are encoded by a large paralogous gene family; in a subset of these human helicase genes, pathogenic variation causes neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) traits and cancer. DHX9 encodes a BRCA1-interacting nuclear helicase regulating transcription, R-loops, and homologous recombination and exhibits the highest mutational constraint of all DDX/DHX paralogs but remains unassociated with disease traits in OMIM. Using exome sequencing and family-based rare-variant analyses, we identified 20 individuals with de novo, ultra-rare, heterozygous missense or loss-of-function (LoF) DHX9 variant alleles. Phenotypes ranged from NDDs to the distal symmetric polyneuropathy axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT2). Quantitative Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) …

Therapeutic Effects Of Fully Reduced Hmgb1 On Fibroblasts And Pre-Osteoblasts Cultured Under Diabetic Conditions, Alfonso Reyes, Bhuvana Lakkasetter Chandrashekar, Peter Elvin, Danieli Rodrigues, Javier La Fontaine, Claudia Biguetti

School of Podiatric Medicine - Student Research

Background: Recent studies have shown that fully reduced High Mobility Group Box-1 (FR-HMGB1) can improve wound healing under normoglycemic conditions, but it has not been tested for diabetic conditions. This study aimed to assess the regenerative potential of FR-HMGB1 under high glucose levels in vitro.

Methods: Migration of human fibroblasts (HF) was tested using a scratch assay in control conditions, and in the presence of FR-HMGB1 (1.0 µg/mL and 10 µg/mL), both in non-diabetic (ND) and diabetic (D) conditions (60mM of glucose added to the culture media). HF cells were tested after 18 hours of scratching and stained with …

Er-Mitochondria Contacts And Cholesterol Metabolism Are Disrupted By Disease-Associated Tau Protein, Leonora Szabo, Nadia Cummins, Paolo Paganetti, Alex Odermatt, Andreas Papassotiropoulos, Celeste Karch, Jürgen Götz, Anne Eckert, Amandine Grimm

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Abnormal tau protein impairs mitochondrial function, including transport, dynamics, and bioenergetics. Mitochondria interact with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) via mitochondria-associated ER membranes (MAMs), which coordinate and modulate many cellular functions, including mitochondrial cholesterol metabolism. Here, we show that abnormal tau loosens the association between the ER and mitochondria in vivo and in vitro. Especially, ER-mitochondria interactions via vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein (VAPB)-protein tyrosine phosphatase-interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) are decreased in the presence of abnormal tau. Disruption of MAMs in cells with abnormal tau alters the levels of mitochondrial cholesterol and pregnenolone, indicating that conversion of cholesterol into pregnenolone is impaired. …

Special Issue 2024: Transforming Experience In Non-Hospital Settings, Patient Experience Journal

Patient Experience Journal

Patient Experience Journal(PXJ) is excited to announce the call for submissions for its July/August 2024 special issue focused on exploring how healthcare organizations are transforming experience in non-hospital settings. So much of the experience conversation has been focused on and driven by the hospital setting – from acute care, to pediatrics, safety net hospitals and more. While this focus remains essential to some of the most critical care delivered in the healthcare ecosystem, it is important to recognize the volume of care being provided in new and existing settings. This special issue seeks to uncover and elevate the practices …

Leveraging The Intersectionality Of Healthcare And Hospitality To Diversify Workforce Talent And Enhance Patient Experience, Sven Gierlinger, Nicole Giammarinaro, Mallory Tuomey, Leah Petrosino

Patient Experience Journal

As healthcare becomes more of a consumerism-based industry, organizations and leaders are embracing innovative approaches and models to drive patient choice and brand loyalty. Northwell Health, New York State’s largest comprehensive health system, has integrated hospitality as a core pillar within its dynamic patient experience strategy. This informative case report highlights Northwell’s pragmatic approach to designing, implementing, and sustaining an experiential internship program entitled, Hospitality in Healthcare Internship. The program has resulted in action-oriented patient experience performance improvement opportunities as well as create a robust pipeline of hospitality-minded talent into the organization.

Experience Framework

This article is associated with the …

A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective On Quality Of Care Among Residents, Family Members And Nursing Staff In Nursing Homes: A Balanced Centricity Approach, Sil Aarts, Erica De Vries, Hilde Verbeek, Gaby Odekerken, Katya Y. J. Sion

Patient Experience Journal

The objective of this study was to use a Balanced Centricity (BC) approach to describe how personal values related to experienced quality of care are defined for residents, family and nursing staff in nursing homes. Capturing the values from a multi-stakeholder perspective, a qualitative approach was conducted in which the stakeholders’ (e.g., residents, family members of residents and nursing staff; a triad) experiences, opinions and values were explored. Participants were recruited from ten nursing homes within the Living Lab in Ageing & Long-Term Care Limburg, the Netherlands. The audio recording of every interview was transcribed verbatim. The analysis made use …

Perceptive Responses And Familiar Staff Facilitate Meaningful Engagement Of Older Adults And Family/Care Partners In Long-Term Care Home Implementation Science Research During Covid-19, Marie-Lee Yous, Denise M. Connelly, Ruthie Zhuang, Melissa E. Hay, Anna Garnett, Lillian Hung, Nancy Snobelen, Harrison Gao, Ken Criferg, Cherie Furlan-Craievich, Shannon Snelgrove, Melissa Babcock, Jacqueline Ripley

Patient Experience Journal

A novel registered practical nurse-led video conferencing approach using PIECES^TM for team-based care planning was developed to engage family/care partners in the care of older adults. The objectives were to: (a) explore the experiences of older adults and family/care partners in collaborating in implementation science research in long-term care (LTC); (b) identify facilitators and barriers to engaging older adults and family/care partners in implementation science research; and (c) share recommendations to support the engagement of older adults and family/care partners in research. A qualitative descriptive design was used. Two older adults and two family/care partners from two Canadian LTC …

Leveraging Telehealth Supportive Oncology Services To Combat Covid-19 Isolation In Breast Cancer Patients: A Cancer Center’S Perspective, Jake R. Erickson, Maranda K. Pahlkotter, Paul D. Thielking, Jane M. Porretta, Regina Rosenthal, Cindy B. Matsen, Kirstyn E. Brownson

Patient Experience Journal

During the COVID-19 pandemic, breast cancer patient in-person visits were converted to telehealth visits. Given our concerns about increased isolation amongst breast cancer patients during the pandemic, and the deleterious effects of such isolation on patient outcomes, we investigated utilization rates of psycho-social services amongst newly diagnosed breast cancer patients at our institution. We explored visit platforms (telehealth versus in-person) and time points prior to and encompassing the early pandemic. Despite decreased new breast cancer visits, there was a greater than 2-fold increase in supportive oncology service encounters in breast cancer patients during COVID-19 suggesting increased need for psycho-oncology resources. …

The Role Of Patient-Centered Communication Scale In Patients’ Satisfaction Of Healthcare Providers Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mohammad A. Tabatabai, Patricia Matthews-Juarez, Nader Bahri, Robert Cooper, Donald Alcendor, Aramandla Ramesh, Derek Wilus, Karan Singh, Paul Juarez

Patient Experience Journal

Assess the effect of patient-centered communication (PCC) scale on the patient satisfaction of healthcare providers (HCPs). The 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) was used to analyze the patient’s satisfaction of HCPs. This survey includes 2466 patients’ responses and were analyzed using the multivariable binary Hyperbolastic regression model of type II. The study examines the effects of PCC scale on patients’ satisfaction of HCPs while controlling for pandemic status, employment, education, marital status, race, political views, waiting time status, sex, income, and age. PCC scale was the most significant predictor of patients’ satisfaction of their HCPs (P-value < 0.001) followed by waiting time status (P-value < 0.001), and age (P-value = 0.016). The odds of patient satisfaction with the healthcare provider services were approximately 20% higher prior to the pandemic than during the pandemic (P-value = 0.415). The odds of satisfaction for patients earning $100k+ was approximately three times more than those making less than $35,000 (P-value = 0.003). PCC scale is a powerful measure that may be used as a metric for patients’ satisfaction of HCPs. Taking steps to improve communication between HCPs and patients is a key factor in patient satisfaction. Concentrating on the seven domains of PCC will result in higher patient satisfaction of HCPs. The improvement in PCC will encourage each patient to disclose vital information about his or her health. This may increase the accuracy of diagnosis, quality of care, and health outcomes.

Experience Framework …

How Covid-19 Changed Frontline Healthcare Workers’ Experiences: A Narrative Inquiry Into The Impact Of Chronic Burnout On A Surgical Physician Assistant’S Wellness, Lihua Dishman, Rhionna J. Smith

Patient Experience Journal

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon resulting from unmanaged chronic workplace stress. Since COVID-19 started, burnout among healthcare workers has worsened and become a public health crisis. Wellness is about leading a physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy lifestyle to achieve one’s full potential through positive affirmations. Its multiple dimensions include (1) physical, (2) emotional, (3) intellectual, (4) occupational, (5) social, and (6) spiritual. Extant empirical literature lacked regarding surgical physician assistants and how chronic burnout affected their wellness. This longitudinal narrative inquiry thus aimed to explore the perceived impact of a surgical physician assistant’s chronic burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic on …

Doctor Behaviors That Impact Patient Satisfaction, Bryan Lilly, Michael J. Tippins, Katharine Tippins, Julia Lilly

Patient Experience Journal

Patient satisfaction with their doctor is an essential component of healthcare that impacts both patient health outcomes and fiscal success of healthcare organizations. This study identifies doctor behaviors that act as drivers of patient satisfaction when doctor expertise is set aside and determines the importance of these behaviors between different age groups. Survey data were gathered from two samples, one comprising younger adults at a mid-size Midwestern university (n=100) and one comprising older adults from a national market research survey panel provider (n=187). Subjects were asked to rate their satisfaction with their doctors from 0‑100 and rate the importance of …

Identifying Sources Of Patient Dissatisfaction When Seeking Care For A Chronic And Complex Disease, Katharine J. Head, Anna K. Forster, Amanda Harsin, Rebecca J. Bartlett Ellis

Patient Experience Journal

Patients’ evaluations of healthcare often rely on patient satisfaction and encounter-specific approaches. Instead, valuable information can be gained by focusing on patient dissatisfaction with healthcare over time. This study examined patients’ sources of care dissatisfaction when seeking healthcare for a long-term chronic and complex disease (CCD). Participants with a CCD called polycystic kidney disease (N=387) completed an online questionnaire with an open-ended question about dissatisfying experiences. Content analysis was used to analyze responses. The coded data resulted in conceptual codes related to dissatisfaction with information, support, and care management. Analysis revealed the type of healthcare provider is often …