Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Commons^™

Quality Management: A Global Case Study In Organ Transplantation, Cassie L. Rodriguez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Every year the US and European countries face an epidemic of organ failure from a multitude of reasons: cancer, genetic predisposition, exposure to harmful chemicals in home or surrounding areas or through drinking, drugs and smoking. Another problem faced, is the ratio of organ donors to organ recipients. Over 121,000 patients are on the waiting for an organ transplant, and a fraction of those waiting will die because of time. The Hanover Medical school and department of quality management, have created an integrated approach to organ transplant avenues. Quality management is a systematic guide for organ transplantation that allows all …

Analysis Of The Efforts Of Urban And Rural Health Systems To Achieve Accountable Care Organization Target Goals For Dilated Eye Exams In Individuals With Diabetes, Michele Gilliam

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This capstone project was designed to understand and analyze the completion rates for diabetic dilated eye exams within four different health systems participating in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). This research is valuable within the current US health care climate as health care providers have sought to evaluate the cost of care in terms of their value to payers. Moreover, many providers have elected to join the ACO in order to demonstrate better outcomes, improve the cost of care and to share programmatic content and tools to standardized care. Within this capstone, system level workflows and processes were evaluated …

An Analysis Of Women’S Access To Acute Opioid Detoxification Services In Maine: Identifying The Barriers To Treatment, Karen E. Conley

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The lack of treatment facilities and services for opioid use disorder in Maine, combined with an increased prevalence of addiction, creates a potential for health inequity between men and women that may be intensified by barriers in access to care. This capstone study utilized detoxification screening inquiry forms and data obtained from the Milestone Foundation’s acute opioid detoxification program to assess and categorize barriers to access by gender. A barriers model was developed based on existing literature and was to identify potential associations among and between the known barriers to accessing treatment. Barriers were described as internally or externally based, …

Chronic Pain Causal Attributions In An Interdisciplinary Primary Care Clinic: Patient-Provider And Provider-Provider Discrepancies, Bryan Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of pain causal attributions on patient pain-related functioning, treatment engagement, and clinical outcomes. Additionally, the impact of discordant pain causal attributions between patients and their providers as well as between interdisciplinary providers was examined. Patients rated their pain functioning and causal pain attributions during a regular clinic visit. Following the patient’s visit both the behavioral medicine provider and internal medicine resident provided ratings of similar pain-related functioning domains and causal attributions. Follow-up data were collected from the electronic medical record three months following that clinic visit. Overall, results revealed …

The Physician’S Perspective On The Impact Of Interpretive Services On The Physician- Patient Relationship, Amrita Pandey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The basis of the physician-patient relationship relies heavily on communication. It has been known that conversation between physician and patient is important in both diagnosing and providing therapeutic support. However, according to the US Census Bureau twenty percent of the US population does not use English as their first language. These residents face language barriers on a daily basis, including when they are being treated medically. The aim of this study was to research the physician’s perspective on the use of interpretive services and how it impacts the physician- patient relationship. The research consisted of surveying physicians who encounter patients …