Health Services Research Commons^™

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Regarding Antimicrobial Resistance And Antimicrobial Stewardship Among Healthcare Workers In Outpatient Medical Centers In Kenya: A Qualitative Study, Mary Kaniu, Wahu Gitakah, Rupali Jain, Ann Munyare, Rodney Adam, Aliza Monroe Wise

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Objective: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health threat with a projected 10 million deaths globally by 2050. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs are coordinated efforts involving doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers. Understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health providers is pivotal for implementing strategies to curb the spread of AMR. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding AMR and AMS among healthcare workers in Kenya.

Design: A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews

Setting: 12 private outpatient clinics in Kenya.

Participants: Healthcare workers including administrators and clinicians. …

The Perception Of Waiting Times On Patient Satisfaction And Patient Care: A Cross-Sectional Study At A Tertiary Health Care Institution In Kenya, Soud Seif, Jasmit Shah, Ali Chandani, Sayed Karar

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Introduction: Patients often spend significant time waiting for care, which influences patient satisfaction, perceived quality, access to care, and utilization of various health care services. Waiting time and resulting implications remain understudied in low- and middle-income countries like Kenya. This study aimed to describe the impact on the perception of waiting times on patient satisfaction and care at a tertiary healthcare institution in Kenya.

Method: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study between the first of April 2023 and the thirty-first of August 2023 at the Emergency Room (ER) at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Data was collected through a structured …

Toward The Application Of Natural Language Processing In Electronic Health Record Analysis For Taxonomy Development, Latoya Mcdonald

All Dissertations

Electronic health records (EHRs) are pivotal resources for nurse practice because they increase the timeliness and reliability of patient information at the point of care and support access by multiple healthcare providers and the individual patients themselves. However, it is widely recognized that data extraction from EHRs is challenging due to the variability in the language used in clinical care notes and the lack of standardized terminology across healthcare systems. The broad objective of this dissertation is to develop taxonomy-based classification models for nursing care by applying feature engineering approaches to EHRs that include nursing care of ostomy patients following …

Evaluating Surge Capacity In The Emergency Department: A Comprehensive Literature Review On Preparedness And Response Frameworks, Tanner J. Riscoe

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Medical surge capacity in emergency departments is influenced by four critical factors: staff, stuff, space, and systems. Understanding these factors and the interplay between them is critical. Emergency departments are increasingly encountering issues with overcrowding, patient boarding, and medical surge events causing interruptions in care and depleting critical resources. Coordination of medical surge is challenging during normal operations but is intensified during times of crisis. This comprehensive literature review seeks to better understand the current state of the literature surrounding surge preparedness and response in emergency departments across the United States, identify gaps in the current literature, and ultimately recommend …

State Case Count As An Indicator Of Successful Multistate Outbreak Investigation, Lorisa M. Pennell

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background/Objectives: Shiga-Toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a contaminant found in multiple food types and causes multistate outbreaks due to the industrialization of food production. In this report I examine the differences in outbreaks categorized by the regulating agency responsible in outbreak prevention and compare outbreak case counts when organized by positive outbreak investigation and response outcomes.

Methods: STEC Multistate outbreak data was obtained from the Center for Disease Control’s National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) for outbreaks occurring from 2006-2023. Outbreaks were organized into those regulated by either the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the US Department of …

Antibiotic Prophylaxis With Urodynamic Studies In Spinal Cord Injury: Assessing Practice Patterns And Outcomes To Guide Future Practice In A Single Center, Du Pham, Bradley Chi, Felicia Skelton, Donna Huang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Context/objective: Despite urinary tract infections (UTIs) being a common problem in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs), and a well-known complication of invasive urologic procedures, little consensus exists regarding the standard of care for peri-procedural antibiotic use for SCI patients undergoing urodynamics studies (UDS). Our research seeks to evaluate local antibiotic prophylaxis pattern in SCI patients undergoing UDS, assess incidence of post-procedural UTI, describe local antibiotic resistance trends, and provide antibiotic stewardship considerations to guide future practice.

Design/setting/participants: Retrospective cohort study of SCI patients undergoing UDS from January 2010 to January 2020 at a Veterans Affairs SCI Center. Data on …

Using A Transformer Language Model To Curate A Pulmonary Embolism Dataset From The Medical Information Mart For Intensive Care Iv: Mimic-Iv-Ext-Pe, Barbara D Lam, Shengling Ma, Iuliia Kovalenko, Peiqi Wang, Omid Jafari, Ang Li, Steven Horng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a leading cause of preventable in-hospital mortality. Advances in diagnosis, risk stratification, and prevention can improve outcomes. Large, publicly available datasets are needed to move research forward, but are lacking in the field of hemostasis and thrombosis.

Objectives: In this study, we experiment using a machine learning language model to automatically add PE labels to a large dataset.

Methods: We extracted all computed tomography pulmonary angiography radiology reports (N = 19,942) from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV, a database of adult patients who presented to the emergency room or were admitted …

The Contribution Of De Novo Coding Mutations To Meningomyelocele, Yoo-Jin Jiny Ha, Ashna Nisal, Isaac Tang, Chanjae Lee, Ishani Jhamb, Cassidy Wallace, Robyn Howarth, Sarah Schroeder, Keng Ioi Vong, Naomi Meave, Fiza Jiwani, Chelsea Barrows, Sangmoon Lee, Nan Jiang, Arzoo Patel, Krisha Bagga, Niyati Banka, Liana Friedman, Francisco A Blanco, Seyoung Yu, Soeun Rhee, Hui Su Jeong, Isaac Plutzer, Michael B Major, Béatrice Benoit, Christian Poüs, Caleb Heffner, Zoha Kibar, Gyang Markus Bot, Hope Northrup, Kit Sing Au, Madison Strain, Allison E Ashley-Koch, Richard H Finnell, Joan T Le, Hal S Meltzer, Camila Araujo, Helio R Machado, Roger E Stevenson, Anna Yurrita, Sara Mumtaz, Awais Ahmed, Mulazim Hussain Khara, Osvaldo M Mutchinick, José Ramón Medina-Bereciartu, Friedhelm Hildebrandt, Gia Melikishvili, Ahmed I Marwan, Valeria Capra, Mahmoud M Noureldeen, Aida M S Salem, Mahmoud Y Issa, Maha S Zaki, Libin Xu, Ji Eun Lee, Donghyuk Shin, Anna Alkelai, Alan R Shuldiner, Stephen F Kingsmore, Stephen A Murray, Heon Yung Gee, W Todd Miller, Kimberley F Tolias, John B Wallingford, Spina Bifida Sequencing Consortium, Sangwoo Kim, Joseph G Gleeson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Meningomyelocele (also known as spina bifida) is considered to be a genetically complex disease resulting from a failure of the neural tube to close. Individuals with meningomyelocele display neuromotor disability and frequent hydrocephalus, requiring ventricular shunting. A few genes have been proposed to contribute to disease susceptibility, but beyond that it remains unexplained1. We postulated that de novo mutations under purifying selection contribute to the risk of developing meningomyelocele2. Here we recruited a cohort of 851 meningomyelocele trios who required shunting at birth and 732 control trios, and found that de novo likely gene disruption or …

Repeat Ascaris Challenge Reduces Worm Intensity Through Gastric Cellular Reprograming, Yifan Wu, Charlie Suarez-Reyes, Nina L Tang, Alexander R Kneubehl, Jill E Weatherhead

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Ascariasis (roundworm) is the most prevalent parasitic nematode infection worldwide, impacting approximately 500 million people predominantly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While people of all ages are infected with Ascaris, infection intensity (defined by worm burden) paradoxically peaks in pre-school and school-aged children but then declines with age. The cause of age-dependent Ascaris worm intensity is not well understood but may be dependent on cellular changes in mucosal barrier sites. We have previously found that the gastric mucosa is a critical barrier site for Ascaris infection as ingested Ascaris larvae use acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase) secreted by gastric chief …

Understanding The Care Experiences And Support Needs Of Uk Adults Treated In Hospital For Meningitis, Harriet Hay, Amy Tallett Dr, Bec Aeddi, Beverley Corbett, Claire Donovan, Jane Blewitt, Juan Abad Madroñero

Patient Experience Journal

Background: Meningitis often results in ongoing and multifaceted after-effects, which can impact many aspects of people's lives, yet relatively little support and follow-up is offered. This study explored post-treatment care experiences of UK adults aged 16 and over following a recent stay in hospital for meningitis. Methods: A survey was designed to ask about hospital discharge, recovery, information provision and aftercare support. The research involved 5 semi-structured, in-depth interviews and a 15-participant online asynchronous focus group. The themes arising from this qualitative stage informed the development of a quantitative 32-item questionnaire which was hosted and promoted online between September 2022 …

Unveiling Patient Satisfaction: Exploring Demographics, Interactions, And Health-Seeking Behavior, Vanessa B. Crowther, Cassandra Shaw-Johnson, Robbya R. Green-Weir, Pia S. Woodley, Marilyn A. Weatherspoon, Errick D. Farmer, Arlesia L. Mathis

Patient Experience Journal

Objective: This study examined the social context of the patient visit (demographics, waiting room experience, patient-provider interaction) and their relationship to satisfaction with the quality of care when seeking medical treatment. It also examined satisfaction as a predictor variable for its effect on three patient behavioral outcomes. Methods: The study was implemented using a cross-sectional quantitative design among adults aged 18 and older. One hundred fifty-eight participants responded to the survey, and the final sample size was n = 147. We employed advanced data analysis, hierarchical regression, three-way ANOVA, linear regression, and logistic regression to examine four outcome variables. Results: …

Health Literacy, Health Perception, And Influencing Factors Among Immigrants, Canan Birimoglu Okuyan, Ebru Deveci, Fatma Karasu

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: Individuals living in rural areas face several healthcare disadvantages, including limited access to medical facilities and specialists during emergencies. This study examines healthy lifestyle behaviors, health perceptions, and influencing factors among immigrants in a rural region of southern Türkiye.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved immigrants registered at a family health center. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Perception of Health Scale, and the Health Literacy Scale.

Results: Statistically significant differences in THLS-32 scores were found based on participants’ occupation, marital status, and education level (p < 0.05). A moderately positive correlation was observed between health literacy and health perception scores (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Research on the relationship between …

Comparison Of Outcomes Among Neurovascular Patients Managed In Dedicated Neurological Intensive Care Units Vs. General Intensive Care Units, Joanna Roy, Basel Musmar, Nassos Tziviskos, Saarang Patel, Roberto Deleon, Ashley Thommana, Shady Mina, Stavropoula Tjoumakaris, Michael Gooch, Robert Rosenwasswer, Pascal Jabbour

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Background/Objectives: Patients with neurovascular conditions often require multidisciplinary management to optimize recovery. Our systematic review identifies literature comparing outcomes among neurovascular patients managed at dedicated neurological intensive care units (ICUs) compared to general ICUs. Methods: PubMed was searched to identify articles that reported outcomes among patients managed at dedicated neurological ICUs versus general ICUs. Articles that reported outcomes among patients with neurovascular conditions were included. Articles that reported outcomes among patients managed at stroke units were excluded. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess for risk of bias across individual studies. Results: After a title and abstract screen …

Inequities In The Rehabilitation Process Of Musculoskeletal Injuries In Maine, Devon A. Grant

Thinking Matters Symposium

Since 2016, Maine’s population has grown as a result of migration and a welcoming of refugees. Changes in state demographics influence the population’s and individuals’ social determinants of health (SDOH) (ie., “where people live, learn, work, and play”) and health literacy (ie., a person’s ability to find, understand, and use information to inform health-related decisions). This project aims to identify the health inequities or disparities throughout Southern Maine in the care of injuries to the lower extremity, such as the knee or ankle, as well as explore factors that influence the healthcare outcomes of athletes in surrounding communities. This study …

Leveraging Lower Body Negative Pressure For Enhanced Outcomes In Orthopedic Arthroplasty—Insights From Nasa’S Bone Health Research, Phani Paladugu, Rahul Kumar, Tamer Hage, Swapna Vaja, Tejas Sekhar, Samuel Weisberg, Kyle Sporn, Ethan Waisberg, Joshua Ong, Amar S. Vadhera, Mouayad Masalkhi, Ryung Lee, Chirag Gowda, Ram Jagadeesan, Nasif Zaman, Alireza Tavakkoli

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

Exposure to microgravity causes rapid bone loss and muscle atrophy, posing serious challenges for long-duration spaceflight. In response, NASA developed countermeasures such as Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) to simulate gravitational loading on astronauts’ lower extremities. LBNP, often combined with exercise, has proven effective in mitigating musculoskeletal degradation during bed rest analogs. This opinion paper argues that LBNP’s success in preserving bone mass and muscle function in microgravity can be translated to improve re- covery after orthopedic arthroplasty on Earth. We draw physiological parallels between microgravity-induced musculoskeletal disuse and the postoperative period following total joint replacement, during which reduced weight-bearing …

Supreme Court Case Study: The Variation In Rates Of Miscarriage Management Care And Post-Abortion Care Across The Us Before And After The Supreme Court Decision, Ted Sibrian Jr.

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The paper examines abortion care and the management of miscarriages following the Roe v. Wade decision in restrictive states that do not allow medical intervention due to the vague legal terms. This research evaluates the need to establish protocols for providers when faced with nonviable pregnancies requiring medical intervention. Additionally, the paper highlights the impact across the US on women’s health outcomes by emphasizing the care for miscarriage management. This multi-method paper reviews the current literature on miscarriage management and spontaneous abortion MarketScan® data from commercially insured individuals with an age range of 18-50 years old by regions across the …

Advancing A Patient- And Carer-Centered Approach For The Clinical Development Of New Therapeutics For Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Insights From A Qualitative Study, Sonya Abraham, Silvia Amaro, Ellyn Getz, Sylvia Herget, Gregory J. Kato

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is characterized by a high rate of fatality and high risk of secondary brain injury. More treatment options are needed to improve outcomes. There are very few reports in the medical literature involving patient experience of aSAH, which is known for its unexpected onset and profound medical impact. Improved understanding of this patient experience would help make future clinical research more patient centered. To this end, we convened an advisory board consisting of aSAH patients and care partners in the United States. Participants emphasized the critical role that care partners play during hospitalization and in accessing …

Liposomes As Imaging Agents Of Inflammation And Oxidative Stress In Bone Implants, Delia Danila, Patricia S Pardo, R Devesh Kumar Misra, Aladin M Boriek

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Liposomes are tiny, spherical vesicles made from cholesterol and natural phospholipids that are promising imaging agents for detecting medical complications. They can carry fluorescent markers or other imaging agents, making them effective for medical imaging. Furthermore, liposomes can target specific cells involved in inflammation, such as macrophages, and accumulate at inflammation sites when injected. Additionally, liposomes can be designed to respond to oxidative stress, which is often associated with bone implant complications. By detecting areas of stress, liposomes provide valuable information about implant health. However, challenges such as rapid clearance from the body, precise targeting, immune reactions, and high production …

Adjuvant Radiotherapy In Pt3-4n0m0 Major Salivary Gland Cancer Without Other Adverse Features, Aman M. Patel, Afash Haleem, Praneet C. Kaki, Jake J. Lee, Russell Maxwell, Jason A. Brant, Robert M. Brody, Ryan M. Carey

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

OBJECTIVE: To investigate adjuvant radiotherapy (aRT) utilization and associated differences in overall survival (OS) in pT3-4N0M0 major salivary gland cancer (MSGC) without evidence of other adverse pathologic features.

METHODS: The 2006 to 2018 National Cancer Database was queried for patients with MSGC classified as pT3-4N0M0. Patients with evidence of lymphovascular invasion or positive surgical margins were excluded. Multivariable binary logistic and Cox regression models adjusting for patient demographics, pathologic features including histology, and treatment were implemented.

RESULTS: Of 897 patients satisfying inclusion criteria, 368 (41.0 %) underwent aRT. Compared with those not undergoing aRT, patients undergoing aRT were younger (median …

Mammonc-Db, An Integrative Breast Cancer Data Analysis Platform For Target Discovery, Santhosh Kumar Karthikeyan, Darshan S Chandrashekar, Snigdha Sahai, Sadeep Shrestha, Ritu Aneja, Rajesh Singh, Celina G Kleer, Sidharth Kumar, Zhaohui S Qin, Harikrishna Nakshatri, Upender Manne, Chad J Creighton, Sooryanarayana Varambally

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Breast cancer (BCa), a leading malignancy among women, is characterized by morphological and molecular heterogeneity. While early-stage, hormone receptor, and HER2-positive BCa are treatable, triple-negative BCa and metastatic BCa remains largely untreatable. Advances in sequencing and proteomic technologies have improved our understanding of the molecular alterations that occur during BCa initiation and progression and enabled identification of subclass-specific biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Despite the availability of abundant omics data in public repositories, user-friendly tools for multi-omics data analysis and integration are scarce. To address this, we developed a comprehensive BCa data analysis platform called MammOnc-DB ( http://resource.path.uab.edu/MammOnc-Home.html ), comprising data …

Progesterone Signaling In Oviductal Epithelial Cells Modulates The Immune Response To Support Preimplantation Embryonic Development, Emily A Mcglade, Jiude Mao, Kalli K Stephens, Ryan M Marquardt, Feyza Nur Arguc, Peter F Lais, San-Pin Wu, Sarayut Winuthayanon, Haval Shirwan, Esma S Yolcu, Mark I Hunter, James K Pru, John P Lydon, Francesco J Demayo, Wipawee Winuthayanon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

More than 60% of pregnancy losses occur during the first trimester, highlighting the need to understand the role of the oviduct in early pregnancy. In this study, we conditionally ablated the classical progesterone receptor (Pgr) in oviductal epithelial cells, called the Pgrd/d mouse model. We found that 40% of embryos collected from Pgrd/d females were nonviable or developmentally delayed, indicating that epithelial PGR expression is crucial for embryonic development. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed up-regulation of proinflammatory genes, including interleukin-22 (IL-22), in the epithelial cells of Pgrd/d females. Pharmacological inhibition of inflammation using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs …

Psychological Treatment Behind The Walls:Insights From The Inside, Rogelio Serrano

Psychology Division Scholarship

Repeated eras of mass incarceration, criminalization of marginalized communities, and substance use policies have created a revolving door of justice involved populations. The ever-increasing prison population has repeatedly become the largest contingency of mental health clientele for an overburdened mental health system. Those who work with formerly incarcerated individuals in the community often don’t know the unique set of challenges faced by practitioners within the system. Increased understanding and coordination of care can offer opportunities for sustained recovery and reduced levels of recidivism. In this presentation participants will learn about the unique insights on mental health treatment that can be …

Lineage Tracing And Single-Cell Rna Sequencing Reveal A Common Transcriptional State In Breast Cancer Tumor-Initiating Cells Characterized By Ifn/Stat1 Activity, Eric P Souto, Ping Gong, John D Landua, Ramakrishnan Rajaram Srinivasan, Abhinaya Ganesan, Lacey E Dobrolecki, Stephen C Purdy, Xingxin Pan, Michael Zeosky, Anna Chung, S Stephen Yi, Heide L Ford, Michael T Lewis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A tumor cell subpopulation of tumor-initiating cells (TIC) or "cancer stem cells" is associated with therapeutic resistance, as well as both local and distant recurrences. Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) activity is elevated in TICs in claudin-low models of human triple-negative breast cancer, which enables enrichment of TICs using a STAT-responsive reporter. Lineage tracing of TICs as they undergo cell state changes could enable a better understanding of the molecular phenotypes of TIC and uncover strategies to selectively target TICs. In this study, we developed a STAT-responsive lineage-tracing system and used it in conjunction with the original reporter …

Impact Of Cde Referral On A1c Control In Adult Type 2 Dm Patients., Alivia Watts Bsn, Rn, Yesica Sanchez Bsn, Rn, Morgan Hilliard Bsn, Rn, Laura Reed Dnp, Fnp-Bc

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Type II Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic health condition impacting many adults in Tennessee. Certified Diabetic Educators (CDEs) are specifically trained in educating and addressing the health care needs of patients with diagnoses of Type I or Type II Diabetes. Research has shown that education conducted by CDEs leads to improved outcomes and self- care in those with diabetes (Bowen, et al., 2016, King et al., 2019). Not only are CDEs cost effective services leading to a decrease in healthcare costs, but they also aid in the improvement of hemoglobin A1C (Hgb A1C) levels and decrease complications associated with Type …

Primary Place To Go For Health Care And Its Association With Hpv Prevalence In Us Adults: Results From Nhanes 2013-2016, Amy L. Mcveety, Miyuki Sun

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Background: While access to health care is a known risk factor for many infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections, little research has investigated the relationship between access to primary care services and prevalent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Given HPV’s prevalence in the general population and lack of available treatments, it is necessary to understand possible risk factors to identify areas for intervention. This study uses primary place to go for health services as a proxy measure for access to care, in order to understand which sources of health care are serving patients with the highest prevalence of HPV infections and …

Early Nintedanib Deployment In Covid-19 Interstitial Lung Disease (Endcov-I): Study Protocol Of A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Valeria Santibanez, Aditi Mathur, Jigna Zatakia, Nicole Ng, Michele Cohen, Emilia Bagiella, Stacey-Ann Brown, Ivan O Rosas, Nina M Patel, Amy Olson, Peide Li, Maria Padilla

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: In December 2019, the novel SARS-CoV-2 triggered a global pneumonia outbreak, leading to millions of deaths worldwide. A subset of survivors faces increased morbidity and mortality, particularly due to subacute lung injury evolving to chronic fibrosing interstitial lung disease. While nintedanib, a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor, shows promise in treating progressive fibrotic lung disease, limited randomised trial data exists for post-COVID-19-induced lung injury. We hypothesise that treatment with nintedanib may attenuate advancement to the fibrotic stages, offering a potential avenue for improving outcomes in this specific patient subset.

Methods and analysis: We describe the design of a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled …

Parasite Contamination Of Soil In Different Peruvian Locations And Outside Built Environments, Carlos Pineda, Maritza Dalí Camones Rivera, Eddyson Montalva Sabino, Lucia Estela Mejia, Katherine Elizabeth Keegan, Lizbet Pilar Patricio Alvarez, Javier Jorge Mora, Fernanda Espinoza Vega, Emilio Rey Mejia, Patrick Olivas Herrera, Elisa Palomino Pando, Zhen Zeng, Athos Silva De Oliveira, Maria Jose Villar Mondragon, Barton Slatko, Eric J Wetzel, Rojelio Mejia

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Soil is a reservoir for many parasites that can affect human and animal health, especially in tropical regions where soil-transmitted helminths and protozoa thrive. Understanding how environmental factors influence parasite distribution will provide a basis for relating how climate changes may intensify their impacts, altering parasite habitats and increasing transmission risks. We surveyed soil parasite prevalence, burden, and diversity in several different Peruvian environmental ecologies to catalog current parasite presence and provide a baseline for future surveys.

Methods: A total of 198 soil samples from 43 locations across three Peruvian regions-Tingo María (TM) (Amazon rainforest), Andabamba/Marabamba (A/M) (Andean highlands), …

Does A Waiting Room Increase Same-Day Treatment For Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Pregnant Women? A Quality Improvement Study At South African Primary Healthcare Facilities, Ranjana M. Gigi, Mandisa M. Mdingi, Lukas Bütikofer, Chibuzor M. Babalola, Jeffrey D. Klausner, Andrew Medina-Marino, Christina A. Muzny, Christopher M. Taylor, Janneke H. Van De Wijgert, Remco P. Peters, Nicola Low

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Same-day testing and treatment of curable sexually transmitted infections (STI) is a strategy to reduce infection duration and onward transmission. South African primary healthcare facilities often lack sufficient waiting spaces. This study aimed to assess the proportion of, and factors influencing, pregnant women waiting for on-site STI test results before and after the installation of clinic-based waiting rooms. METHODS: We conducted an observational quality improvement study at 5 public primary healthcare facilities in South Africa from March 2021 to May 2023. The intervention was the installation of a waiting room in two clinics. Three clinics were used as comparators: …

Evaluating The Current State Of Quality Measure Reporting In The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, Kinan Sawar, Geoffrey Potts Md

Medical Student Research Symposium

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requires physicians to report quality measures along with other metrics that are used to determine an annual percentage adjustment to physician Medicare Part B payments. Unfortunately, physicians have been forced to choose from an ineffective, limited set of quality measures. This has led to an overreliance on process measures, which fail to stratify physician performance effectively; it has also led to differences in the number of reporting options across specialties, resulting in unequal opportunity for physicians to succeed in MIPS. Using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) public use file data from 2021-2024, …

Assessing Middle Eastern American Attitudes Towards Substance Use Disorders, Hazem Alata, Hussein Bazzi, Saleh Al-Juburi, Angie Achkar, Liam Browning, Nicole Oska, Adam Chaban, Arash Javanbakht

Medical Student Research Symposium

Assessing Middle Eastern American Attitudes Towards Substance Use Disorders

Introduction:

Substance use disorders (SUD) among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations remain largely understudied, despite evidence of high prevalence rates and lower rates of treatment engagement. Unique cultural conceptualizations and beliefs surrounding substance use disorders may perpetuate stigma, further contributing to disparities in access to and utilization of treatment services. This study aims to explore the attitudes and perspectives of individuals from MENA communities regarding substance use disorders, with the goal of identifying and addressing barriers to treatment.

Methods:

An anonymous bilingual Qualtrics survey was administered, gathering responses from …