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Nursing
When you think of nursing--the classic image of a caregiver attending to physical wounds or administering medicine might come to mind. However, modern healthcare is much like a rich tapestry, threaded with various specialized practices, and nursing has evolved dramatically. Right now, in hospitals and clinics across the world, there's a quiet revolution that's changing the face of healthcare. Nurses are no longer just hands-on with patients--they're expanding into dynamic roles that stretch the very
fabric of traditional nursing. Informatics nursing, genetics nursing, and faith community nursing are just some examples of these cutting-edge fields.
The Digital Pulse of Healthcare: Informatics Nursing
In today's fast-paced medical scene, have you heard about the tech-savvy guardians of health information? Say hello to informatics nurses. These professionals stand at the crossroads where nursing, computer know-how, and data crunching meet. They're the folks who make sure patient info is spot-on, easy to get to, and as safe as a treasure in a vault. But it's not just about keeping records; they're all about making the day-to-day in hospitals and clinics run smoother. With their expertise, every piece of vital data is organized and used the right way to help the medical team do their thing efficiently.
But what do these nurses do when they're up to their elbows in all that information? They're not hidden away in some server room--they're right in the heart of healthcare, juggling the human touch with high tech. Informatics nurses are the key link between those living, breathing folks in hospital beds and the cold, hard data stored in computers. They make sense of the numbers and charts so that your nurse or doc can craft the perfect care plan, tailored just for you. They're like translators making sure nothing gets lost in translation from human to machine and back again, guaranteeing that every patient gets the right care at the right time.
Kalli Koukounas[/caption]
Kalli Koukounas, MPH
Ph.D. Student, Health Services Research
Brown University School of Public Health
Providence, RI
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: On Jan. 1st, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices (ETC) Model, one of the largest randomized tests of pay-for-performance incentives ever conducted in the US.
The goal of the model was to enhance the use of home dialysis and kidney transplant or waitlisting among kidney failure patients in traditional Medicare. The model randomly assigned approximately 30% of US dialysis facilities and nephrologists to receive financial incentives, ranging from bonuses of 4% to penalties of 5%, based on their patients’ use of home dialysis and kidney transplant/waitlisiting. The payment adjustments apply to all Medicare-based reimbursement for dialysis services. Prior research has demonstrated that dialysis facilities that disproportionately serve populations with high social risk have lower use of home dialysis and kidney transplant, raising concerns that these sites may fare poorly in the payment model. Using data released by CMS, we examined the first year of ETC model performance and financial penalties across dialysis facilities, stratified by the measured social risk of the facilities’ incident patients.
Dr. Lu Qi[/caption]
Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA
Interim Chair, Department of Epidemiolog
HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Director, Tulane University Obesity Research Center
Director, Tulane Personalized Health Institute
New Orleans, LA 70112
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Adding salt to foods is a behavior reflecting long-term preference to salty diets. High sodium intake is a major risk factor for chronic kidney disease.
In our previous studies, we have found that adding salt to foods at the table is related to various disorders including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and mortality. 
Amy Kennalley[/caption]
Amy Kennalley, MBS
First Year Medical Student
Department of Medical Education
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major public health crisis in the United States. Despite the availability of effective treatments, including the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone, many individuals with OUD do not receive the care they need. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, there were several policy changes related to take-home doses of methadone, which may have impacted access to this lifesaving medication.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA)'s Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System (ARCOS) is a database that tracks the distribution of controlled substances, including methadone distributed to opioid treatment programs (OTPs). This data can be used to assess trends in methadone distribution over time. Additionally, the Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (SDUD) database provides comprehensive information on methadone prescribing to Medicaid patients.
By analyzing data from both ARCOS and SDUD, we aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of methadone distribution for OUD treatment in the United States. These findings1 are important because drug overdose deaths, primarily involving opioids, increased substantially (49%) from 2019 (70,980) to 2021 (~106,000).2
Dr. Klompas[/caption]
Michael Klompas MD, MPH, FIDSA, FSHEA
Hospital Epidemiologist
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Professor of Medicine and Population Medicine
Harvard Medical School and
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Can teeth be safely brush in patients who are comatose, intubated or have NG tubes?
Response: Pneumonia is thought to occur when secretions from the mouth get into the lungs. Since there are many microbes in the mouth, there’s a risk that secretions from the mouth that get into the lungs will lead to pneumonia. Toothbrushing may lower this risk by decreasing the quantity of microbes in the mouth.
It is indeed safe and appropriate to brush the teeth of someone who is comatose, intubated, or who has an NG tube. Indeed, our study found that the benefits of toothbrushing were clearest for patients receiving mechanical ventilation.
Dr. Angélica Cifuentes Kottkamp[/caption]
Angélica
Dr. Brousseau[/caption]
David Brousseau, MD, MS
Chair of Pediatrics
Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware and the
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Prof. Rong Xu[/caption]
Rong Xu, PhD
Dr. Davaasambuu[/caption]
Dr Ganmaa Davaasambuu MD PhD
Associate Professor
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The crucial role of vitamin D in facilitating calcium absorption from the diet and promoting calcium deposition in bones (known as 'mineralization') has been a long-established understanding. Furthermore, some observational studies have reported an association between low vitamin D levels and a heightened risk of bone fractures in children. This raised the possibility that vitamin D supplements could potentially play a role in decreasing fracture risk in children with initially low baseline levels. However, clinical trials assessing the causal link between low vitamin D status and reduced fracture risk were necessary, and such trials had not been conducted before.
Dr. Dolatshahi[/caption]
Mahsa Dolatshahi, M.D., M.P.H.
Post-doctoral research fellow
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR)
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Obesity at midlife is recognized as a risk factor for developing Alzheimer disease decades afterwards. However, body mass index on its own does not adequately represent the risks associated with obesity.
In this study, we went beyond BMI and considered anatomical distribution of body fat, including the metabolically active visceral fat in the belly, and showed its association with Alzheimer pathology in the form of amyloid proteins. In addition, visceral fat along with obesity and insulin resistance were associated with thinning of brain cortex, as early as midlife.
Dr. Mohyuddin[/caption]
Hira Mohyuddin, PGY-2
Psychiatry Residency Training Program
The George Washington University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Frailty has become increasingly significant as the global population grows older, as this syndrome is linked with a higher mortality and morbidity in aging. Causes contributing to frailty are poorly understood, but it seems that the role of inflammation is very likely.
While other chronic infections were shown to precipitate and perpetuate inflammation that contributes to the development of frailty, no prior study has previously focused on possible links between Toxoplasma gondii and geriatric frailty. Benefiting from a collaboration with Spanish and Portuguese researchers, we have now tested, for the first time to our knowledge, this possible association.
Dr. Traverso[/caption]
Giovanni Traverso MD PhD
Karl Van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research
Division of Gastroenterology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: I think its always important to acknowledge that this is a big team effort. We have the teams from MIT, Celero Systems, West Virgnia University (WVU) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) all working together on this. For this study, Celero prototyped the devices that we tested in pre-clinical (Swine) models and in a first-in-human study with the team at WVU.
Our lab focuses on the development of ingestible devices for drug delivery and sensing and these have informed the development of these efforts as you can see.
Lisa-Marie Smale, PharmD