Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Occupational Health, Vaccine Studies / 25.03.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michelle N. Meyer, PhD, JD Assistant Professor & Associate Director, Research Ethics, Center for Translational Bioethics & Health Care Policy Faculty Co-Director, Behavioral Insights Team, Steele Institute for Health Innovation Assistant Professor of Bioethics Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Geisinger, PA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Earlier research had found people are less likely to say they'll receive a COVID-19 vaccine offered to them under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) than one offered to them following full FDA approval. Earlier surveys had also found that only around 30% of health care workers intended to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Because the public often looks to local health care workers for health advice, and in most prioritization schemes they were slated to be offered vaccines first, this was quite concerning for the prospect of achieving population immunity. Commenters had warned that if the FDA chose to make COVID-19 vaccines available under EUAs, that substantial efforts would need to be made to ensure trust. On Dec. 4, 2020, an announcement about anticipated vaccine availability was emailed to all 23,784 Geisinger employees, who were asked to indicate their intention to receive a vaccine when one was available to them and the reasons for any hesitation they might have. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 10.08.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Karina W. Davidson, PhD, MA Senior Vice President of Research, Northwell Health Director, Center for Personalized Health, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Dean of Academic Affairs & Professor, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Donald and Barbara Zucker Professor in Health Outcomes, Department of Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: New York was epicenter for COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic, and Northwell Health, the largest health system in New York, did everything in its power to care for our sick community members but also care for and protect our frontline health care providers (HCPs) and 72,000 employees. We were fortunate enough to have not run out of PPE – from masks to gowns. Through our employee health team we were able to offer free antibody screenings and through the Northwell Health Research Consortium and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research we looked to use the data collected from our consented employees to determine the prevalence of antibodies. We designed the study to not only identify the presence of antibodies but also key factors like demographics, in what capacity our providers worked on the frontlines and if they suspected infection. Our data helped identify the best practices Northwell Health – from PPE to care procedures - and others nationwide would need to do to keep our frontline workers safe. Key takeaways from the research show that from April 20 to June 23, of the final consented sample of health care providers (40,329), 13 percent (5,523) tested positive for antibodies. The positive sample pool included 28.4 percent (11,468) nurses and 9.3 percent (3,746) physicians. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Pediatrics / 04.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Terence Sanger MD Pediatric Neurology Vice president of Research and Chief Scientific Officer CHOC Children's UC Irvine School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: During the current pandemic, publicly available data on the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers has been limited. This study sought to determine the COVID-19 viral prevalence in a population of healthcare workers within a pediatric emergency department in Orange County, Calif., during a time interval that overlapped with the state’s projected peak coronavirus-related use of hospital resources. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Outcomes & Safety / 15.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas C King, MD, PhD Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine St. Vincent Hospital Worcester, MA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. King: This landmark study provides a broad based, real world appraisal of the reliability of the T-SPOT®.TB test, an interferon gamma release assay (IGRA), based on results in screening workers in 19 U.S. hospitals. The large size of the study (more than 42,000 test results from more than 16,000 healthcare workers analyzed) provides a solid benchmark to assess performance of T-SPOT.TB in serial screening healthcare workers. In recent years, results from several studies have shown that there can be significant differences between using an IGRA and the tuberculin skin test (TST) in terms of accuracy and cost. Several studies have confirmed a risk of high false positive rates and numerous conversion/reversion rates when retesting patients with the TST. (more…)