Excellence in Community-Engaged Research at Virginia Commonwealth University: A Compendium of Case Studies Developed Through a Faculty Learning Community

Since 2005, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at VCU has offered faculty learning communities (FLC) on a variety of teaching and learning issues. For 2013-2014, VCU\u27s Division of Community Engagement, Center for Clinical and Translational Research, and Center for Teaching Excellence collaborated to offer the first FLC focused on community-engaged research (CEnR). This FLC included 9 faculty members who are or who had been engaged in complex research projects that intentionally connect the campus and community. The members represented a wide range of disciplines, including education, social work, arts, public health, cancer prevention and control, psychology, family medicine, nutritional science, and human and molecular genetics. Their CEnR experiences served as a source of insights for developing a framework to identify and describe excellence in CEnR at the university. The cornerstone of this learning community was the development of publishable case studies of exemplary CEnR projects in order to inform the broader campus and higher education community about excellence in CEnR

Quality healthcare, evidence-based medicine and translational research

Advances in medical care ensure that with the passage of time we are increasingly able to effectively tackle diverse medical problems. These advances, however, do come at a cost and the benefits derived need to be assessed on a regular basis. The ability to increase longevity and hold disease progression at bay needs to be balanced against the ensuing quality of life of the subject, the long term demands on the individual, and on the healthcare system. The financial implications for the individual and the state as well as the ultimate well being of the individual and of society need to be included in the increasingly complex equation that constitutes healthcare provision.peer-reviewe

Mountain West Clinical Translational Research-Infrastructure Network: Introduction

The Mountain West (MW) Clinical Translational Research Infrastructure Network (CTR- IN) Program represents a consortium of all of the 13 major public universities across seven Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) states with the overall goal of increasing and enhancing research capacity. The MW CTR-IN Program covers 1/3rd the U.S. land mass and almost 1/3rd of all IDeA states stretching across 4 time zones. The 13 major U.S. public partner universities in the 7 IDeA states are as follows: University of Alaska at Anchorage (UAA), University of Alaska at Fairbanks (UAF), University of Montana (UM), Montana State University (MSU), University of Idaho (UI), Boise State University (BSU), University of Idaho State (UIS), University of Wyoming (UW), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), University of Nevada Reno (UNR), New Mexico State University (NMSU), University of New Mexico (UNM) - Health Science Center (HSC), and the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM). The initial five-year grant was awarded to UNLV in 2013 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been recently renewed in August 2018 to continue until June 2023. [Funded by National Institute of General Medical Services (NIGMS) – U54GM104944-02] Over the years, the MW CTR-IN Program has supported, stimulated and facilitated collaborations to foster and enhance clinical research from many diverse disciplines. The MW CTR-IN Program has stimulated research in a spectrum of scientific disciplines (e.g., epidemiology, biostatistics, pharmacology, social and behavioral sciences, nutrition, nursing, health economics, community-based participatory research, dental health, and medicine), methodologies (e.g., observational and experimental) and health professions (e.g., nursing, public health, pharmacy, clinical psychology, sports physiology, physical therapy), including Engineering, which traditionally does not engage in clinical and translational human research. One of the important mechanisms by which the MW CTR-IN Program supports and facilitates collaborations is through our Pilot Grants Program. The Pilot Grants are designed as catalysts to help researchers lay the groundwork for larger, independent grant proposals. To date, almost $47 million in extramural grant funding has been achieved, representing a return on investment of 1013%! The major focus of the MW CTR-IN Program is on addressing health disparities in the MW Region. Hence, our abstracts for our 6th Annual MW CTR-IN Meeting reflect our focus on health disparities. The MW CTR-IN 6th Annual Meeting showcased the health disparity research results of our 10 Pilot Grant Awardees (Table 1). These 10 Pilot Grants represented most of our University Partners involving a wide range of health disparity research areas and very diverse populations. For example, our current PG Awardees’ research areas varied from Dr. Atif Zafar’s focus on “Healthcare disparities among Hispanics, Native Americans, and Caucasians in Ischemic Stroke Patients” to Dr. Renee Robinson’s research in “Assessing the Long-Term Outcomes of Specialized Supportive Care on the Health of Infants with In-Utero Opioid Exposure”. In addition, our “Call for Abstracts” also generated a tremendous interest from our MW faculty investigators. In total, over 26 abstracts were submitted, of which only 3 were accepted for oral podium presentation and 9 were accepted for poster presentation (Table 2). These abstracts also again showed the diversity of research being conducted in the MW region

Trends in Alcoholic Hepatitis-related Hospitalizations, Financial Burden, and Mortality in the United States

BACKGROUND: Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is the most florid manifestation of alcoholic liver disease which accounts for significant morbidity, mortality, and financial burden. Aim of this study is to evaluate temporal trend of hospitalizations from AH and evaluate its financial impact. METHODS: The National Inpatient Sample databases (from 2002 to 2010) which are collected as part of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were utilized. Individuals aged 21 years and older were included. The hospitalizations with primary diagnosis of AH were captured by ICD-9 codes. The national estimates of hospitalization were derived using sample weights provided by National Inpatient Sample. Simple linear regression method was used to assess trends in mortality and length of stay over time. RESULTS: We observed the increased in total cases of AH-related hospitalization from 249,884 (0.66% of total admission in 2002) to 326,403 (0.83% of total admission in 2010). The significant increase in the total admission rate was attributable mainly to the rise in inpatient hospitalization for secondary diagnosis of AH (0.48% in 2002 to 0.67% in 2010). Most of the AH-related hospitalization were males. Hepatic encephalopathy was found to be the most common admitting diagnosis for individuals hospitalized with secondary diagnosis of AH (8.9% in 2002 and 8.6% in 2010). There was a significant decrease in inpatient mortality for primary diagnosis of AH from 10.07% (in 2002) to 5.76% (in 2010) (absolute risk reduction: 4.3%). Average cost of hospitalization related to primary diagnosis of AH was $27,124 and$46,264 in 2002 and 2010, respectively. After adjusting for inflation, the additional cost of each hospitalization seemed to increase by 40.7% in 2010 compared with 2002 (additional cost per hospitalization $11,044 in 2010 compared with 2002). Federal (Medicare) or state (Medicaid) supported health insurance program are the main primary expected payers for these AH hospitalizations (∼25% to 29%). Despite increase in cost per hospitalization, length of stay for hospitalization due to primary diagnosis of AH was not observed to decrease substantially over time (6.7 d in 2002 to 6.1 d in 2010). CONCLUSIONS: AH-related hospitalization continued to increase during the study period, despite the decrease in the in-hospital mortality rate. Substantial increases in health care cost and utilization among hospitalized AH patients were observed

Service-Learning Mini-Institute Agenda

Service-Learning Mini-Institute Agenda. Day 1: Introduction to Service-Learning. Day 2: Reflection and Community Partnerships

Developmental imaging genetics: challenges and promises for translational research

Advances in molecular biology, neuroimaging, genetic epidemiology, and developmental psychopathology have provided a unique opportunity to explore the interplay of genes, brain, and behavior within a translational research framework. Herein, we begin by outlining an experimental strategy by which genetic effects on brain function can be explored using neuroimaging, namely, imaging genetics. We next describe some major findings in imaging genetics to highlight the effectiveness of this strategy for delineating biological pathways and mechanisms by which individual differences in brain function emerge and potentially bias behavior and risk for psychiatric illness. We then discuss the importance of applying imaging genetics to the study of psychopathology within a developmental framework. By beginning to move toward a systems-level approach to understanding pathways to behavioral outcomes as they are expressed across development, it is anticipated that we will move closer to understanding the complexities of the specific mechanisms involved in the etiology of psychiatric disease. Despite the numerous challenges that lie ahead, we believe that developmental imaging genetics has potential to yield highly informative results that will ultimately translate into public health benefits. We attempt to set out guidelines and provide exemplars that may help in designing fruitful translational research applications that incorporate a developmental imaging genetics strategy

Concept Mapping to Develop a Framework for Characterizing Electronic Data Capture (EDC) Systems

CTSAs have brought about a push to find better EDC systems, which facilitate translational research. Based on the data management needs of a specific clinical/translational research lab, concept mapping was used to create a framework to evaluate EDCs. After refinement based on a spiral model, including consultations with the UW CTSA and a survey of other CTSAs, the tool was used to characterize EDCs used at CTSA sites across the country

Aligning Evidence-Based Practice With Translational Research: Opportunities for Clinical Practice Research

Magnet(R) and other organizations investing resources in evidence-based practice (EBP) are ideal laboratories for translational nursing research. Translational research, the study of implementation of evidence into practice, provides a unique opportunity to leverage local EBP work for maximum impact. Aligning EBP projects with rigorous translational research can efficiently meet both EBP and research requirements for Magnet designation or redesignation, inform clinical practice, and place organizations at the leading edge of practice-based knowledge development for the nursing discipline