UNC School of Medicine
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Clinical
Area of Study: Geriatric Acute Care Faculty Member: Kevin Biese, MD, MAT Project Description: The Departments of Emergency Medicine and the Division of Aging are teaming up to find innovative ways to enhance care for geriatric patients throughout the UNC Health Care System with a particular focus on the Emergency Department. We are currently researching topics on improving transitions of care from nursing homes to the ED and from the ED to the hospital or back to their place of residence; enhancing comprehension of discharge instructions for elderly patients; improving the triage system for the elderly; creating educational curriculum for health care providers of the elderly; and enhancing comfort measures for elderly patients while in the ED. The research group meets weekly and includes attending physicians from departments as well as nurses, residents, statisticians, professional educators, medical students, and fellows. |
Area of Study: Predicting and preventing chronic pain after minor trauma in the elderly Faculty Member: Tim Platts-Mills, MD Project Description: The goal of our research is to improve the identification of elderly patients at high risk for chronic pain after minor trauma and subsequently to develop interventions to prevent chronic pain. The planned investigation will use methodology developed by Dr. Samuel Mclean as part of a large study of chronic pain after minor trauma in non-elderly adults. Additional related investigations will examine the association between heart rate variability and the development of chronic pain and improved methods to assess the level of pain experienced by patients after minor trauma. Related projects include work with the joint geriatric-emergency medicine research group looking at: 1) the sensitivity of triage tools for identifying elderly patients in need of an immediate intervention; and 2) the predictive utility of abnormal vital signs at the time of triage in this population. |
Area of Study: HIV Testing/Sexual Assault Faculty Member: Janet Young, MD Project Description: Currently working with Infectious Diseases on HIV testing in the ED and epidemiology of sexual assault cases in North Carolina . |
Area of Study: Clinical and translational research in emergency and critical care Faculty member: Charles B. Cairns, MD Project Description: Acute phenotyping of patients in the emergency ( EMS , ED) and critical care (ICU) settings. Dr. Cairns serves as the Associate Director of the NIH US Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group. Current UNC activities include use of genomic, proteomic and metabolomic profiles to identify patients at risk for complications with suspected sepsis, pneumonia, trauma and burns. |