Measuring Research Capacity: Development of the PACER Tool.

Evaluating research activity in research departments and education programs is conventionally accomplished through measurement of research funding or bibliometrics. This limited perspective of research activity restricts a more comprehensive evaluation of a program's actual research capacity, ultimately hindering efforts to enhance and expand it. The objective of this study was to conduct a scoping review of the existing literature pertaining to the measurement of research productivity in research institutions.

A review of clinical ethics consultations in a regional healthcare system over a two-year timeframe.

Background: Clinical Ethics Consultations (CECs) are used by healthcare systems to offer healthcare practitioners a structured level of support to approach ethical questions. The objective of this study was to detail the elements of surveyed CECs and offer guidance in the approach to future ethics consultations at a regional healthcare system.

Methods: This cohort study has a qualitative and quantitative retrospective approach, surveying ethics consultations through the dates of 4/27/22 to 4/26/24.

"It's important to foster open discussion about the topic": development, implementation, and evaluation of an ethics of abortion independent learning module for second year medical students.

Purpose: Despite the frequency of abortions, one-third of medical schools in the US and Canada did not include coverage of that topic, according to a survey conducted in 2002-2005. The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a module for second year medical students related to the ethics of abortion.

Methods: The module was designed as Independent Learning Time (ILT).

Trends in Maternal Weight Disparities: Statewide Differences in Rural and Urban Minnesota Residents From 2012 to 2019.

Introduction: Despite research showing substantial weight disparities along the rural-urban continuum, little work has attempted to identify differences in prepregnancy weight status or gestational weight gain (GWG) outcomes between rural and urban birthing people. As such, the goals of this research were to 1) document the prevalence of prepregnancy overweight and obesity and excessive GWG in rural and urban birthing people and 2) examine changes in rural and urban prepregnancy overweight or obesity and excessive GWG over time.

Methods: Birth certificate data provided sociodemographic variables, prepregnancy body mass index, GWG, and rurality status on 465,709 respondents who gave birth in Minnesota from 2012 to 2019.

Associations between variants and dosing and adverse effects in children taking methylphenidate.

Background: Methylphenidate is the most prescribed stimulant to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Despite its widespread usage, a fair proportion of children are classified as non-responders to the medication. Variability in response and occurrence of adverse events with methylphenidate use may be due to several factors, including drug-drug interactions as well as pharmacogenetic differences resulting in pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic variances within the general population.

The PhenX Toolkit: standard measurement resources for cancer outcomes and survivorship research.

This brief report introduces the Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship domain in the PhenX Toolkit (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures), which includes 15 validated measurement protocols for cancer survivorship research that were recommended for inclusion in this publicly available resource. Developed with input from the scientific community, the domain provides researchers with well-established measurement protocols for evaluating physical and psychological effects, financial toxicity, and patient experiences with cancer care. The PhenX Toolkit, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute since 2007, is an online resource that provides high-quality standard measurement protocols for a wide range of research areas (eg, smoking cessation, harm reduction and biomarkers, and social determinants of health).

Implementation-effectiveness trial of systematic family health history based risk assessment and impact on clinical disease prevention and surveillance activities.

Background: Systematically assessing disease risk can improve population health by identifying those eligible for enhanced prevention/screening strategies. This study aims to determine the clinical impact of a systematic risk assessment in diverse primary care populations.

Methods: Hybrid implementation-effectiveness trial of a family health history-based health risk assessment (HRA) tied to risk-based guideline recommendations enrolling from 2014-2017 with 12 months of post-intervention survey data and 24 months of electronic medical record (EMR) data capture.

Public Attitudes toward Pharmacogenomic Testing and Establishing a Statewide Pharmacogenomics Database in the State of Minnesota.

The clinical adoption and implementation of pharmacogenomics (PGx) beyond academic medical centers remains slow, restricting the general population from benefitting from this important component of personalized medicine. As an initial step in the statewide initiative of PGx implementation in Minnesota, we engaged community members and assessed attitudes towards PGx testing and acceptability of establishing a secure statewide PGx database for clinical and research use among Minnesota residents. Data was collected from 808 adult attendees at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair through an electronic survey.

Development and Validation of the Minnesota Assessment of Pharmacogenomic Literacy (MAPL).

Ensuring that patients have an adequate understanding of pharmacogenomic (PGx) test results is a critical component of implementing precision medicine into clinical care. However, no PGx-specific validated literacy assessment has yet been developed. To address this need, we developed and validated the Minnesota Assessment of Pharmacogenomic Literacy (MAPLTM).

Rural health disparities in health care utilization for dementia in Minnesota.

Purpose: We visualized rural-urban differences in inpatient hospitalization and emergency department (ED) health care utilization (HCU) for older adults with dementia to understand the HCU of rural versus urban older adults in Minnesota and to examine in greater detail the variability of HCU in rural areas.

Methods: For 3 older adult age groups, we utilized Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (H-CUP) datasets from 2016 to 2018 to profile hospital admission rates, and ED visit rates related to dementia stratified by rurality and regions. Rates were visualized by spatial interpolation method.

Epidemiology of traumatic brain injuries at a rural-serving Level II trauma center, 2004 - 2016.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and quantify rural and urban differences.

Methods: Patient characteristics, injury characteristics, imaging, and outcomes were extracted from the trauma registry of the level II trauma center at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center, Duluth, MN, for patients admitted for a TBI from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2016.

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Early Mobility Protocol in a Regional Level II Trauma Center.

The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate a collaborative nursing/therapist protocol for early mobility in a medical-surgical intensive care unit (MICU) in a regional level II trauma center. Data for patients in the MICU were compared for the periods August 3, 2015-August 2, 2016, and August 3, 2014-August 2, 2015. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 nurses and 1 therapist.

Pharmacogenomics education, research and clinical implementation in the state of Minnesota.

Several healthcare organizations across Minnesota have developed formal pharmacogenomic (PGx) clinical programs to increase drug safety and effectiveness. Healthcare professional and student education is strong and there are multiple opportunities in the state for learners to gain workforce skills and develop advanced competency in PGx. Implementation planning is occurring at several organizations and others have incorporated structured utilization of PGx into routine workflows.

Using the PhenX Toolkit to Select Standard Measurement Protocols for Your Research Study.

The goals of PhenX (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures) are to promote the use of standard measurement protocols and to help investigators identify opportunities for collaborative research and cross-study analysis, thus increasing the impact of individual studies. The PhenX Toolkit (https://www.phenxtoolkit.

Family satisfaction in a neuro trauma ICU.

Objective: The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to evaluate satisfaction of family members of patients in a neuro trauma ICU (NTICU).

Methods: Adult patients (age 18+) admitted to the NTICU for at least 24 hours between June 2017 and November 2018 were identified. Near or at the time of discharge from the NTICU, the health unit coordinator or registered nurse identified the family member who was either the next-of-kin, surrogate decision-maker, or person who had been most frequently present at the patient's bedside.

At the intersection of precision medicine and population health: an implementation-effectiveness study of family health history based systematic risk assessment in primary care.

Background: Risk assessment is a precision medicine technique that can be used to enhance population health when applied to prevention. Several barriers limit the uptake of risk assessment in health care systems; and little is known about the potential impact that adoption of systematic risk assessment for screening and prevention in the primary care population might have. Here we present results of a first of its kind multi-institutional study of a precision medicine tool for systematic risk assessment.

Phenome-wide association analysis of LDL-cholesterol lowering genetic variants in PCSK9.

Background: We characterised the phenotypic consequence of genetic variation at the PCSK9 locus and compared findings with recent trials of pharmacological inhibitors of PCSK9.

Methods: Published and individual participant level data (300,000+ participants) were combined to construct a weighted PCSK9 gene-centric score (GS). Seventeen randomized placebo controlled PCSK9 inhibitor trials were included, providing data on 79,578 participants.

A -Ethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Uterine Fibroids.

Uterine fibroids affect up to 77% of women by menopause and account for up to $34 billion in healthcare costs each year. Although fibroid risk is heritable, genetic risk for fibroids is not well understood. We conducted a two-stage case-control meta-analysis of genetic variants in European and African ancestry women with and without fibroids classified by a previously published algorithm requiring pelvic imaging or confirmed diagnosis.

Effect of Sociodemographic Factors on Uptake of a Patient-Facing Information Technology Family Health History Risk Assessment Platform.

Objective: Investigate sociodemographic differences in the use of a patient-facing family health history (FHH)-based risk assessment platform.

Methods: In this large multisite trial with a diverse patient population, we evaluated the relationship between sociodemographic factors and FHH health risk assessment uptake using an information technology (IT) platform. The entire study was administered online, including consent, baseline survey, and risk assessment completion.

Enrichment sampling for a multi-site patient survey using electronic health records and census data.

Objective: We describe a stratified sampling design that combines electronic health records (EHRs) and United States Census (USC) data to construct the sampling frame and an algorithm to enrich the sample with individuals belonging to rarer strata.

Materials And Methods: This design was developed for a multi-site survey that sought to examine patient concerns about and barriers to participating in research studies, especially among under-studied populations (eg, minorities, low educational attainment). We defined sampling strata by cross-tabulating several socio-demographic variables obtained from EHR and augmented with census-block-level USC data.