Zooming towards Rapid Qualitative Research for Implementation Science.

Qualitative research serves a critical role in improving our understanding and delivery of healthcare. However, there are multiple barriers to the efficient practice of qualitative research, including conducting interviews. Advances in language processing technology, coupled with technocultural shifts spurred by the COVID pandemic, present opportunities to overcome many of these barriers.

Microsurgeon Development, Attrition, and Hope for the Future: A Qualitative Analysis.

Background:  The field of microsurgery continues to grow, yet barriers to practice still exist. This qualitative study aims to elucidate factors both strengthening and threatening this subspecialty through structured interviews with fellowship-trained microsurgeons.

Methods:  An interview guide was designed, and structured interviews were conducted with practicing fellowship-trained microsurgeon members of the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgeons between August 2021 and May 2022.

A needs assessment for simulation in African surgical education.

Introduction: There is a critical need for comprehensive surgical training in African countries given the unmet surgical burden of disease in this region. Collaborative and progressive initiatives in global surgical education will have the greatest impact on trainees. Little is known about surgical education needs from the perspective of practicing surgeons and trainees in low-middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Inequitable Experiences of Left-Handed Medical Students in Surgical Education.

Purpose: Left-handed medical students contend with unique educational barriers within surgery, such as lack of educational resources, lack of left-handed-specific training, and widespread stigmatization of surgical left-handedness. This study aimed to highlight the surgical experiences of left-handed medical students so educators may be empowered to act with greater care and appreciation of these students' circumstances.

Method: In this qualitative study, the authors conducted semistructured interviews on surgical experiences during medical school between January 31, 2021, and June 20, 2021, on 31 current surgical residents and fellows from 15 U.

Optimizing care delivery in expanding health systems: Views from clinical leaders.

Introduction: In response to intense market pressures, many hospitals have consolidated into systems. However, evidence suggests that consolidation has not led to the improvements in clinical quality promised by proponents of mergers. The challenges to delivering care within expanding health systems and the opportunities posed to surgical leaders remains largely unexplored.

Photo elicitation, an approach to better understanding the patient experience with OAAs: pilot study and future implications.

Purpose: Oral anti-cancer agents (OAAs) represent a new frontier in cancer treatment, but we do not know how well patients incorporate the strategies that they are taught for managing the side effects of OAAs into their daily lives. The purpose of this study was to understand how OAA side effects influenced patients' lives and what strategies patients used to manage them.

Methods: The study used an interpretive descriptive design utilizing photo elicitation interviews (PEI).

Targets for De-implementation of Unnecessary Testing Before Low-Risk Surgery: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Despite multispecialty recommendations to avoid routine preoperative testing before low-risk surgery, the practice remains common and de-implementation has proven difficult. The goal of this study as to elicit determinants of unnecessary testing before low-risk surgery to inform de-implementation efforts.

Methods: We conducted focused ethnography at a large academic institution, including semi-structured interviews and direct observations at two preoperative evaluation clinics and one outpatient surgery center.

Medical students' perception of their 'distance travelled' in medical school applications.

Introduction: Within medical school's holistic review of applicants includes a review of their distance travelled to get to this point in their education. The AAMC defines distance travelled (DT) as, 'any obstacles or hardships you've overcome to get to this point in your education or any life challenges you've faced and conquered'. What medical students consider as their distance travelled has not been explored.

Barriers to rural health care from the provider perspective.

Introduction: Rural populations routinely rank poorly on common health indicators. While it is understood that rural residents face barriers to health care, the exact nature of these barriers remains unclear. To further define these barriers, a qualitative study of primary care physicians practicing in rural communities was performed.

Elucidating academic surgical staff perspectives of medical student learning in the operating room: An embedded mixed methods study.

Background: The operating room (OR) is a complex environment for medical students. Little is known about the OR staff's perception of medical students.

Methods: We utilized an embedded mixed methods design to characterize surgical staff perceptions of students at an academic institution.

Experiences of Filipino Americans with Type 2 Diabetes during COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.

Little is known about the experiences of Filipino Americans with type 2 diabetes regarding their self-management during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a qualitative research study using semistructured interviews. In total, 19 interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by 4 independent coders.

Surgical Leadership Competencies for Navigating Hospital Network Expansion.

Introduction: Today, many hospitals are part of a multihospital network, which changes the context in which surgeons are asked to lead. This study explores key leadership competencies that surgical leaders use to navigate this hospital network expansion.

Methods: In this qualitative study, 30 surgical leaders were interviewed.

Experiences With Prenatal Care Delivery Reported by Black Patients With Low Income and by Health Care Workers in the US: A Qualitative Study.

Importance: Black pregnant people with low income face inequities in health care access and outcomes in the US, yet their voices have been largely absent from redesigning prenatal care.

Objective: To examine patients' and health care workers' experiences with prenatal care delivery in a largely low-income Black population to inform care innovations to improve care coordination, access, quality, and outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: For this qualitative study, human-centered design-informed interviews were conducted at prenatal care clinics with 19 low-income Black patients who were currently pregnant or up to 1 year post partum and 19 health care workers (eg, physicians, nurses, and community health workers) in Detroit, Michigan, between October 14, 2019, and February 7, 2020.

"Learn from each other": A qualitative exploration of collaborative quality improvement.

Background: Collaborative quality improvement is an established method to conduct quality improvement in surgical care. Despite the success of this method, little is known about the experiences, perceptions, and attitudes of those who participate in collaborative quality improvement. The following study elicited common themes associated with the experiences and perceptions of surgeons participating in collaborative quality improvement.

Characterizing patient-reported claudication treatment goals to support patient-centered treatment selection and measurement strategies.

Objective: Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) have been increasingly emphasized for peripheral artery disease (PAD). Patient-defined treatment goals and expectations, however, are poorly understood and might not be achievable or aligned with guidelines or clinical outcomes. We evaluated the patient-reported treatment goals among patients with claudication and the associations between patient characteristics, goals, and PAD-specific PRO scores.

Polygenic Risk Prediction in Diverticulitis.

Objective: To derive and validate a polygenic risk score (PRS) to predict the occurrence and severity of diverticulitis and to understand the potential for incorporation of a PRS in current decision-making.

Background: PRS quantifies genetic variation into a continuous measure of risk. There is a need for improved risk stratification to guide surgical decision-making that could be fulfilled by PRS.

Focus group study of factors relevant to treatment decisions and experiences among patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease.

Background: Clinical guidelines recommend shared decision-making for treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD), which requires understanding of patient perspectives and preferences. We conducted a focus group study of patients with symptomatic PAD to identify factors important and relevant to treatment choices, and to characterize aspects of the health care process that contribute to positive vs negative experiences apart from the specific treatment(s) received.

Methods: Participants were recruited from an academic medical center over 2 years using a purposeful sampling approach based on a clinical diagnosis of symptomatic PAD (either claudication or chronic limb-threatening ischemia [CLTI]) confirmed by the abnormal ankle or toe brachial index.

A national qualitative study of surgical coaching: Opportunities and barriers for colorectal surgeons.

Background: Surgical coaching interventions have been recommended as a method of technological skills improvement for individual surgeons and lifelong occupational learning. Patient outcomes for laparoscopic colectomy vary significantly based on surgeon experience and case volume. As surgical coaching is an emerging area, little is known about how surgeons view coaching interventions.

"The captain of the ship." A qualitative investigation of surgeon identity formation.

Background: Professional identity formation is essential to medical trainee education. Surgeons are expected to guide trainees through this process but may be unprepared as they may not understand their own professional identity.

Methods: We purposively selected 46 surgeons across Michigan to participate in semi-structured qualitative interviews intended to explore surgical decision-making in 2019.

Understanding Racially Diverse Community Member Views of Obesity Stigma and Bariatric Surgery.

Purpose: The obesity epidemic poses serious challenges to health equity. Despite bariatric surgery being one of the most effective obesity treatments, utilization remains low. In this context, we explored public perceptions of bariatric surgery, centering voices of Black individuals.

Surgical quality assurance at expanding health networks: A qualitative study.

Background: Even after decades of network expansion and increased care being delivered within health networks, health network expansion has not led to uniform improvements in patient outcomes and satisfaction. The reasons for the lack of universal surgical quality improvement are unclear. This study used qualitative methods to understand the nuances that affect the variation in network-level surgical quality assurance and provides strategies that surgical leaders use to improve surgical quality at expanding health networks.

Questioning the legitimacy of bariatric surgery: a qualitative analysis of individuals from the community who qualify for bariatric surgery.

Background: Little is known about how individuals in the community who qualify for bariatric surgery perceive it and how this affects their likelihood to consider it for themselves. This study is the first qualitative study of a racially and ethnically diverse cohort to understand perceptions of bariatric surgery.

Methods: We designed a descriptive study to understand attitudes about bariatric surgery.

Trust and Distrust in Opioid Decision-Making: A Qualitative Assessment of Patient-Doctor Relationship.

Purpose: Surgeons often prescribe opioid analgesics for pain management after surgery. However, we understand little about how patients perceive opioid prescribing and make decisions to use opioids for postoperative pain management. In this study, we aimed to gain an understanding of patients' decision-making process on postoperative opioid use.