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Impacts
Minneapolis ESP Team developing Evidence Brief requested by White House Long COVID Research Work Group. The Minneapolis Evidence Synthesis Program team is developing an evidence brief on “Employment, Education, & Continuing Care Outcomes Following COVID-19” based on a request from the White House Long COVID Research Work Group to inform the National Research Action Plan (FY2022). This evidence brief focuses on three aspects of the post-acute COVID-19 burden: employment, education, and care needs at and following hospital discharge.Allison Gustavson participated in Research Briefing to US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs on Long COVID research. Given her role as founder and co-lead of the VHA Long COVID Community of Practice, Dr. Allison Gustavson was invited to participate in a Research Briefing requested by the US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs on ongoing Long COVID research and VA plans to continue future study in this area (Aug. 2022). She was one of four invited briefers (others included Drs. David Atkins, Carolyn Clancy, and Marian Adly). This briefing provided key information to garnering the legislative authority to propose and push-through policies related to the provision of Long COVID care and research in the VHA. Additionally, the Long COVID Community of Practice supported the development of a VA guidebook on caring for Veterans with Long COVID, which was published August 2022.
Anne Melzer’s work informed national efforts to expand lung-cancer screening across VA. The VA Lung Cancer Precision Oncology Program (LPOP) (co-I for Upper Midwest LPOP network: Dr. Anne Melzer), a component of the VHA’s Precision Oncology Initiative, was discussed by Dr. Rachel Ramoni in a hearing before the House Committee on Appropriations on Impacts of VA’s Research Efforts on Veterans (May 2022). Dr. Ramoni noted a signature effort of the LPOP program is lung cancer screening (LCS) for the early detection of cancer. Over the past several years, Dr. Melzer has evaluated gaps in care and clinical barriers to the implementation of LCS. This has led to her current collaborations with the LPOP program, examining methods to improve the outcomes and experiences of LCS as co-chair of the LPOP Veterans Engagement Group. This work has also provided a framework for Dr. Melzer’s VISN 23 LCS Strategic Initiative and preliminary data for her current QUERI pilot (PII 22-236), which is examining the integration of tobacco treatment into LCS. Both projects started in October 2022.
“Veterans Pain Care Organizational Improvement Comparative Effectiveness (VOICE)” study team published manuscript with Veteran co-authors. The VOICE study team (PI: Erin Krebs) published a manuscript in a JGIM Supplement on Patient and Veteran Engagement in Healthcare research entitled “’Not all groups come together, but this one just clicks’: Ten Tips for Sustaining an Engagement Panel” (March 2022). This manuscript was co-authored by Veteran partners who participated in the VOICE Veteran Engagement Panel, which has met regularly to problem-solve and provide feedback to VOICE researchers since 2017. This manuscript not only disseminated best practices for effective engagement but also laid the foundation for other research teams to invite Veteran partners into their publication and writing groups. This JGIM Supplement was also featured in an HSR&D publication brief that was shared with VHA leadership in April 2022.
Anne Melzer’s BMJ editorial on screening high risk populations for lung cancer quoted by 14 news outlets, including WebMD, UK Today, and Medpage. This editorial commented on the results of a newly published study that provided key evidence supporting the beneficial effect for lung cancer screening in people at high risk in the US, despite the poor state of implementation. The editorial particularly noted that the benefits did not extend to patients living in economically deprived areas or to racial or ethnic minority groups. It suggested that, as currently implemented, screening will only exaggerate healthcare disparities still further and therefore called for more equitable screening and outcomes (March 2022).
Orly Vardeny contributed to the 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure. This guideline was published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association “Circulation” journal (April 2022). This 2022 guideline provides patient-centric recommendations for clinicians to prevent, diagnose, and manage patients with heart failure.
Hildi Hagedorn’s “Advancing Pharmacological Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder (ADaPT-OUD)” study (IIR 16-145) recognized for impact on implementation. ADaPT-OUD’s primary outcome paper entitled “Advancing Pharmacological Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder (ADaPT-OUD): an Implementation Trial in Eight Veterans Health Administration Facilities” was selected as one the best JGIM Quality Improvement Science/Implementation Science articles of the past few years (Oct. 2022). Dr. Hagedorn was also invited to present this work at the inaugural JGIM Webinar titled " Quality Improvement and Implementation Science in Health Care Systems: Top-Rated Manuscripts from JGIM 2021-2022.” The implementation strategy that was used in ADaPT-OUD informed the development of the implementation strategy used by VA OMHSP to support the Stepped Care for Opioid Use Disorder Train-the-Trainer (SCOUTT) initiative. SCOUTT has facilitated access to medication treatments for opioid use disorder in non-SUD specialty care clinics (primary care, mental health, and pain clinics) in 36 VA facilities nationally.
Infographics
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Dr. Allison Gustavson is co-leading VHA’s Long COVID Community of Practice, which aims to foster collaboration within and outside the VA to disseminate information and clinical resources on Long-COVID to providers on a national level. Dr. Gustavson also published a paper (“Stakeholder and Data-Driven Fall Screen in a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly: Quality Improvement Initiative") and infographic to address fall rates in the J of Geriatric Physical Therapy. Gustavson_VisualAbstract |
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CCDOR researcher Dr. Erin Krebs and team worked with a panel of Veterans to develop an infographic to share results of the SPACE study with the community. Click the link below to view and share a copy of the infographic. https://infogram.com/opioids-vs-non-opioids-space-trial-va-research-1hke60d1drle25r |
Dr. Laura Meis collaborated with CCDOR’s Communication Committee to create a visual abstract of her article, “Sticking It Out in Trauma-Focused Treatment for PTSD: It Takes a Village,” that was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Meis_JCCPVisualAbstract.pdf |
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Dr. Tracy Sides and Dr. Erin Krebs, along with the Pain/Opioid Consortium of Research team, launched an initiative to produce a series of “infographics” which summarize results from a health services research study that is relevant to patients with chronic pain, opioid use, or opioid use disorder. Veteran input informs each stage of the production process. The infographic highlighted here shares information about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain in Veterans. Click the link below to view and share a copy of the infographic. All current Pain/Opioid CORE infographics are available on their website. |