Research Endeavors
Research is one of the firm foundations of academic life, and as such I endeavor to help expand the knowledge currently available. The following are some of the ongoing and past research experiences I have undertaken.
Ongoing Research
Improving the Health Information Literacy Skills of Older Adults and Caregivers, Health Professions Students, and Public Librarians
Synopsis: The aims of the project is to help utilize available online resources such as MedLinePlus to help educate older adults to find appropriate health information. This is being accomplished by using workshops ,across the state of Massachusetts at elderly homes and senior centers, to introduce MedlinePlus to elderly members of the community. The workshop consists of three sessions of three hour hands-on teaching modules where the elderly utilize computers to explore health topics using online resources.
Health professions students and public librarians were also educated on how to identify resources for elderly patients as well, through the internet and mobile medical applications on tablet computers and smartphones. This is being accomplished in a similar manner with workshops being utilized for hands-on practice.
Teaching Pharmacy Students to Review and Assess Mobile Medical Applications - A Flipped Classroom Workshop
Synopsis: This project aims to determine the efficacy of a workshop geared to educate pharmacy students on mobile medical applications. The workshop utilizes a flipped classroom module, where students listen to a 40-minute online presentation on mobile medical apps and how to review them. They are then instructed to download pre-selected apps, where they then attend a workshop to evaluate the apps in groups using a worksheet designed to help guide them in the review process. Professors and teaching assistants are responsible for guiding the conversation in the workshop and leading discussions on each groups conclusion on the apps and how they came to their conclusion.
Past Research
Mobile Medical Applications for Pharmacists
Synopsis: This was a review I undertook to review currently available mobile medical applications for pharmacists based on the Android OS and iOS. Overall results were interesting, in the light that there were a significant number of poorly designed apps for pharmacists at the time. Results of this project spawned a paper, and multiple oral presentations given at local and national pharmacy conferences.
Comparison of the Beers and START/STOPP Criteria for Evaluating Risk for Falls in the Inpatient Setting
Synopsis: Residency research project focused on determining the utilization of a pharmacy evaluation of patients medications at high risk of fall due to their Morse Fall Risk. Project was presented at a local conference. Unfortunate issue of the project (depending how you look at it) was that the updated Beers List came out at the end of the project which affected the outcomes.
Sodium Nitroprusside and Post-Operative Atrial Fibrillation
Synopsis: Conducted in my last year in pharmacy school, this was a retrospective cohort analysis of patients who had received Sodium Nitroprusside and whether they developed Post-Operative Atrial Fibrillation (POAF). The study was based upon a pilot study conducted earlier. Our results demonstrated not a clear relation, however, there were certain limitations. The study was published and presented a several national medical conferences.