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- Creators: Cortese, Denis
Description
Burn injuries and soft tissue infections infrequently result in amputation; however, the prognostic indicators of lower limb amputation are not well characterized by current literature. Several other studies have estimated the prevalence of amputation to be between 1.8-5.8% in burn patients, but a thorough analysis of past medical history as potential risk factors had not yet been conducted in the United States. Our retrospective study examined the medical charts of 110 patients admitted to the Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center between 2000 and 2016 with varying levels of lower limb amputation due to either a burn injury or soft tissue infection. The data was then compared to controls matched for sex, injury mechanism, age, and total body surface area (TBSA) that did not receive an amputation and that were admitted during the same time frame. Statistically significant relative risk factors for amputation included diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking history, alcohol abuse, and liver disease, each of which increased risk four to five times over matched controls. Interestingly, all these conditions negatively impact the circulatory system, leading to blood vessel damage, difficulties with wound healing, and increased risk for infection. As the prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular disease increases in the United States’ population, risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension are projected to affect more individuals than ever before. By demonstrating the increase in risk these conditions have on impacting the likelihood of amputation, this study exemplifies the importance of properly managing cardiovascular diseases to both burn clinicians and prevention campaigns.
ContributorsRichards, Nicole Paige (Author) / Cortese, Denis (Thesis director) / Matthews, Marc (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis concerns the adoption of health information technology in the medical sector, specifically electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs have been seen as a great benefit to the healthcare system and will improve the quality of patient care. The federal government, has seen the benefit EHRs can offer, has been advocating the use and adoption of EHR for nearly a decade now. They have created policies that guide medical providers on how to implement EHRs. However, this thesis concerns the attitudes medical providers in Phoenix have towards government implementation. By interviewing these individuals and cross-referencing their answers with the literature this thesis wants to discover the pitfalls of federal government policy toward EHR implementation and EHR implementation in general. What this thesis found was that there are pitfalls that the federal government has failed to address including loss of provider productivity, lack of interoperability, and workflow improvement. However, the providers do say there is still a place for government to be involved in the implementation of EHR.
ContributorsKaldawi, Nicholas Emad (Author) / Lewis, Paul (Thesis director) / Cortese, Denis (Committee member) / Jones, Ruth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-05