Browsing by Author "Mullis, Leilani"

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    A Liberal Transfusion Strategy Leads to Higher Infection Rates, ORthopaedic Trauma and Anemia: Conservative vs. Liberal Transfusion Strategy (ORACL), a Prospective Randomized Study 30 Day Inpatient Complications
    (2022-09-17) Mullis, Leilani; Mullis, Brian; Virkus, Walter; Kempton, Laurence
    Purpose: There is ongoing debate what level of anemia should be used as a transfusion trigger for asymptomatic trauma patients no longer in a resuscitative phase immediately following trauma. A previous retrospective case-control study by one of the lead investigators showed there was a higher risk of complications with a more liberal strategy, and this appeared to be dose-dependent. Multiple previous studies have shown allogeneic blood transfusion is immunosuppressive and may increase infection rates in surgical patients. This study was completed to determine if a more conservative strategy was safe and might decrease the risk of infection. Methods: The ORACL pilot study randomized 100 patients ages 18-50 to a conservative transfusion strategy of 5.5 g/dL vs a liberal strategy of 7.0 g/dL in asymptomatic patients no longer being resuscitated who required inpatient admission for an associated musculoskeletal injury. Enrollment was performed at 3 level 1 trauma centers from 2014-2021. Ninety-nine patients completed 30 day follow up. Results: There was a significant association between a liberal transfusion strategy and higher rate of deep infection (defined as unplanned return to OR for debridement or admission for IV antibiotics) but superficial infection (defined as oral antibiotics alone needed without admission or debridement) did not reach statistical significance (Table 1). Multiple secondary outcomes or complications that might occur due to anemia or transfusion were not different between the two groups. Conclusion: This study shows a conservative transfusion strategy of 5.5 g/dL in an asymptomatic young Orthopaedic trauma patient leads to a lower deep infection rate without an increase in adverse outcomes.
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    Advancing Equity in Graduate Medical Education Recruitment Through a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Toolkit for Program Directors
    (Sage, 2023-10-09) Nabhan, Zeina M.; Scott, Nicole; Kara, Areeba; Mullis, Leilani; Dams, Travis; Giblin, Mark; Williamson, Francesca; Wright, Curtis; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives: To increase diversity and inclusion in graduate medical education (GME), the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) issued new diversity standards requiring programs to engage in practices that focus on systematic recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce of trainees and faculty. The literature on how program directors (PDs) can incorporate and prepare for this standard is limited. Methods: We developed a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) toolkit for PDs as an example of an institutional GME-led effort to promote inclusive recruitment and DEI awareness among residency and fellowship programs at a large academic center. Results: A survey was sent to 80 PDs before the launch of the toolkit and 6 months afterwards with response rates of 27% (22/80) and 97% (78/80), respectively. At baseline, 45% (10/22) anticipated that the DEI toolkit might provide better resources than those currently available to them and 41% (9/22) perceived that the toolkit might improve recruitment outcomes. At 6 months, 63% (49/78) found the toolkit helpful in the 2021-2022 recruitment season. By contrast, 2% (2/78) of PDs did not find the toolkit helpful, and 33% (26/78) said they did not access the toolkit. When asked if a PD changed their program's recruitment practices because of the toolkit, 31% (24/78) responded yes. Programs that changed recruitment practices started to require unconscious bias training for all faculty and residents involved in the residency interviews and ranking. Others worked on creating a standardized scoring rubric for interviews focused on four main domains: Experiences, Attributes, Competencies, and Academic Metrics. Conclusion: There is a need to support PDs in their DEI journey and their work to recruit a diverse workforce in medicine. Utilizing a DEI toolkit is one option to increase DEI knowledge, skills, awareness, and self-efficacy among PDs and can be adopted by other institutions and leaders in academic medicine.