Publications by authors named "Morgan Maring"

Objectives: Rightsizing the workforce to clinical demand requires a balance of work intensity, productivity, and a definition of clinical full-time equivalent (cFTE). We hypothesized a shortage of acute care surgeons based on a 204-shift per year (average, 17 per month) definition of a 1.0 cFTE established in our prior mixed-methods study (two service weeks plus five calls per month).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the safety of observing patients with small concurrent traumatic hemopneumothorax (HPTX), finding that 74% of patients were managed with observation instead of immediate tube thoracostomy (TT).
  • Results indicate that patients under observation experienced lower rates of pulmonary complications and shorter hospital stays compared to those who underwent early TT.
  • However, observation had a notable failure rate, with many patients needing further intervention, but those who did fail showed outcomes similar to those who got immediate TT.
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Introduction: Gallstone disease is one of the most common surgical diagnoses in the United States. Notably absent from the literature is the patient's perspective on priorities in management. Understanding patient values will assist surgeons and systems in achieving high-quality, patient-focused care for biliary disease.

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Introduction: The Traumatic Brain Injury - Patient Reported Outcome (TBI-PRO) model was previously derived to predict long-term patient satisfaction as assessed by the Quality of Life After Brain Injury (QOLIBRI) score. The aim of this study is to externally and prospectively validate the TBI-PRO model to predict long-term patient-reported outcomes and to derive a new model using a larger dataset of older adults with TBI.

Methods: Patients admitted to a Level I trauma center with TBI were prospectively followed for 1 y after injury.

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Introduction: Retained hemothorax (HTX) is a common complication following thoracic trauma. Small studies demonstrate the benefit of thoracic cavity irrigation at the time of tube thoracostomy (TT) for the prevention of retained HTX. We sought to assess the effectiveness of chest irrigation in preventing retained HTX leading to a secondary surgical intervention.

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Article Synopsis
  • Delays in starting VTE prophylaxis for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain an issue despite existing guidelines, prompting a hypothesis that an expanded Trauma Program Performance Improvement (PI) team will enhance timely care and reduce complications.
  • A retrospective review analyzed TBI patients before and after the expansion of the Trauma PIPS team over two separate years, excluding those with critical conditions or early interventions.
  • Results showed significant reductions in initiation time for VTE prophylaxis and increased administration rates, leading to lower VTE event rates without raising bleeding incidents, confirming the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary team's efforts.
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Background: Understanding the expectations of early career acute care surgeons will help clarify the practice and employment models that will attract and retain high-quality surgeons, thereby sustaining our workforce. This study aimed to outline the clinical and academic preferences and priorities of early career acute care surgeons and to better define full-time employment.

Methods: A survey on clinical responsibilities, employment preferences, work priorities, and compensation was distributed to early career acute care surgeons in the first 5 years of practice.

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Importance: Diagnostic information from administrative claims and electronic health record (EHR) data may serve as an important resource for surveillance of vision and eye health, but the accuracy and validity of these sources are unknown.

Objective: To estimate the accuracy of diagnosis codes in administrative claims and EHRs compared to retrospective medical record review.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study compared the presence and prevalence of eye disorders based on diagnostic codes in EHR and claims records vs clinical medical record review at University of Washington-affiliated ophthalmology or optometry clinics from May 2018 to April 2020.

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Background: Self-reported questions on blindness and vision problems are collected in many national surveys. Recently released surveillance estimates on the prevalence of vision loss used self-reported data to predict variation in the prevalence of objectively measured acuity loss among population groups for whom examination data are not available. However, the validity of self-reported measures to predict prevalence and disparities in visual acuity has not been established.

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The objective grading of anterior chamber inflammation (ACI) has remained a challenge in the field of uveitis. While the grading criteria produced by the Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) International Workshop have been widely adopted, limitations exist including interobserver variability and grading confined to discrete categories rather than a continuous measurement. Since the earliest iterations of optical coherence tomography (OCT), ACI has been assessed using anterior segment OCT and shown to correlate with slit-lamp findings.

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Purpose: To evaluate whether cataract surgery is associated with decreased risks of central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) or branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) development using the American Academy of Ophthalmology Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS®) Registry.

Design: Retrospective database study of the IRIS Registry data.

Participants: Patients in the IRIS Registry who underwent cataract surgery and 1:1 matched control participants from the IRIS Registry using a decision tree classifier as a propensity model.

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