Announcing the 2022-2023 Clinical Seed Award Recipients

We’re thrilled to announce that Drs. Raina Khan and Jina Sinskey have been selected as recipients of Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care Clinical Seed Awards for the 2022-2023 cycle.

The purpose of this award mechanism is to provide funding support to clinical Anesthesia faculty for research projects involving human subjects, human samples, and/or data derived from human subjects. This award is for faculty at all career stages and is suitable for individuals without substantial research experience. The Clinical Seed Award program is managed by the Anesthesia Biostatistics and Clinical Research Design (ABCD) group, which reviews applications and provides guidance and mentorship to applicants and awardees. The application is a multi-step process, involving a letter of intent, brief presentation, and full proposal submission over a 4–5-month period. During this process, applicants are given iterative feedback to help them develop the strongest project possible. Expert feedback continues during the award period, as awardees are required to give project updates throughout the year.

Read more about the 2022-2023 awardees and their projects below.

PI: Raina Khan, MD

Mentor: Jacqueline Leung, MD, MPH

Study: An Exploration of “Near Miss” Events in Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) Locations

While the ASA safety standards should apply to both Operating Room (OR) and Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) locations, there are often unique situations encountered by anesthesia providers in NORA that may present challenges to patient care. By studying near miss events in NORA, we hope to standardize practices in NORA to prevent adverse and sentinel events. We anticipate that not only will we be able to clearly delineate safety hazards in NORA, we will also be able to quantify how frequently they occur —allowing for meaningful reevaluation of NORA standards, e.g., resources, ancillary support, and layout.

PI: Jina Sinskey, MD

Mentor: Matthieu Legrand, MD, PhD

Study: Investigating Team Flow in Healthcare to Enhance Patient Safety and Clinician Well-Being

The goal of our study is to characterize and measure team flow, a state of optimal experience described in positive psychology, to learn how to optimize OR team dynamics and function to improve patient safety, perioperative outcomes, and clinician well-being. The ability to measure team dynamics and function will be instrumental in improving healthcare teamwork and communication, known determinants of perioperative outcomes and patient safety. This foundational work will enable us to effect the cultural change necessary for increased patient and clinician safety and collegial multidisciplinary collaboration.

The next Clinical Seed Award cycle will be announced in early 2023. Potential applicants are encouraged to reach out early by completing the ABCD intake form or emailing [email protected].