During my scholarship year at DIHI, I had the opportunity to work on several interesting projects. My main project was a pilot of an RFID surgical instrument tracking system in Orthopaedic surgery. As of April 2019, we have been able to collect data on instrument use for nine CMC- Arthroplasty surgeries conducted by two surgeons at the DUHS ambulatory surgery center (ASC). The data generated by our pilot revealed that only 49% of instruments contained in the surgical tray were used during any given CMC- arthroplasty—confirming our hypothesis that surgical instrument oversupply is a significant driver of cost for the ASC. We have also worked on expanding the pilot to other surgical subspecialties—with one case conducted in Urology and plans in the works for an expansion into General Surgery.

Notable side projects include a project on EHR data quality, as well as helping build a 30-day readmission risk model.

Overall, I can confidently say that applying for the DIHI scholarship was
a career altering decision. During research year, I aimed for both academic productivity and personal growth. DIHI enabled me to achieve these goals. Throughout the year I learned hard
skills such as how to code in python, while the weekly journal club covered wide ranging topics from leadership vs management to business strategy. The DIHI Scholarship provided a special opportunity in which we as students are allowed and expected to apply the skills we acquire throughout the year on real, impactful projects.

To paraphrase Bob Langer—“throughout the course of education, students are rewarded for having good answers. What really matters, though, is having good questions.” My year at DIHI has switched my focus from having the correct answer, to asking the right questions.