University of Washington

PORPP graduate student Amy Cizik is observing the orthopaedic surgeons, residents and an anesthesiologist as they prep a patient for knee surgery. A pile of past-patient follow-up radiographs at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute in Tanzania tower over Cizik. ASSESSING SURGICAL OUTCOMES IN TANZANIA P harmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program (PORPP) graduate student Amy Cizik spent last summer in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania piloting a mobile phone application that enters surgical follow-up data. Cizik sought to determine whether surgeons at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute could more easily enter patients' post-surgery progress with a smart phone data and photo application than with traditional data entry methods. Andy Stergachis, PORPP adjunct professor and UW professor of global health, guided Cizik in her proposal for funding and served as her project mentor. The funding came from the UW Thomas Francis, Jr., Global Health Fellowship Program. In addition, Cizik collaborated with SIGN Fracture Care International, a humanitarian organization that provides orthopaedic treatment to people in developing countries. What Cizik ultimately discovered during her time in Tanzania was that few people who receive fracture care at the Institute actually return for follow-up. They don't have the means to get back to the clinic to meet with a physician. Cizik, therefore, will continue working with SIGN to assess better methods for patient follow-up. Ultimately, she hopes to help SIGN track patients' outcomes and to help SIGN's patients worldwide get the appropriate follow-up care in their recovery process. Cizik enrolled in PORPP because of its focus on improving health care decisions for patients and decision makers. With a background in public health and orthopaedics research, she wanted to research the clinical and economic effects of orthopaedic devices in patient populations. In the future, she hopes to collaborate with orthopaedic surgeons to study cost and outcomes of orthopaedic interventions or to help surgeons in other countries conduct similar research. No matter how this takes shape, she will have an international network of support as an alumna of PORPP. Cizik, who went to Tanzania as a UW Thomas Francis, Jr., Global Health Fellow, enrolled in PORPP because of its focus on improving health care decisions for patients and decision makers. [ 2013 Excellence Report 7 ]

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