2024 | Track 1 | Psychosocial and Physical Environments of Health Care
TRACK 1 SEED GRANT | Whole Health Consortium
Psychosocial and Physical Environments of Health Care
TEAM:
- Dr. Monifa Vaughn-Cooke, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
- Dr. Sarah Henrickson Parker, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
- Dr. Charles Calderwood, Psychology,
- Dr. Alp Tural, School of Design
- Dr. Lisa Uherick, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Carilion Clinic
- Ottilia Lewis, Trauma Survivors Network, Carilion Clinic
The communication process between patients, clinicians, and families is a critical element that impacts wellness during patient care activities in the hospital setting. Traditionally, healthcare has centered on treating physical conditions; however, there is an increasing acknowledgment of the need to promote holistic wellness through effective healing practices. A patient's recovery is influenced by several factors, including the psychosocial environment consisting of relationships that support healing, and the built environment, which refers to the physical spaces where care is provided. Improving interpersonal communication allows healthcare providers to better understand patients' concerns and foster shared decision-making. Our research will investigate the psychosocial and physical aspects of healthcare environments using a mixed method approaches that incorporates subjective stakeholder input and sensor data collection integrating unobtrusive LiDAR movement sensing (psychosocial micro-gestures) with wearable neurophysiological sensing (cognitive workload). Three interrelated projects were selected for their influence on patient and clinician well-being: Clinician Burnout, Hospitals as Healing Spaces, and Technology-Mediated Hospital Environments. We plan to create coded task frameworks to analyze movement patterns and psychosocial tasks with the goal of generating experimental protocols and sensor integration code that will inform future empirical data collection. Intubation tasks within a Trauma Bay simulation environment will serve as a preliminary demonstration of research concepts. Community partners (Trauma Survivors Network, Carilion Clinic Emergency Medicine) will facilitate stakeholder input (patient and clinician) and community engagement during key research stages. Collaborative efforts will lead to the submission of three external grant proposals, each targeting one project focus.