WIHSE affiliates are working hard to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in many creative, transdisciplinary ways. The following are highlights of projects and activities:
SMPH COLLABORATORS AND WIHSE DIRECTOR, PASCALE CARAYON, CO-WRITE PAPER, “PHYSICAL DISTANCING FOR CARE DELIVERY IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS: CONSIDERATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES”
A look into providing health care during the COVID-19 Pandemic. “As health care systems explore new ways of delivering care for patients with and without COVID-19, they must consider how to maintain physical distancing among health care workers and patients”
BERBEEWALSH DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE COLLABORATORS AND WHISE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, BOB BATT WORK TOGETHER ON COVID SURVEILLANCE TOOL
“To address uncertainty about ongoing levels of SARS-CoV-2 community transmission early in the pandemic, we aimed to develop a surveillance tool using readily available emergency department (ED) operations data extracted from the electronic health record (EHR).”
WIHSE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, MAUREEN SMITH, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UW HEALTH, HAS RELEASED A COVID-19 VACCINE PRIORITIZATION TOOLKIT.
“This toolkit, intended for healthcare administrators, policymakers, and researchers interested in equitably distributing vaccinations to healthcare personnel, can be used to improve the equity of the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to healthcare personnel during Phase 1a of the CDC’s vaccine distribution plan, if not enough vaccine is available to immunize an entire group of employees with similar job-related risk exposure.”
WIHSE COLLABORATOR, JUSTIN BOUTILIER HAS HELPED DEVELOP AN OPTIMIZATION MODEL THAT AUTOMATES THE PROCESS OF MATCHING MANUFACTURERS WITH ORGANIZATIONS IN NEED OF FACE SHIELDS
Through the Badger Shield Initiative, WIHSE collaborator Professor Justin Boutilier worked with BME graduate student Rebecca Alcock and Professor Auyon Siddiq at UCLA Anderson School of Business to develop an optimization model that automates the process of matching manufacturers with organizations in need of face shields. Their work has been highlighted by many organizations including UW news, Wired, The Cap Times, and the Wall Street Journal. They submitted and received an NSF RAPID grant proposal for this project (https://www.engr.wisc.edu/news/boutilier-lands-nsf-grant-for-ppe-matching-platform/).
WEBINAR – “AN OVERLOOKED INTERSECTION: HUMAN FACTORS SYSTEMS APPROACH AND THE COVID-19 HEALTHCARE CRISIS”
On April 29, WIHSE Director Pascale Carayon and Shawna Perry, Associate Professor, University of Florida Health Department of Emergency Medicine presented a webinar, “An Overlooked Intersection: Human Factors Systems Approach and The COVID-19 Healthcare Crisis”, organized by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).
WIHSE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OGUZHAN ALAGOZ HAS LED THE DEVELOPMENT OF COVID-19 PREDICTION MODELS
WIHSE Associate Director Oguzhan Alagoz has led the development of models that are among the tools aiding health officials in Dane County and south-central Wisconsin as they prepare for and respond to COVID-19. He has worked with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health to develop and refine the models and has shared his efforts with the WI DHS. Press releases:
- https://news.wisc.edu/uw-madison-engineer-works-with-local-health-leaders-to-develop-covid-19-prediction-models/
- https://www.engr.wisc.edu/news/uw-madison-engineer-works-with-local-health-leaders-to-develop-covid-19-prediction-models/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=COE_MKT&utm_content=ISYE
- https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/04/22/covid-19-hasnt-spiked-after-wisconsin-election-experts-urge-caution/2997394001/
You can find more information about UW Madison and COVID-19 on the UW COVID website:
https://covid19.wisc.edu/