Care delivery research
Allina Health’s care delivery research department is dedicated to advancing practice-based research for Allina patients, their families and providers, as well as broader communities served by Allina Health facilities. Through partnerships with clinical service lines and provider teams across the Allina Health system, we are able to create, design, evaluate, implement and disseminate research focused on improving care delivery.
Critical care and hospitalist research programs at Abbott Northwestern Hospital
The critical care and hospitalist clinical research programs at Allina Health are in partnership with Abbott Northwestern Hospital and strive to improve outcomes for hospitalized patients. Results of our research studies provide important evidence that is used to develop optimized patient care and reduce complications during hospital admissions. Ultimately, the impact of this research benefits our community by decreasing the overall length of stay and cost of care for inpatients.
Collectively, over 100 physicians staff the critical care and hospitalist services, many of whom are actively engaged in research. There are currently 15 Institutional Review Board-approved research studies underway in collaboration with the critical care/hospitalist research team. These studies utilize the efforts of other clinical services such as nursing, pharmacy, mental health, surgery, cardiovascular medicine and emergency medicine. In addition, the Critical Care/Hospitalist Research Council reviews and approves all studies before initiation.
Clinical research studies led by physicians and the critical care/hospitalist research team at Abbott Northwestern Hospital often involve physicians-in-training from the Internal Medicine Residency Program. This integrated approach to medical care, training and clinical research promotes exceptional care for the patients and families that Abbott Northwestern Hospital serves.
Critical Care/Hospitalist research team
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) research
The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) research agenda at Allina Health aims to improve the delivery and outcomes of the pre-hospital care provided by our ambulance service. Since 2011, a small but active group of core investigators has been conducting research in support of Allina paramedics, EMTs and dispatchers who deliver life-saving and compassionate care in the pre-hospital setting to patients and families facing acute and often life-threatening events in the out-of-hospital setting.
With over 600 care providers and approximately 130,000 responses for service annually across 100+ communities, Allina Health EMS is one of the largest ambulance services in the upper Midwest. The research we conduct in this large applied setting is aimed at advancing new treatments and approaches in the field of pre-hospital care delivery and studying their impact on patient outcomes. Research focus areas include management of cardiac arrest, provider well-being, response vehicle design and safety, sepsis recognition, and administration of opioids and naloxone.
Emergency Medical Services research team
Andrew Stevens, MD
Charles Lick, MD
Lori Boland, MPH
lori.boland@allina.com
Christie Traczyk, MS, FP-C, EMT-P
Mother Baby research
The Mother Baby research agenda at Allina Health seeks to improve models of care and outcomes during prenatal care, labor and delivery for both low- and high-risk pregnancies. Our research is also focused on identifying disparities and inequalities to create opportunities to improve health equity among patients. Ultimately, we aim to partner with providers to generate practice-based evidence within the Mother Baby service line.
Allina Health’s Mother Baby clinical service line brings together obstetrics (OB), perinatology, midwifery, newborn care/neonatology and women’s health to provide world-class care. Allina Health is the largest OB delivery system in the state with over 15,500 annual deliveries. Research conducted by the Mother Baby team is guided by the Mother Baby Research Council, which provides scientific, strategic and practical guidance to the development and implementation of research.
Mother Baby research team
Abbey Sidebottom, PhD, MPH
Principal Scientist
abbey.sidebottom@allina.com
Marc Vacquier, MS
Statistician
marc.vacquier@allina.com
Whitney Wunderlich, MA
Senior Research Associate
whitney.wunderlich@allina.com
Anna Schulte, MPH
Research Associate
anna.schulte@allina.com