Patient looking out a window

REST-PSLL: Re-engineering Surgical Recovery and Transitions Using Technology Patient Safety Learning Laboratory

Problem and Need for the Study

Emergency general surgical procedures are responsible for a large proportion of hospital admissions, complications, and mortalities. Patients who undergo emergency laparotomies, which are abdominal surgeries, suffer some of the worst outcomes.

At-home recovery is an especially vulnerable period where patients may undergo significant physiologic changes, often receive fragmented care, and where a significant improvement opportunity exists. While enhanced recovery programs improve patient outcomes, these advancements have historically focused on before, during, and immediately after surgery in the acute setting. Recovery in the home setting remains understudied.

Innovation and Impact

Our goal is to develop solutions, including technology solutions, that improve the outcomes of emergency laparotomy patients during their home-based recovery. We will design solutions with a systems engineering approach and utilize existing tools and workflows where possible. While emergency laparotomy patients are the focus, we expect that some solutions will be applicable to broader populations of patients.

To achieve our goal, we will identify barriers to ideal home-based recovery and develop tools and processes that remove or reduce these obstacles. Promising solutions will be implemented and evaluated at one or both of our partner clinical sites: M Health Fairview and University of California San Francisco.

Key Personnel and Performance Sites

University of Minnesota

Headshot of Genevieve Melton-Meaux
Headshot of Jenna Marquad
  • Principal Investigators: Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Jenna Marquard
  • Co-Investigators: Christie Martin, Debbie Pestka, Drissa Toure, Christopher Tignanelli, Terrence Adam, Leslie Morse

University of California San Francisco

Headshot of Elizabeth Wick
  • Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Wick
  • Co-Investigators: Daniel Dohan, Pierce Logan

This four-year R18 project is funded by a ~$2 million award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
1R18HS029616-01
Project dates: 01-September-2023 to 30-June-2027