Yale School of Medicine
Development and Validation of a Novel Caregiver-Reported Outcome Measure
Dr. Gettel is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the Yale University National Clinician Scholars Program. He is committed to improving transitional care for older adults seen in the emergency department (ED), particularly those living with dementia who are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects associated with poor transitions. His research interests center on developing and validating novel patient- and caregiver-reported outcome measures to improve ED-home care transitions for older adults, particularly for people living with dementia. Dr. Gettel is a physician-scholar seeking to develop skills in development and validation of patient-caregiver reported outcomes, health informatics, and pragmatic clinical trial design.
People living with dementia (PLWD) experience functional decline and repeat healthcare utilization after emergency department (ED) discharge, with care partners playing an integral role in promoting successful care transitions. Efforts to measure the quality of care transitions following ED visits are in their infancy, with a lack of measures targeting outcomes prioritized by care partners of PLWD during this unique healthcare system touchpoint. The Career Development Award will provide Dr. Gettel with the necessary experience and training in development and validation of patient-caregiver reported outcomes, health informatics, and pragmatic clinical trial design to become an independent clinician-investigator conducting ED-based pragmatic clinical trials to improve outcomes of the novel Caregiver-reported Outcome Measure for Emergency Care Transitions (COMET) tool. This training will support the following Specific Aims: (1) To develop the COMET tool, characterizing outcomes of ED discharge care transitions prioritized by care partners of PLWD, and (2) To conduct internal validity testing of the COMET tool. This work will lay the foundation for a future multi-site embedded pragmatic clinical trial of an ED-based intervention to improve patient- and caregiver-reported outcomes captured by the COMET tool.