We used a Zoom Un-meeting as an educational approach to provide experienced clinical research professional (CRP) adult learners a collaborative learning space to learn more about current issues for academic medical center (AMC) clinical research workforce development and collaborate on solution finding. CRPs operationalize the conduct of clinical trials and represent a significant brain trust for the Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) consortium hubs with their vast knowledge base, extensive experience, understanding of relevant institutional policy, organizational culture, and clinical research operations. Un-meetings are an intentionally organized and coordinated group activity that encourages participants to focus on a topic and incorporate an open flow of ideas through brainstorming and an open discussion format, setting the stage for future collaborative action. We divided topics into a series of six consecutive monthly Un-meeting Zoom workshops. Ultimately, one resulting output from the meeting was the Center for Leading Innovation and Collaborations (CLIC) synergy paper award to support continued collaborative work. Currently, work teams have emerged to analyze qualitative data from brainstorming and breakout session recordings and to identify small-group activities. We describe this adult learning tool as valuable for exploring issues of AMC CRP professional development. This approach encouraged creative/critical thinking and opportunities for leadership, team science, and problem-solving among participants.

Introduction: The Emergency Departments (ED) is a gateway to the health care system for many psychiatric patients. As a consequence of hospital administrative factors and overcrowding, admitted psychiatric patients are often boarded in the ED while waiting for an inpatient bed. There is currently a lack of evidence to quantify the effect that ED boarding has on psychiatric patients. The primary objective of this study is to determine whether a patient's length of stay is related to longer ED boarding time. Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort using data from an administrative source, which was obtained from patient records captured in the Sunrise Clinical Manager EMR used across Calgary, Alberta EDs from 2014-2018. A hierarchical Bayesian regression analysis was used to model the several patient-level and hospital-level factors. The mean and variance was defined by the exposure of interest, namely hours in the Emergency Department after admission to psychiatry unit expressed as a continuous variable. An interaction between this exposure and patient-level confounders was used to model the changing effect of a patient's severity in the ED on their boarding time. Results: The median boarding time for patients in our study was 6.6 hours (standard deviation 17.3), while the average was 13.6 hours. Patients who were boarded for greater than 6 hours more frequently required an antipsychotic (37% vs 11%; SMD 0.651), sedative (52% vs 29%; SMD 0.483) or restraints (18% vs. 14%; SMD 0.102). In crude analysis there was no difference in median length of stay for patients that were boarding more than 6 hours compared to those boarded for less than 6 hours (8 days vs 9 days; SMD 0.012).The rate ratio for length of stay is 1.05 with 95% posterior interval 1.04 - 1.06 for each 24 hour increase in boarding time. This means that for each 1 day worth of boarding time, the length of stay (in days) increases 1.05 times (or 0.05 days/day boarding time). Conclusion: Boarding time is associated with a small but absolute increase in length of stay for psychiatric patients. Decreasing boarding time could have ripple effects for ED efficiency and overall patient outcomes.

Bacterial cultures exposed to iron-doped apatite nanoparticles (IDANPs) prior to the introduction of antagonistic viruses experience up to 2.3 times the bacterial destruction observed in control cultures. Maximum antibacterial activity of these bacteria-specific viruses, or phage, occurs after bacterial cultures have been exposed to IDANPs for 1 hr prior to phage introduction, demonstrating that IDANP-assisted phage therapy would not be straight forward, but would instead require controlled time release of IDANPs and phage. These findings motivated the design of an electrospun nanofiber mesh treatment delivery system that allows burst release of IDANPs, followed by slow, consistent release of phage for treatment of topical bacterial infections. IDANPs resemble hydroxyapatite, a biocompatible mineral analogous to the inorganic constituent of mammalian bone, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for many biomedical purposes. The composite nanofiber mesh was designed for IDANP-assisted phage therapy treatment of topical wounds and consists of a superficial, rapid release layer of polyethylene oxide (PEO) fibers doped with IDANPs, followed by inner, coaxial polycaprolactone / polyethylene glycol (PCL/PEG) blended polymer fiber layer for slower phage delivery. Our investigations have established that IDANP-doped PEO fibers are effective vehicles for dissemination of IDANPs for bacterial exposure and resultant increased bacterial death by phage. In this work, slower delivery of the phage behind IDANPs was accomplished using coaxial, electrospun fibers composed of PCL/PEG polymer blend.