NUTORC—a transdisciplinary health services and outcomes research team in transplantation

Abstract

The field of solid organ transplantation has historically concentrated research efforts on basic science and translational studies. However, there has been increasing interest in health services and outcomes research. The aim was to build an effective and sustainable, inter- and transdisciplinary health services and outcomes research team (NUTORC), that leveraged institutional strengths in social science, engineering, and management disciplines, coupled with an international recognized transplant program. In 2008, leading methodological experts across the university were identified and intramural funding was obtained for the NUTORC initiative. Inter- and transdisciplinary collaborative teams were created across departments and schools within the university. Within 3 years, NUTORC became fiscally sustainable, yielding more than tenfold return of the initial investment. Academic productivity included funding for 39 grants, publication of 60 manuscripts, and 166 national presentations. Sustainable educational opportunities for students were created. Inter- and transdisciplinary health services and outcomes research in transplant can be innovative and sustainable.

Hepatology in a changing health care landscape: A call for health services research

“…Several innovative collaborations have also been established within and between institutions and in our professional societies with the collective goal of advancing the value of health care for patients with liver disease. For example, in 2008 an inter‐ and transdisciplinary health services and outcomes research team (Northwestern University, Transplant Outcomes Research, Collaborative), that leveraged institutional strengths in social science, engineering, and management disciplines, coupled with an internationally recognized transplant program, was established at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, to expand HSR beyond secondary data analysis in LT . In 2015, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) supported the development of the Public Health/Health Care Delivery Special Interest Group (SIG), “To bring together AASLD members with shared interests in health services research and practice, including: disease prevention and public health, access to care, population‐based disease management, improving quality of healthcare delivery, health economics and health policy.” The Public Health/Health Care Delivery SIG now counts over 200 members .…”

An emerging science and praxis for research and practice teams

“…Ladner and colleagues [13] provide an example of successful team science collaboration in describing the development of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Northwestern University. They describe challenges they encountered while endeavoring to align incentives among different stakeholders and strategies they applied to navigate these waters successfully.…”

Expanding transplant outcomes research opportunities through the use of a common data model

“…First, although the data collected by UNOS at wait-listing and transplantation are reasonably complete, subsequent longitudinal patient data is limited in scope, frequently incomplete as evidenced by the challenges of even meeting new UNOS reporting thresholds for living donor follow-up, and limited largely to hard endpoints such as allograft failure and patient death 4 . However, given that the results of the program evaluation are patient-facing, the choice of outcomes of interest needs to incorporate issues that patients value, including measures of patient safety and quality of life 5,6 . Additional relevant information such as genetic data, measures of socioeconomic status (beyond insurance status and education level), and environmental/ecological factors cannot be considered for inclusion when assessing transplant center performance 7,8 .…”