Plantinga Lab

The research in the Plantinga lab focuses on multidisciplinary approaches to enhancing the quality of care among underserved patients with chronic diseases. We are particularly interested in improving patient-centered outcomes among those with chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, and lupus.

DialysisConnect is a mixed-methods, pragmatic study aimed at the development of a web-based communication system between hospitals and outpatient dialysis facilities, with the ultimate goal of improving care coordination of dialysis patients. DialysisConnect allows direct communication between hospitals and dialysis facilities, so that specific, critical information—beyond that found on typical discharge summaries—can be transmitted from hospital to dialysis facility and vice versa. This work is being piloted at Emory University Hospital Midtown and Emory Dialysis and includes collaborators from hospital medicine (Drs. Christopher O’Donnell and Kyle James), nephrology (Drs. Janice Lea and Tahsin Masud), and geriatrics and gerontology (Dr. Ann Vandenberg), as well as from Apex Health Innovations and Johns Hopkins University (Dr. Bernard Jaar). This study is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

DialysisConnect Team

• Laura Plantinga, Principal Investigator
• Courtney Hoge, Research Project Manager
• Bernard Jaar, Co-Investigator
• Kyle James, Co-Investigator
• Janice Lea, Co-Investigator
• Tahsin Masud, Co-Investigator
• Christopher O’Donnell, Co-Investigator
• Ann Vandenberg, Co-Investigator
• Rich Mutell, Consultant
• Hayatu Abdullahi, Research Assistant
• Christian Park, Research Assistant

The INstant Functioning Report for Meaningful Encounters in Dialysis (INFORMED) study aims to provide information to both dialysis patients and their providers about patients’ physical functioning, or how well patients are getting around and performing their daily tasks. This information is provided in the form of a functioning report. The goal of the report and the study is to improve patient-provider communication in the dialysis setting by making it more patient-centered. The INFORMED pilot study was funded by Satellite Healthcare, a not-for-profit renal care provider. Our team includes partners from Emory (Drs. Lea and Vandenberg), Georgia Institute of Technology (Brian Jones) and Duke University (Dr. Barrett Bowling). We continue to explore the use of the report in dialysis, CKD (with partners at Kaiser Permanente of Georgia), and lupus.

INFORMED Team

• Laura Plantinga, Principal Investigator
• Barrett Bowling, Co-Investigator
• Brian D. Jones, Co-Investigator
• Jeremy Johnson, Co-Investigator
• Janice Lea, Co-Investigator
• Ann Vandenberg, Co-Investigator

In the pilot study for Approaches to Positive, Patient-Centered Experiences of Aging in Lupus (APPEAL), we leveraged the Georgians Organized Against Lupus cohort (PIs: Drs. Sam Lim and Cristina Drenkard) to obtain preliminary estimates of functional impairment among lupus patients. Our team is currently expanding this pilot to explore the burden, correlates, and outcomes of physical and cognitive impairment among lupus patients. We have also been examining the utility and effectiveness of providing patient-friendly functioning reports based on the INFORMED study—with extensions to cognitive functioning—for lupus patients, using quantitative and qualitative approaches. This study has been funded by the Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance, the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and the National Institute on Aging.

APPEAL Team

• Laura Plantinga, Principal Investigator
• Courtney Hoge, Research Project Manager
• Barrett Bowling, Co-Investigator
• Cristina Drenkard, Co-Investigator
• Sam Lim, Co-Investigator
• Brad Pearce, Co-Investigator
• Charmayne Dunlop-Thomas, Program Manager, GOAL Cohort
• Aita Akharume, Research Interviewer
• Jessie Black, Research Interviewer
• Karla Balsalobre, Research Assistant