Elder Resilience Studies
Overview: I help conducted studies on elder resilience through the Duke Aging Center. The particular study I was helping with was called PRIME-Knee. The aim of the study was to analyze elder resilience after surgery (knee surgery in this case). Elder resilience is measured through metrics including basic health measurements (step count, blood pressure, heart rate), performance (memory, basic mobility), and advanced health measurements (e.g. EEG). By measuring these statistics over time, we are able to obtain a more accurate picture on how elders recover from invasive surgeries and trauma. My service work mainly focused on communicating with the patient and resilience analysis.
GCS relation: Eldercare is an immense sector of healthcare. Utilizing data and metrics to inform better decision-making and care is directly at the heart of advancing health informatics. My experience is largely connected to how these data used in analysis are collected. In particular, health data collection is a largely personal and private problem. Empathy and care in data collection is tremendously vital. Building a deep connection with patients and elders is just the first step. Who we recruit for study and what methodology we should implement to only collect the most useful and humaine measurements are also vital questions engineers must answer.
Supervisor: Dr. Heather Whitson (Professor of Medicine)
Duration: August 2021 - November 2021
Total Hours of Completion: 60 hrs