Emily M. Pang

All Publications

• Evaluating Care in Safety Net Hospitals: Clinical Outcomes and NICU Quality of Care in California. The Journal of pediatrics Liu, J., Pang, E. M., Iacob, A., Simonian, A., Phibbs, C. S., Profit, J. 2021

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVES: To examine the characteristics of safety net (sn) and non-safety net neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in California and whether the site of care is associated with clinical outcomes.STUDY DESIGN: This population-based retrospective cohort study of 34 snNICUs and 104 non-snNICUs included 22,081 infants born between 2014-2018 with birth weights of 401-1500g or gestational ages of 22-29 weeks. Quality of care as measured by Baby-MONITOR score and rates of survival without major morbidity were compared between snNICUs and non-snNICUs.RESULTS: Black and Hispanic infants were disproportionately cared for in snNICUs, where care and outcomes varied widely. We found no significant differences in Baby-MONITOR scores (snNICUs: z-score (SD) = -0.31 (1.3); non-snNICUs: 0.03 (1.1), P = 0.1). Among individual components, infants in snNICUs exhibited lower rates of human milk nutrition at discharge (-0.64 (1.0) vs. 0.27 (0.9)), lower rates of no healthcare associated infection (-0.27 (1.1) vs. 0.14 (0.9)) and higher rates of no hypothermia on admission (0.39 (0.7) vs. -0.25 (1.1)). We found small but significant differences in survival without major morbidity (Adjusted rate = 65.9% (63.9-67.9) for snNICUs vs. 68.3% (67.0-69.6) for non-snNICUs, p=0.02) and in some of its components; snNICUS had higher rates of necrotizing enterocolitis (3.8% (3.4-4.3) vs. 3.1% (2.8-3.4)) and mortality (7.1% (6.5-7.7) vs. 6.6% (6.2-7.0)).CONCLUSIONS: Safety net NICUs achieved similar performance to non-snNICUs in quality of care, except for small but significant differences in any human milk at discharge, infection, hypothermia, necrotizing enterocolitis, and mortality.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.12.003

  View details for PubMedID 34890584

• How is mobile health technology transforming physician-nurse collaboration? Internal medicine journal Dongmo Fotsing, L. N., Pang, E. M., Shieh, L. 2021; 51 (9): 1522-1525

  Abstract

  The integration of mobile health technologies in medical practice has the potential to promote in-person, high-quality care. We examine the impact of Voalte, a healthcare-specific mobile application, on bedside rounding and care coordination. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 71 medical ward-based nurses from a quaternary-care academic centre, capturing 183 rounding events. The frequency of physician-nurse overlap at the bedside was 50.3%, representing a >20% increase when compared with the 2018 baseline before Voalte's introduction. Our results show that mobile health technologies can strengthen inpatient medicine workflows and interdisciplinary collaboration when implemented successfully.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/imj.15484

  View details for PubMedID 34541771

• A randomized study of a best practice alert for platelet transfusions. Vox sanguinis Murphy, C., Mou, E., Pang, E., Shieh, L., Hom, J., Shah, N. 2021

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Inappropriate platelet transfusions represent an opportunity for improvements in patient care. Use of a best practice alert (BPA) as clinical decision support (CDS) for red cell transfusions has successfully reduced unnecessary red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in prior studies. We studied the impact of a platelet transfusion BPA with visibility randomized by patient chart.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A BPA was built to introduce CDS at the time of platelet ordering in the electronic health record. Alert visibility was randomized at the patient encounter level. BPA eligible platelet transfusions for patients with both visible and non-visible alerts were recorded along with reasons given for override of the BPA. Focused interviews were performed with providers who interacted with the BPA to assess its impact on their decision making.RESULTS: Over a 9-month study period, 446 patient charts were randomized. The visible alert group used 25.3% fewer BPA eligible platelets. Mean monthly usage of platelets eligible for BPA display was 65.7 for the control group and 49.1 for the visible alert group (p=0.07). BPA-eligible platelets used per inpatient day at risk per month were not significantly different between groups (2.4 vs. 2.1, p=0.53).CONCLUSION: It is feasible to study CDS via chart-based randomization. A platelet BPA reduced total platelets used over the study period and may have resulted in $151,069 in yearly savings, although there were no differences when adjusted for inpatient days at risk. During interviews, providers offered additional workflow insights allowing further improvement of CDS for platelet transfusions.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/vox.13132

  View details for PubMedID 34081800

• Advancing Health Equity by Translating Lessons Learned from NICU Family Visitations During the COVID-19 Pandemic. NeoReviews Pang, E. M., Sey, R. n., De Beritto, T. n., Lee, H. C., Powell, C. M. 2021; 22 (1): e1–e6

  View details for DOI 10.1542/neo.22-1-e1

  View details for PubMedID 33386310

• Increased Stiffness Inhibits Invadopodia Formation and Cell Migration in 3D. Biophysical journal Chang, J., Pang, E. M., Adebowale, K., Wisdom, K. M., Chaudhuri, O. 2020

  Abstract

  Cancer cells typically invade through basement membranes (BMs) at key points during metastasis, including primary tumor invasion, intravasation, and extravasation. Cells extend invadopodia protrusions to create channels in the nanoporous BM through which they can invade, either via proteolytic degradation or mechanical force. Increased matrix stiffness can promote cancer progression, and two-dimensional (2D) culture studies indicate that increased stiffness promotes invadopodia degradation activity. However, invadopodia can function mechanically, independent of their degradative activity, and cells do not form fully matured invadopodia or migrate in the direction of the invadopodia in 2D environments. Here, we elucidated the impact of matrix stiffness on the mechanical mode of invadopodia activity of cancer cells cultured in three-dimensional BM-like matrices. Invadopodia formation and cell migration assays were performed for invasive breast cancer cells cultured in mechanically plastic, nanoporous, and minimally degradable interpenetrating networks of reconstituted BM matrix and alginate, which presented a range of elastic moduli from 0.4 to 9.3kPa. Across this entire range of stiffness, we find that cells form mature invadopodia that often precede migration in the direction of the protrusion. However, at higher stiffness, cells form shorter and more transient invadopodia and are less likely to extend invadopodia overall, contrasting with results from 2D studies. Subsequently, cell migration is diminished in stiff environments. Thus, although previous studies indicate that increased stiffness may promote malignant phenotypes and the degradative activity of invadopodia, our findings show that increased stiffness physically restricts invadopodia extension and cell migration in three-dimensional, BM-like environments.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.07.003

  View details for PubMedID 32697977