The UAB General Surgery Resident Hannah Ficarino Sheffer, M.D., and Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery Assistant Professor Robert Hollis, M.D., MSPH, recently published their study, “Defining opportunities to improve perioperative ostomy care and education,” in the Annals of Surgery Open.

The study, which involved qualitative interviews with patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, highlighted 11 key opportunities to enhance the perioperative care and education of patients with a new ostomy.

Themes identified through their research included: difficulties in understanding ostomy care before surgery, challenges with selecting and applying ostomy supplies, and ongoing issues post discharge such as difficulty obtaining supplies, missing outpatient resources, and caring for skin irritations.

"This important study outlines targets for future interventions seeking to improve ostomy care and education,” says Hollis. “Patients are too often fearful of life with an ostomy, and we hope that we can improve post-ostomy outcomes and quality of life through this research.”

Additional contributors to the study include: Burkely Smith, M.D., MSPH, Jernell Simmons, M.D., Ivan Herbey, M.D., Daniel Chu, M.D., MSPH, Wendy Landier, Ph.D., and Smita Bhatia, M.D., MPH.

This research highlights the successful efforts of several UAB Surgery research training programs including the NIH T32-funded Surgical Oncology Research Training Program (trainees: Drs. Sheffer and Smith) and the NIH T35-funded Short-Term Research Experiences Advancing Medical Students (STREAMS) program (trainee: Dr. Simmons).

Dr. Sheffer was additionally supported by the American College of Surgeons Resident Research Award for this work.