MDRTC Measurement Core
The Measurement Core supports translational research studies that evaluate interventions directed at improving health outcomes of people with diabetes, including studies that evaluate barriers to adoption and dissemination of state-of-the-art diabetes care. In particular, the core includes expertise in:
- Psychometric measurement, including construction of scales to measure functional status, quality of life, and provider and patient beliefs and attitudes analyzing medical information systems data.
- Technical aspects of managing, merging, and analyzing medical information systems data
- Survey methodology
- Quality measurement and profiling
- Behavioral and self-management factors to achieve optimal outcomes
Goals:
- Maintain a set of available measures of patient outcomes and clinical, behavioral and health system factors that can influence patient outcomes.
- Facilitate research evaluating the reliability, validity and utility of measures used in clinical and translational research.
- Consult with investigators regarding the measurement of behavioral, clinical and health systems variables in their proposed or current research.
- Support communication and collaboration nationwide between investigators working on the development, refinement and use of state-of-the-art measurement tools and protocols.
Examples of Support:
- advising on the choice of measures and collection of data for evaluating cardiovascular risk
- obtaining and merging data from a hospital's or HMO's laboratory, pharmacy, visits and hospital electronic records
- assisting investigators with data collection and quality control methods for patient-derived outcomes measures
- assisting investigators who are planning new studies regarding outcomes assessment and measurement of important potential confounders and risk factors
- consulting on and conducting lipid and A1c laboratory measures in a clinical trial
- obtaining cost or resource use estimates to update inputs for calculations in the Biostatistics Core's economic model
- assisting in the development of new psychometric measures needed for specific studies
The Measurement Core also supports the Center's Chemistry Laboratory, which provides MDRTC members with a central resource capable of offering a wide variety of analytical techniques to support their research endeavors.
Key Personnel
Rodney A. Hayward, M.D., Core Director, rhayward@umich.edu; 734-647-4844
J. Thomas Fitzgerald, Ph.D., tfiz@umich.edu; 734-763-1153
Mary N. Haan, M.P.H., Ph.D., mnhaan@umich.edu; 734-615-9606
Donald A. Giacherio, Ph.D., dgiacher@umich.edu; 734-936-6775
Eve M. Kerr, M.D., M.P.H., ekerr@umich.edu; 734-930-5109
