On July 10 James successfully defended his dissertation focused on “immobility harms” and reducing mobility-related complications in hospital settings. Immobility harm is defined as reduced mobilization among hospitalized adults – this often results in worse patient outcomes, longer lengths of stay, and additional medical costs. While many immobility harms are considered preventable, they remain common due to a vast array of systemic barriers in the hospital system.

In three separate studies, James’ dissertation investigates these systemic barriers and explores innovative solutions to combat immobility harm. The studies employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses to understand and overcome barriers,

collectively evaluating current practices to enhance their effectiveness and patient outcomes.

Great work on the successful dissertation, James. May this work shed light on how to better improve the lives of our patients!

Jamie Lenzo is the newest member of the LIFT Lab, specializing in Education Program Management. Jamie grew up in Pennsylvania and developed a love for sports early on, which gave her a sense of the importance of accessibility for all.

Jamie went on to work with schools and focusing on Special Education improvement. She also worked with numerous research projects to further develop curriculum for assisting special education students, and ensuring that equity, empowerment, and opportunity are primary goals of the educational system.

Working with the LIFT Lab, Jamie will help with the management of numerous projects to further enhance our mission!

Welcome to the team, Jamie.

Healthcare is doubtlessly a stressful field. In the course of taking care of patients, research, and countless hours dedicated to helping others, healthcare professionals often burn out and struggle from high stress, quite often with an adverse impact on one’s mental health. In this reality, it has become evident that measures to improve the quality of conditions for healthcare professionals is vital.

Catherine Quatman-Yates, Riley Summers and Jamileh Alain of the LIFT Lab worked with a multi-disciplinary team measuring biofeedback on Mindfulness In Motion (MIM) interventions for healthcare professionals. This study, called the Buckeye Pause Bundle, aimed to measure physiological changes and perceived experience of participants in the program.

Congratulations to the LIFT Lab, the Human Performance Collaborative and the Center for Integrative Health for getting this work published. To learn more about the study, visit the article here!

Three of our LIFT Lab students have started their graduate school journey at OSU. Congratulations to Maeghan, Gideon and Ella on this wonderful accomplishment! Maeghan is studying in the Occupational Therapy program, and Gideon and Ella are studying in the Physical Therapy program.

Best wishes and may you continue to succeed in your aspiring fields!

Timothy Rethorn, PhD

On April 4^th and 5^th, 2024, Timothy Rethorn PhD, DPT, PT and Gabriel Alain PhD, DPT, PT successfully defended their dissertations.

Timothy Rethorn’s dissertation, Trauma-Informed Care: Opportunities and Challenges for Physical Therapists, addresses the gap in training of physical therapists regarding their responsibility and practice involving their patients’ psychological trauma. Tim’s Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) work involved a multi-pronged educational approach developed for use by physical therapists to give tangible tools to clinicians to implement TIC, as well as facilitate discussion around this topic. This toolkit contributes to advancing the field of musculoskeletal physical therapy by addressing the critical intersection between physical and psychological health.

Gabriel Alain, PhD

Gabriel Alain’s dissertation delves into addressing inefficiencies in delivering and improving care within healthcare systems. To do this, Gabe adapted financial principles inspired by the S&P 500 to synthesize The Agile Healthcare Performance Index (AHPI). This measurement tool seeks to increase the efficiency of healthcare systems in domains including decision making, benchmarking and evaluation, and resource allocation.

Congratulations to Dr. Alain and Dr. Rethorn!

On April 11^th, 2024, Catherine Quatman-Yates, DPT, PhD presented updates on the CBI-PLAAY Pilot program to the NeuroTrauma Research in Progress Seminar. The CBI-PLAAY program aims to empower survivors of traumatic brain injury to be physically active for all years following the injury. John Dobrea spoke about his personal experiences as a taekwondo instructor, the benefits that taekwondo can have for individuals with brain injuries, and the importance of using a trauma-informed approach when teaching taekwondo.

The team is excited to advance this work further with their partnership with SPIRIT Club a fitness platform that aims to empower people of all abilities to exercise successfully in a socially integrated setting.

Thank you to the Ohio State Chronic Brain Injury Program for their continued support of this work.

Pictured: Dr. Catherine Quatman-Yates presenting the CBI-PLAAY Pilot program.

John Dobrea and Dr. Catherine Quatman-Yates discussing facets of the trauma-informed approach and CBI-PLAAY pilot.

On November 4^th-5^th, 2023 Tyler Beauregard, MS, AT, ATC, CSCS participated at Ohio State’s Bio-Hack, directed by OSU Biomedical Engineering Society. Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, the 5^th annual hackathon tasked teams comprising of 60 participants to create a technology enabled solution regarding patient safety.

Tyler Beauregard’s team proposed a digital concussion assessment tool for onsite clinicians to use. This innovation would be made available offline, allowing use in sports sidelines and rural settings. Furthermore, the prototype would then forward concussion scores to local emergency departments to facilitate findings on the field.

Tyler and his team secured first place in the 5^th annual Bio-Hack thanks to this prototype which addressed current communication and accuracy gaps present in current concussion diagnostic tools. Congratulations to Tyler and his team!

For more information, the Bio-Hack’s results can be found here.

Pictured: Tyler Beauregard and his team presented with 1st place awards.

Nick Weaver and Alex Oberyszyn represented the LIFT Lab at The Ohio State University Spring Undergraduate Research Festival (SURF). We are so proud of these students for sharing some of our team’s work. Thank you to all who were involved in putting on this awesome opportunity for undergraduate students.

Great work, Nick and Alex! Get a peek at their projects down below!

Nick Weaver presenting Implementation of Respite Spaces to Support Health and Well-being of Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review

Alex Oberyszyn presenting Understanding and Improving Doctorate of Physical Therapy Student Wellbeing and Resilience

On Friday, March 29, 2024 Tyler, Maeghan and Steven of the LIFT Lab participated in HRS Research Day. The event highlighted the work of students in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Each student gave a short oral presentation that corresponded to their poster, and then participated in a poster session.

Great work Tyler, Maeghan, and Steven!

Maeghan Williams presenting Resilience and Thriving on the 911 Frontline: Mindfulness Solutions for First Responders

Steven Joyce presenting Worksite respite spaces for hospital-based healthcare workers: A scoping review protocol

[Not pictured] Tyler Beauregard, MS, AT, ATC, CSCS,  presenting Between Uniformity and Uniqueness: Stakeholder Views on Complex Rehabilitation Technology Devices and Services