Casey Lythgoe (M2, Class of 2010)
at Medical Student Research Day Poster Session
September 27, 2007
Faculty Preceptor:
Joan M. Neuner, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine
"Project: Why Don't Patients Undergo Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment?
Dr. Neuner wanted to find out why patients did not seriously consider the condition of osteoporosis and osteopenia and the result of osteoporotic fractures. Since little research has been done in this area, Dr. Neuner set out to construct a pilot survey that might answer some of the questions about why patients don't seek prevention and don't continue with treatment for osteoporosis. The strategy was to use validated questions from other surveys reformatted to fit the condition of osteoporosis and osteoporotic medications. The pilot survey would then be tested for efficacy and improved to where it could be used on a statewide or perhaps nationwide scale.
My role: I did a lot of reading on the current articles about osteoporosis and surveys in general. I also compiled the questions onto a computer format called Teleform that could easily read surveys and be read by a computer scanner. At the end of the summer, I interviewed a few patients and gave them the survey.
I really enjoyed this research project, and I feel like I have a basic understanding of what it takes to put together and administer a survey."