Pediatric Spine Foundation

Title: Looking Under the Hood: Factors that Drive Successful Study Group Participation and Publications in Pediatric Spine Programs

Authors: Sonya Levine; Bradley Hammoor, Abby Morris, Sushrut Arora, Afrain Boby, Hiroko Matsumoto, Michael Fields, Adam Fano, Matthew Oetgen, Tricia St. Hilaire, Michael Vitale, David Skaggs, Pediatric Spine Study Group

Journal: Journal of POSNA

Date: February 01, 2022

Excerpt: Institutions should consider investing in dedicated spine staff and research meetings if they want to ensure greater registry data quality and research productivity.

Keywords: Study group, Publications, Participation

Summary:

Purpose

This study aims to investigate factors that contribute to successful study group participation and productivity, using survey data from 21 medical centers enrolled in the Pediatric Spine Study Group (PSSG).

Results

  • Centers with full-time spine research staff had higher average quality of participation scores (90 vs. 60) as did centers with dedicated spine research meetings (90 vs. 70).
  • Centers with higher yearly publication volumes were more likely to have full-time research staff (8.0 vs. 3.5 publications per year), a spine-focused research team (8.9 vs. 4.8), and a dedicated physician assistant or nurse with >95% focus on spine (9.0 vs. 5.4).

Discussion Points

  • Full-time research staff including a PA or nurse focused on spine is associated with higher average site productivity and a higher volume of research publications.
  • Centers with dedicated spine research meetings had better quality participation than those without (90 vs. 70). This finding suggests that the presence of spine-focused research meetings may be associated with higher-quality participation, as researchers have a protected period of time in these meetings to discuss data quality and participation.
  • Hiring full-time research staff has many benefits, as it provides clinicians with more time to focus on their clinical duties and increases the quality and quantity of research performed at each site.