Shipra Arya

My health services research lab focuses on how novel risk predictors can be used to guide improvements in patient centered outcomes and healthcare value. I study improvement of healthcare outcomes for vulnerable populations such as frail and older adults and disparities in care for vascular patients. My accumulated research points to frailty as a versatile tool that can guide surgical decision making, inform patient consent and design quality improvement initiatives at the patient and hospital level. My previous work includes the development and validation of the Risk Analysis Index (RAI), a surgical frailty calculator that can be used prospectively with a clinical questionnaire or retrospectively. The RAI is easily applied, and when used in widespread preoperative screening, was associated with reduced mortality. The next step is to incorporate frialty screening into clinical workflow and develop interventions to mitigate postoperative adverse events for these high-risk patients. Using mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) research and implementation science, we are now developing interventions to improve outcomes for this high risk population.