Division of Medical Ethics Invited Speaker Seminar | Julie Szmczak, PhD

Julia E. Szymczak, PhD

Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

University of Pennsylvania

"The Unintended Social Consequences of Mandatory Public Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections: An Ethnographic Study"

Abstract

There are increasing calls for accountability and transparency in healthcare via the public release of performance data. We know little about the ground level creation or circulation of performance measures in hospitals and the impact this process has on healthcare worker engagement with improvement efforts. This paper utilizes data gathered during a 2 year ethnographic study of the classification and communication of hospital acquired infection data to advance our understanding of reactivity mechanisms and the way public measures change healthcare institutions and the people in them.

Bio

Julie Szymczak is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and a Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB).  She completed her training in sociology at Penn in 2013. Her research is generally concerned with understanding how the social organization of medical work influences the uptake of standards, guidelines and best practices to improve the safety and quality of care. Her current work is focused on understanding the implementation of efforts to prevent the spread of infections in hospitals and curb antimicrobial overuse. Her research has appeared in journals such as Social Science and Medicine, The Milbank Quarterly, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and JAMA Pediatrics. She has received funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).