Kurt Schultz, MD, a general surgery resident at the Yale School of Medicine, has received an Office of Health Equity Research (OHER) Award for Yale Research Excellence for his study examining how patients’ social needs affect surgical outcomes.
Schultz earned the award for his research, “Patient-reported health-related social needs obtained at the bedside and outcomes after elective major surgery,” published in Surgery in November. Co-authors include Department of Surgery faculty members Ira Leeds, MD; Eric Schneider, PhD; Haddon Pantel, MD; Daniel Boffa, MD; and Vikram Reddy, MD, PhD, MBA.
The study analyzed 1,172 patients who underwent elective thoracic or abdominal surgery across a statewide health system between January 2022 and June 2023. Patients were screened at the bedside for health-related social needs using a standardized tool.
Researchers found that 6.1% of patients reported at least one social need. After adjusting for clinical factors, those patients had nearly twice the odds of experiencing a postoperative complication within 30 days compared with patients with no reported needs. They also had longer hospital stays and were less likely to be discharged to a permanent residence. This is the first study linking bedside screening for health-related social needs with surgical outcomes using the Accountable Health Communities screening tool.
The annual OHER awards recognize early-stage investigators across Yale University whose work advances health equity and addresses health disparities.
Schultz, a PhD candidate in the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, studies how non-clinical and psychosocial factors influence surgical outcomes, with the goal of developing community-engaged presurgical programs for patients with social vulnerabilities.