“Travel distance, along with often other serious health conditions, make it difficult for patients to get to a weekly appointment,” said Jodi Wojcik-Marshall, MSN, APRN, ANP-BC, manager of the UofL Hospital Department of Advanced Practice Nursing and nurse practitioner in the Burn Center. “We saw a need to reduce the high number of missed appointments by reducing access barriers.”

In response to the need, a telehealth burn wound care pilot initiative was developed in collaboration with J’Aime Jennings, PhD, assistant professor and co-director, at the .

Jennings led the effort to translate the outpatient burn center’s in-person standards and protocol into a telehealth format.

The program uses the technology for providers Wojcik-Marshall and Michelle Broers, PT, DPT, CWS, FACCWS, to have a dialogue with patients during telehealth visits. Each patient downloads the free BlueJeans app to their smartphone or device and uses a unique connection number to sign in for each appointment.

“We found both in the literature and in early observations of this pilot benefits not only for patients but also for home health providers and family members who help the patients with their treatment,” Jennings said.

Jennings and her team are in process of evaluating patient and provider satisfaction surveys. Next steps include determining adjustments to the program, and how the burn center may expand the initiative to benefit more patients.

Jennings will work alongside the editorial board and executive editor of the section to offer detailed criticism and analysis of manuscripts that have the potential for increasing the value of Anesthesia & Analgesia to the clinical and scientific community.

“I am thrilled for this opportunity to work with more senior colleagues, as well as provide service to the academic community. Furthermore, examining topics where I have expertise within a different context, in this case anesthesiology, offers me a truly enriching experience,” Jennings said.

Jennings received a PhD in Health Services Administration with a concentration in Strategic Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also holds a BBA in Economics from the University of Georgia and a MPA from the University of West Georgia.

Her research interests include the integration of public health and health care through collaborative relationships, population health management in hospital settings, and topics related to the broad theme of public health services and systems research. Jennings’ most recent research focuses on the predictors and performance outcomes of hospital community orientation, and research surrounding the elimination of disparities in health outcomes.

Jennings is an active member of the Academy of Management Healthcare Management Division, as well as the AcademyHealth Membership Committee and Public Health Systems Research Interest Group.