Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals
Gray, Natallia, and Olga Petrova. “Teaching Root Cause Analysis in Healthcare Management with Grey’s Anatomy.” Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, vol. 21, no. 4, 2023, pp. 224-236.
https://doi.org/10.1111/dsji.12298
*** 2023 Best DSJIE Teaching Brief ***
Over the past 20 years, root cause analysis (RCA) has become one of the most widely used retrospective methods for detecting safety hazards in medicine and healthcare. Despite its wide use in management practice and growing popularity in academic research, there is currently a dearth of coverage of RCA in popular healthcare management textbooks and pedagogical publications. This paper addresses this gap by presenting innovative instructional materials and recommendations for teaching RCA in healthcare management. Using an episode of Grey’s Anatomy TV show, this experiential learning exercise takes students through the steps of RCA and makes use of a range of RCA tools including high-level flowchart, fishbone diagram, “five why’s”, corrective action plan, and others. The exercise, which was classroom tested and received positive student feedback, can be adapted to a range of healthcare management classes. Because RCA can have widespread, lifesaving consequences, healthcare management courses can significantly benefit from integrating this exercise into classroom pedagogies. [Teaching Brief.]
Herrmann, T. Arien, Natallia Gray, and Olga Petrova. “Staff Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Team Training and Its Effectiveness in Reducing Medical Errors.” International Journal of Healthcare Management, vol. 16, no. 2, 2023, pp. 258-267.
https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2022.2097762
The increasing complexity of healthcare systems and the growing need to coordinate efforts of multiple highly specialized experts toward a shared goal have emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary teams in patient care. While clinical training remains focused on individual responsibilities, the growing recognition of the advantages of the interdisciplinary team approach has highlighted the need for more opportunities for team training programs. To promote effective team functioning, it is vital to understand attitudes and perspectives of healthcare providers toward interdisciplinary team training (ITT). This empirical study utilizes a questionnaire survey of 51 direct care professionals who have previously participated in ITT to gauge the perceptions of U.S. clinicians concerning the value of ITT and its potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce medical errors. Overall, participants viewed ITT as effective in improving communication, teamwork, and patient safety. However, less than half of the respondents had favorable perceptions of the usefulness and appropriateness of ITT sessions for their current clinical setting. Less than two-thirds had positive perceptions of the sufficiency of training time and frequency. The biggest opportunity identified was in improving the quality of ITT sessions themselves and developing knowledgeable ITT facilitators who understand their audience and team dynamics.
Dieringer, Suzanne, Olga Petrova, Joni Ghannadian, and Britt Shirley. “Nancy’s Nightmare.” Journal of Critical Incidents, vol. 15, no. 1, 2022, pp. 40-42.
https://www.ignited.global/case/business-and-management/nancy’s-nightmare
Nancy was a student who took an exam in her university’s Testing Center because she needed extended time and a distraction-free environment. After she took the exam, she discovered that students who took the exam in the classroom accessed online resources to answer exam questions. This did not seem fair to Nancy, especially when she realized her score on the exam was significantly lower than that of friends who took the exam in the classroom. Nancy visited her professor and hoped they would notice the difference in exam scores and address the issue. Instead, the professor only offered suggestions to improve her performance. Nancy wondered if she should report the use of unauthorized materials to her professor or if she should take future exams in the classroom and have access to the same unauthorized materials her classmates did, even though that would violate the academic integrity policy of her university. [Critical incident and teaching note.]
Petrova, Olga, Natallia Gray, Nick Johnston, and Steven Stovall. “Unstacking the Russian Doll: An Integrative Interdisciplinary Analysis of Restaurant Operations.” Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, vol. 5, no. 4, 2022, pp. 721-733.
https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274221096053
Russian Doll, an independently owned and operated small ethnic restaurant serving handcrafted Russian food, opened its doors on January 1, 2015 in a rural river town in Southeast Missouri. The owner, Ana, had mastered many of her home country’s recipes and excelled in the kitchen. Her restaurant focused on introducing American audience to Russian culinary delights and culture, featuring authentic, made-to-order fare and a neighborly atmosphere. Ana had long dreamed of her own restaurant but without prior industry experience or formal training running the business wasn’t easy. In December 2015, after one year of operations, Ana found herself wondering how to proceed. Was Russian Doll a feasible entrepreneurial enterprise to begin with? Could Ana’s business be saved or was it time to call it quits and shut down? [Teaching case and instructor’s manual.]
Petrova, Olga, and Natallia Gray. “The Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Early Adopting U.S. States.” Economic Analysis and Policy, vol. 69, 2021, pp. 68-82.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2020.11.004
This paper examines the effects of state-level medical marijuana laws (MMLs) in the U.S. on birth outcomes, including birth weight, length of gestation, and Apgar scores. Using individual-level natality data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 1990 to 2013, we take advantage of the geographic and temporal variation in the implementation of MMLs in a difference-in-differences estimation framework with state and year fixed effects and state-specific time trends. Overall, we find that MMLs have no impact on gestation period or Apgar scores. While MMLs lead to a statistically significant increase in birth weight by 4.4 grams (0.13%), this effect is practically small. Furthermore, we find little variation in the effects of MMLs on birth outcomes across different socioeconomic subgroups and observe no lagged negative effects of MMLs on birth outcomes of children born in the MML states in the years following the legalization of medical marijuana.
Petrova, Olga, Joseph Coleman, and Gabriel Picone. “Large-Scale Antimalarial Interventions and Birth Weight: Empirical Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa.” Empirical Economics Letters, vol. 18, no. 12, 2019, pp. 1221-1228.
This paper investigates the effect of malaria control and prevention measures in sub-Saharan Africa on birth weight. We analyze 277,245 live births in 22 countries from 2000 to 2013 and find that the provision of intermittent preventive treatment to pregnant women decreased low birth weight incidence by 10.9%, small births by 8.2%, and very small births by 27.1%. Other interventions were not associated with significant improvements in birth outcomes.