April 03, 2012 - Helping Patients Recover Post-Brain Surgery

When Brian Choi was conducting research and completing his rotation at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, he noticed that due to the high risk of post-surgical hospital-acquired infections, many patients receiving surgical care for their brain tumors were being discharged one to two days after their operations.

“Many of them were being discharged to local hotels or temporary living spaces—close enough to ensure that if any complications were to occur immediately postoperatively, they would be able to return to the hospital to receive care,” Choi says. “However, I found that in many cases, patients were coming from great distances to receive care”—and as a result, they felt displaced, isolated, and confused in their temporary post-surgical limbo.

So as a Schweitzer Fellow, Choi—a doctoral degree candidate at Duke University School of Medicine working in brain tumor immunotherapy—developed a service project that provides these patients (and their families) with social support during their time immediately post-discharge.

CLICK HERE to read a Five Questions for a Fellow interview with Choi on ASF's official blog.

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