Title: Assistant Professor of English and Technical and Professional Writing
University: Penn State Harrisburg
Email: trk82@psu.edu
Twitter: @RussellKirkscey
Website: https://www.russellkirkscey.com/
Description of your work
I study how and why people make decisions about health care. My focus is on shared decision-making among patient, care givers, and health care providers. My research emphasizes bioethics, rhetorical analysis, qualitative studies, and communication theory.
I am particularly interested in foregrounding the need to balance practitioners’ knowledge of evidence-based medicine with patients’ experiential and embodied knowledge. This goal is challenging on several levels, including the need to address the disparity of traditional patient and provider roles. Health information technology has begun to contribute digital tools to access and deliver information that seeks to increase communication between patients and providers. Patient decision-aids, for example, give background information and prompt participants to think about how treatment options interact with their values.
I am currently the principle investigator on a grant-funded project to develop a shared decision-making app for women who are considering prevention of or treatment for osteoporosis. After initial usability testing, my focus will shift to the Penn State College of Medicine to integrate the app into electronic health records and perform a clinic trial.