Scholars@Duke
David Leverenz

David Leverenz

Associate Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Rheumatology and Immunology
david.leverenz@duke.edu
Purple Zone Rm 430, Box 3544, Durham, NC 27705

Selected Publications

Evaluating Factors Associated With Telehealth Appropriateness in Outpatient Rheumatoid Arthritis Encounters Using the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY).

Journal Article J Rheumatol · August 1, 2024 OBJECTIVE: Telehealth has been proposed as a safe and effective alternative to in-person care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors associated with telehealth appropriateness in outpatient RA encounters. METHODS: ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

RheumMadness Over Two Years: Engaging Participants in Active Learning and Connecting Early Trainees to the Rheumatology Community.

Journal Article ACR Open Rheumatol · June 2024 OBJECTIVE: RheumMadness is an online learning collaborative that seeks to actively engage the rheumatology community. The objective of this manuscript is to analyze the educational experience of RheumMadness over two years. METHODS: Direct measures of part ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluating Provider Perceptions of Telehealth Utility in Outpatient Rheumatology Telehealth Encounters.

Journal Article J Clin Rheumatol · March 1, 2024 OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the factors associated with rheumatology providers' perceptions of telehealth utility in real-world telehealth encounters. METHODS: From September 14, 2020 to January 31, 2021, 6 providers at an academic medical center ... Full text Link to item Cite

Translating ethical and quality principles for the effective, safe and fair development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence technologies in healthcare.

Journal Article J Am Med Inform Assoc · February 16, 2024 OBJECTIVE: The complexity and rapid pace of development of algorithmic technologies pose challenges for their regulation and oversight in healthcare settings. We sought to improve our institution's approach to evaluation and governance of algorithmic techn ... Full text Link to item Cite

Encounter Appropriateness Score for You Model: Development and Pilot Implementation of a Predictive Model to Identify Visits Appropriate for Telehealth in Rheumatology.

Journal Article Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) · January 2024 OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a decision-making tool to predict telehealth appropriateness for future rheumatology visits and expand telehealth care access. METHODS: The model was developed using the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY) and elec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Incorporating Telemedicine in Rheumatology Fellowship Training Programs: Needs Assessment, Curricular Intervention, and Evaluation.

Journal Article Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) · December 2023 OBJECTIVE: To increase the confidence of rheumatology fellows in training (FITs) in delivering virtual care (VC) and prepare them for independent practice, we developed educational materials addressing gaps in their skills. METHODS: We identified gaps in t ... Full text Link to item Cite

RheumMadness: Creating an Online Community of Inquiry in Rheumatology.

Journal Article Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) · November 2023 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the educational impact of RheumMadness, an online tournament of rheumatology concepts grounded in social constructivist theory, as viewed through the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. METHODS: The curricular scaffold of RheumMadn ... Full text Link to item Cite

A single center pilot study: assessing resident needs and faculty perceptions to improve training in rheumatology.

Journal Article BMC Med Educ · May 19, 2023 BACKGROUND: Internal medicine (IM) residents lack confidence in rheumatology. Due to the wide variety of topics in rheumatology, identifying the most important subjects to learn during training is vital to create future interventions to increase confidence ... Full text Link to item Cite

Delayed presentation of surgically induced scleral necrosis after I-BRITE procedure treated with immunosuppressive therapy.

Journal Article Digit J Ophthalmol · 2023 Surgically induced scleral necrosis (SISN) is an uncommon complication of ocular procedures. Cosmetic eye-whitening surgery involves conjunctival and Tenon's capsule dissection, cautery, and mitomycin C application. We report the case of a 36-year-old whit ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of T Helper Type 2 (Th2) Cytokines in the Pathogenesis of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (eGPA): an Illustrative Case and Discussion.

Journal Article Curr Allergy Asthma Rep · November 2022 PURPOSEOF REVIEW: The pathogenesis of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (eGPA) is driven largely by CD4 + type 2 helper T cells (Th2), B cells, and eosinophils. Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 are critical cytokines in Th2 cell-mediated inflammati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Telehealth Made EASY: Understanding Provider Perceptions of Telehealth Appropriateness in Outpatient Rheumatology Encounters.

Journal Article ACR Open Rheumatol · October 2022 OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel scoring system, the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY), to assess provider perceptions of telehealth appropriateness in rheumatology encounters. METHODS: The EASY scoring system promp ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

What do internal medicine residents know about rheumatology? A needs assessment for curriculum design.

Journal Article Clin Rheumatol · May 2021 We sought to determine if analyzing internal medicine (IM) resident performance on the in-training exam (ITE) might reveal curricular needs in rheumatology education beyond those intuitive to learners and educators from their perceptions and experience. We ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19: a Rheumatologist's Take on the Lessons Learned.

Journal Article Curr Allergy Asthma Rep · January 21, 2021 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Told from the viewpoint of rheumatologists, this review tells the story of hydroxychloroquine and its swift ascent to become a household name as a therapeutic strategy against the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. This review describes the history ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lessons Learned from Efforts to Reduce Overuse of Cardiac Telemetry Monitoring.

Journal Article Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · August 2020 BACKGROUND: Inappropriate use of telemetry monitoring is common, increasing costs, false alarms, and length of stay. The Society of Hospital Medicine and Choosing Wisely encourage the use of discontinuation protocols. METHODS: This quality improvement init ... Full text Link to item Cite

Is the HScore useful in COVID-19?

Journal Article Lancet · May 16, 2020 Full text Link to item Cite

A Fuzzy Cause of Hip Pain.

Journal Article Am J Med · May 2020 Full text Link to item Cite

Addition of price transparency to an education and feedback intervention reduces utilization of inpatient echocardiography by resident physicians.

Journal Article Int J Cardiovasc Imaging · July 2019 Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of appropriate use criteria (AUC) education and feedback interventions in reducing unnecessary ordering of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) by trainees. To our knowledge, no study has evaluated the impact o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Contraception methods used by women with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

Journal Article Clin Rheumatol · April 2019 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are common in women of childbearing age and are often treated with teratogenic medications. In this study, we assessed contraceptive methods in young women with RA or PsA and correlated contraceptive ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deimplementation of Routine Chest X-rays in Adult Intensive Care Units.

Journal Article J Hosp Med · February 2019 BACKGROUND: Choosing Wisely® is a national initiative to deimplement or reduce low-value care. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of strategies to influence ordering patterns. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the effectiveness of an int ... Full text Link to item Cite

Recent advances in the search for a targeted immunomodulatory therapy for primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Journal Article F1000Res · 2019 Primary Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction, leading to substantial morbidity and reduced quality of life. Many patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome also have extraglandular system ... Full text Link to item Cite

Recent advances in the search for a targeted immunomodulatory therapy for primary Sjögren’s syndrome

Journal Article · 2019 Primary Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction, leading to substantial morbidity and reduced quality of life. Many patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome also have extraglandular system ... Full text Cite

Atypical Cutaneous Presentations of Sarcoidosis: Two Case Reports and Review of the Literature.

Journal Article Curr Allergy Asthma Rep · June 14, 2018 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The goal of this review is to provide the reader with an updated summary of the cutaneous manifestations of systemic sarcoidosis, with a particular emphasis on the predilection of sarcoidosis for scars, tattoos, and other areas of trauma ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Multidisciplinary Housestaff-Led Initiative to Safely Reduce Daily Laboratory Testing.

Journal Article Acad Med · June 2016 PURPOSE: Provision of high-value care is a milestone in physician training. The authors evaluated the effect of a housestaff-led initiative on laboratory testing rates. METHOD: Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Choosing Wisely steering committee, led ... Full text Link to item Cite

Causes of creatine kinase levels greater than 1000 IU/L in patients referred to rheumatology.

Journal Article Clin Rheumatol · June 2016 Patients with severely elevated creatine kinase (CK) concentrations are commonly referred to rheumatologists to evaluate for the presence of an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM). However, no studies have evaluated the frequency with which IIMs are enc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Who is going to make the wise choice?

Journal Article J Hosp Med · August 2015 Inspired by the American Board of Internal Medicine's Choosing Wisely® campaign, a group of housestaff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center created the Vanderbilt Choosing Wisely Steering Committee (VCWSC) to explore ways to apply the campaign's princip ... Full text Link to item Cite