Quality of Life
Dr. Hampsons’ research on healthcare quality has focused on improving quality of life among benign (non-cancerous) urologic conditions that have significant impact on patients. Her personal involvement in this area began during my clinical fellowship in male genitourinary and reconstructive surgery where quality of life and patient-centered outcomes have not traditionally been a major focus. She worked to bring patient-centered outcomes research to the field of reconstructive urology, studying quality of life in diseases such as male and female urethral stricture disease, rectourethral fistulae, and buried penis.
Adults with Urologic Congenitalism
With her clinical expertise in lifetime congenital urologic care, Dr. Hampson strives to improve knowledge about adults with congenital urologic conditions. Little is known about this population and her research in this area focuses on understanding clinical outcomes and quality of life among this patient population and their caregivers in order to improve the care that is delivered. She has established a prospective registry of patients at UCSF and conducted a national survey of patients and caregivers in order to focus on quality of care and quality of life among this underserved population.
Patient Decision Making
A big focus of Dr. Hampson’s research involves understanding patients’ preferences for medical care in order to improve goal-concordant care and shared decision-making between patients and physicians. This is an essential component of optimizing patients’ ability to make healthcare decisions that are in line with their own life goals. Dr. Hampson has carried out this research in a number of contexts to-date and is currently focusing on understanding and improving decision-making for men with stress urinary incontinence.
Costs and Financial Decisions in Healthcare
While Dr. Hampson was a research fellow at the NIH, she studied conflicts of interest in research and became an expert on the topic. She has continued to keep this focus of research throughout her career with a goal of recognizing and studying the financial incentives that drive healthcare professionals in order to better understand how to effectively manage these incentives. Dr. Hampson has also sought to study costs associated with healthcare, specifically in the operating room, as a means toward understanding how to reduce unnecessary costs and improve inefficiencies.
Resident Education
As the Associate Residency Program Director at UCSF, Dr. Hampson dedicates her time and energy to teaching and improving knowledge of the UCSF residents. She developed the #UrologyCOViD project to improve national and international access to urology didactic education. She also participates in research related to educational efforts in urology.