Vertical organic electrochemical transistor platforms for efficient electropolymerization of thiophene based oligomers.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as promising candidates for various fields, including bioelectronics, neuromorphic computing, biosensors, and wearable electronics. OECTs operate in aqueous solutions, exhibit high amplification properties, and offer ion-to-electron signal transduction. The OECT channel consists of a conducting polymer, with PEDOT:PSS receiving the most attention to date. While PEDOT:PSS is highly conductive, and benefits from optimized protocols using secondary dopants and detergents, new p-type and n-type polymers are emerging with desirable material properties. Among these, low-oxidation potential oligomers are highly enabling for bioelectronics applications, however the polymers resulting from their polymerization lag far behind in conductivity compared with the established PEDOT:PSS. In this work we show that by careful design of the OECT geometrical characteristics, we can overcome this limitation and achieve devices that are on-par with transistors employing PEDOT:PSS. We demonstrate that the vertical architecture allows for facile electropolymerization of a family of trimers that are polymerized in very low oxidation potentials, without the need for harsh chemicals or secondary dopants. Vertical and planar OECTs are compared using various characterization methods. We show that vOECTs are superior platforms in general and propose that the vertical architecture can be expanded for the realization of OECTs for various applications.

Using the Electronic Medical Record to Address Code Status Documentation: A Quality Improvement Project.

ABSTRACT: Code status (CS) is often overlooked while admitting patients to the hospital. This is important for patients with end-stage disease. This quality improvement project investigated whether a CS pop-up alert in the electronic medical record, combined with provider education, improved addressing CS. The project consisted of a baseline chart review, implementation of the alert and physician education, and a postintervention chart review. We reviewed 1828 charts at baseline and 1,775 at postintervention. From univariable analysis, there were improvements in addressing CS, being full code, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intubation, use of vasopressors, and cardioversion technique categories (all p < .001). Documentation of do not resuscitate did not change. From logistic regression, after controlling for age, race, end-stage liver disease, stroke, cancer, hospital unit, and sepsis, patients in the postintervention period were two times more likely to have CS addressed (odds ratio [OR] = 2.04, p < .001). There was a significant improvement in CS documentation from our interventions.