Health Care Management Program

Background

Dr. Trent Spaulding is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Health Care Management within the Beaver College of Health Sciences at Appalachian State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Arizona State University, where his dissertation focused on hospital information systems. He also holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in Information Systems Management from Brigham Young University.

Dr. Spaulding has worked as a software architect and engineer for an eterprise resource planning (ERP) system for Pace Symposia. He also led the development and implementation of a decision support system designed to optimize vaccine distribution in the greater Phoenix area.

Dr. Spaulding’s research examines the intersection of information technology and healthcare, with a particular focus on:

1. The impact of information technology in healthcare settings,
2. Student success in higher education, and
3. CNA and RN staffing challenges.

Additionally, he has explored topics such as the economics of online auctions and the role of social networks and virtual communities in business. His work has been published in leading academic journals and conferences, including Health Affairs, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Higher Education Management, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science, and International Conference on Information Systems.

Beyond academia, Dr. Spaulding has consulted on database development, management reporting, and website development. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, coaching youth sports, playing the piano and organ, and working on motorcycle mechanics.

Education

• Ph.D., Arizona State University, Computer Information Systems
• M.S., Brigham Young University, Master's in Information Systems Management
• B.S., Brigham Young University, Bachelors of Science in Information Systems

Courses Taught

• HCM 2110 - Introduction to the US Healthcare System
• HCM 3580 - Health Services Research Methods
• HCM 3700 - Health Information Systems
• HCM 4710 - Health Informatics
• HCM 5700 - Health Care Informatics
• HCM 5720 - Data Analytics in Healthcare
• MBA 5547 - Healthcare Analytics

Research/Scholarly Interests

• The impact of information technology in healthcare settings,
• Student success in higher education, and
• CNA and RN staffing challenges.
• The effects of IT adoption in the healthcare industry; performance effects of the automation of business processes; patterns of adoption and automation; integration of information systems. (Dissertation)
• Economics and efficiency of online auctions; thin markets; collectables; automated data collection using Internet enabled software agents.

Selected Presentations & Publications

• Dalton, J.C., Spaulding, T.J., Berghammer, A., Keerthana, B., Cazier, J. (2024). The impact of futrure employement prospects on the graduation rates of upper-class university stop-out students. Journal of Higher Education Management, 39(1).
• Dalton, J., Spaulding, T., Berghammer, A., Bandlamudi, K., & Cazier, J. (2024, October). Empowering Student Success: Understanding Economic Influences in Higher Education. Concurrent in-person session accepted to American Association of University Administrators National Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
• Cazier, J.A., Spaulding, T.J., and Hassler, E.E. (2024) Sandwich Analytics: Transactional, Socioeconomic, and Weather Data for 25 United States Based Quick Serve Sandwich Locations. Data for Good Analytics Journal.
• Lane, S. J., Sugg, M. Spaulding, T., Iyer, L., and Hege, A. (2022). Self-Reported Resilience of North Carolina Long-Term Care Organizations and Public Health Agencies in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 82(10337).
• Lane, S.J., Sugg, M., Spaulding, T.J., Hege, A., and Iyer, L. (2022). Southeastern United States Predictors of COVID-19 in Nursing Homes. Journal of Applied Geronotology, 41(7).
• Lane, S.J. Spaulding, T.J., and McSweeney-Feld, M.H. (2022). Direct Care Worker Job Dissatisfaction in North Carolina Nursing Homes: A Case Study. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, 45(1).
• Iyer, L., Gopika, M., Lane, S., & Spaulding. A Dashboard for nursing home COVID-19 impact: A design science approach. 24th Proceedings of the Southern Association for Information Systems Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC, USA March 18th–19th, 2022.
• Iyer, L.S., Malik, G., Lane, S.J., Spaulding, T.J., Hege, A., Sugg, M. (2022). A Dashboard for nursing home COVID-19 impact: A Design science approach (manuscript). 2022 Southern AIS Conference. Myrtle Beach, SC, Mar 18-19, 2022.
• Ratcliff, A., Spaulding, T.J., Lee, J. (2021) Impacts of Vendor Turnover in Hospital Information Systems (abstract). Annual meeting of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). Online, Apr 21-22, 2022.
• Sugg, M., Lane, S.J., Spaulding, T.J., Hege, A., and Iyer, L.S. (2021). Southeastern US Predictors of COVID-19 in Nursing Homes During Three Different Time Periods. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 41(7).
• Hege, A., Lane, S.J., Spaulding, T.J., Sugg, M. and Iyer, L. (2021). County-Level Social Determinants of Health and COVID-19 in Nursing Homes, United States, June 1, 2020–January 31, 2021. Public Health Reports, 137(1): 137-148.
• Sugg, M., Spaulding, T.J., Lane, S.J., Runkle, J., Harden, S., Hege, A. and Iyer, L. (2021). Mapping Community-Level Determinants of COVID-19 Transmission in Nursing Homes: A multi-scale approach. Science of the Total Environment, 752(15 January).
• Hege, A., Lane, S.J., Sugg, M., Minor, T., Spaulding, T.J. and Iyer, L.S. (2021). Predictors of COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes in the southeastern U.S. (poster). Annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. Online, Oct 24-27, 2021.
• Iyer, L.S., Malik, G., Lane, S.J., Spaulding, T.J., Hege, A., Sugg, M. (2021). Nursing Home COVID-19 Impact Analysis Dashboard: A Prototype (manuscript). 2021 Pre-ICIS SIGDSA Symposium on Analytics and AI for Sustainable Future. Austin, TX, Dec 11-12, 2021.
• Spaulding, T.J., Hassler, E.E., Edwards, C.H.L., and Cazier, J.A. 2019. “Sandwich Analytics: A Dataset Comprising One Year’s Weekly Sales Data Correlated with Crime, Demographics, and Weather.” Data in Brief, 25(2019), 1-7.
• Cech, T.G., Spaulding, T.J. & Cazier, J.A. 2018. "Data competence maturity: developing data driven decision making". Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 11(2), 139-158.
• Williams, D.R. & Spaulding, T.J. 2018. "An empirical study of the determinants of location of hospital mergers and acquisitions announcements: 1997-2016". Journal of Health Care Finance, 24, 1-20.
• Williams, D.R. & Spaulding, T.J. 2018. "The inherent risk associated with newly traded biopharmaceutical firms". Drug Discovery Today, 23, 1680-1688.
• McArthur, L.H., Riggs, A., Uribe, F. & Spaulding, T.J. 2018. "Health Belief Model offers opportunities for designing weight management interventions for college students". Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 5, 485-493.
• Williams, D.R. and Spaulding T.J. 2018. “An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Location of Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions: 1997-2016.” Annual Meeting of the Southern Management Association. Lexington, KY, Nov 6-10, 2018. *Received the Best Paper Award for the Health Care Management, Hospitality Management, and Public Administration track.