Family Medicine Commons^™

Continuity Of Care In Rural Surgical Patients, Sydney M. Cardozo

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Continuity of care is an integral part of patient care and is important for reducing morbidity and mortality following hospitalizations. Medical errors are common during transitions of care, and are most frequently caused by lack of suitable discharge planning and poor communication between surgical teams, patients, and primary care physicians. This project aims to create a new standardized note template for surgery teams to use when discharging patients, with the goal of augmenting communication and efficiency during transitions of care within and outside the UVM Health Network.

Optimizing Secure Patient Messaging Workflow In A Vermont Primary Care Clinic, Kimberly S. Oleary

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Optimizing Secure Patient Messaging Workflow in a Vermont Primary Care Clinic

Kim O’Leary, DNPc, RN

DNP Advisor: Margaret Aitken, DNP, AGNP, ANP-BC

Site Mentor: James Williamson, MHA, Site Supervisor, Adult Primary Care

Background: Secure patient messaging is a popular tool designed for non-urgent questions, yet patients sometimes use it to relay urgent concerns. As office workflows tend to prioritize responses to other methods of communication, this presents a potentially unsafe situation in which clinical staff may not respond to these urgent messages in a timely manner.

Purpose: To develop a methodology to improve the timeliness, effectiveness, and safety of secure …

Optimizing Drug Prior Authorization Procedures For Primary Care, Lydia S. Vorsteveld

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Title and Abstract

1. 1. Title

Optimizing Drug Prior Authorization Procedures for Primary Care

1. 2. Abstract

Background:

Medication prior authorization (MPA) is a cost containment strategy utilized by health plans. The payer, or health plan requires providers to obtain prior approval for plan coverage of a drug prescription. The list of drugs requiring MPA varies among health plans and is subject to frequent change. From 2007 to 2013 Medicare Part D increased MPA requirements by 38 percent (Hoadley, Summer, Hargrave, & Cubanski, 2014).

Methods:

Pre and post interventional surveys of primary care staff were used to gather descriptions of current MPA …

Fostering Competent Healthcare For Transgender And Non-Binary Patients, Alden York Sacco

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Many transgender and non-binary individuals are hesitant to seek medical due to past traumatic encounters with physicians and medical staff, having to educate providers about their bodies, perceived bias, and fear of mistreatment. This reluctance to seek medical care, and even to disclose their transgender status, can result in poorer health outcomes due to delays in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. An in-office training was designed to introduce clinicians and office staff to health care disparities facing transgender and non-binary people, appropriate pronoun-use and key terminology, strategies for creating a welcoming and gender-affirming environment for trans and non-binary patients, and useful …