Primary Care Commons^™

Vitamin D Supplementation: Preventing Fractures, Courtney L. Carn, Michael S. Doherty

Physician Assistant Capstones

Objective: To assess the ability of vitamin D supplementation in preventing musculoskeletal fractures. Methods: Systematic literature review using Google Scholar search terms “vitamin D supplementation” and “preventing hip fractures” from 2006-2015. Only RCTs, meta-analysis, and clinical guidelines were included. Results: Our search resulted in one meta-analysis and two randomized controlled trials. Conclusion: The summation of our investigation into vitamin D deficiency and the presence of musculoskeletal fractures has proven to be relatively inconclusive. The resulting data from our three studies did not provide any definitive proof that improved vitamin D levels correlates with better bone health.

Want To Lose Weight? Commercial Weight Loss Programs Vs. Primary Care, Jessica Jacobson, Katherine Chui

Physician Assistant Capstones

Context Overweight and obesity rates are on a continuous incline in the United States leading to increased rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death. Much of the healthcare costs are going into treating this disease; therefore, it is vital to find effective weight loss treatments in both the primary care and community settings to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity and subsequent healthcare costs.

Objective To assess whether primary care-based therapy or commercial weight loss programs help overweight and obese patients lose 5% of their weight from baseline.

Design, Setting and Participants A systematic review of four randomized control ...

Routine Screening For Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: Is It For Everyone?, Catherine E. Nowak

Physician Assistant Capstones

Objective: Determine whether routine abdominal ultrasound screening in all men ages 65 and over, not just those who are symptomatic or at risk, would be beneficial in reducing the mortality rate from abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Design: Systematic literature review. Methods: The clinical question investigated is whether routine ultrasound screening of AAA for men over age 65 reduces AAA-related mortality as compared to not routinely screening. Searches were done through PubMed using the keywords: screening, abdominal aortic aneurysm, reduce, and mortality. Citations used by the USPSTF AAA screening guidelines were also added to the literature search. In PubMed, further limitations ...

Toll-Like Receptor 4 Signaling Pathway Mediates Inhalant Organic Dust-Induced Bone Loss., Elizabeth Staab, Geoffrey M. Thiele, Dillon Clarey, Todd A. Wyatt, Debra J. Romberger, Adam D. Wells, Anand Dusad, Dong Wang, Lynell W. Klassen, Ted R. Mikuls, Michael J. Duryee, Jill A. Poole

Journal Articles: Internal Medicine

Agriculture workers have increased rates of airway and skeletal disease. Inhalant exposure to agricultural organic dust extract (ODE) induces bone deterioration in mice; yet, mechanisms underlying lung-bone crosstalk remain unclear. Because Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4 are important in mediating the airway consequences of ODE, this study investigated their role in regulating bone responses. First, swine facility ODE stimulated wild-type (WT) bone marrow macrophages to form osteoclasts, and this finding was inhibited in TLR4 knock-out (KO), but not TLR2 KO cells. Next, using an established intranasal inhalation exposure model, WT, TLR2 KO and TLR4 KO mice were treated daily ...

The Carefirst Patient-Centered Medical Home Program: Cost And Utilization Effects In Its First Three Years, Alison Cuellar, Lorens A. Helmchen, Gilbert Gimm, Jay Want, Sriteja Burla, Bradley Kells, Iwona Kicinger, Len M. Nichols

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Background

Enhanced primary care models have diffused slowly and shown uneven results. Because their structural features are costly and challenging for small practices to implement, they offer modest rewards for improved performance, and improvement takes time.

Objective

To test whether a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model that significantly rewarded cost savings and accommodated small primary care practices was associated with lower spending, fewer hospital admissions, and fewer emergency room visits.

Design

We compared medical care expenditures and utilization among adults who participated in the PCMH program to adults who did not participate. We computed difference-in-difference estimates using two-part multivariate generalized ...

Preparing Future Leaders: An Integrated Quality Improvement Residency Curriculum, Stacy E. Potts, Sara G. Shields, Carole C. Upshur

Open Access Articles

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has recognized the importance of quality improvement (QI) training and requires that accredited residencies in all specialties demonstrate that residents are "integrated and actively participate in interdisciplinary clinical quality improvement and patient safety activities." However, competing demands in residency training may make this difficult to accomplish. The study's objective is to develop and evaluate a longitudinal curriculum that meets the ACGME requirement for QI and patient safety training and links to patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices.

METHODS: Residents in the Worcester Family Medicine Residency (WFMR) participated in a ...

Improving Collaboration Between Pharmacists And Physicians, Paras Patel

BU Well

Physicians and pharmacists have differing but complementary roles that can optimize patient care when structured effectively. Unfortunately, these two professionals are not collaborating well enough, as patient outcomes, especially in relation to medication adherence, continue to decline. Coordinated care of patients can improve by expanding bidirectional communication and sharing additional patient information with each other. It will be necessary to continue to promote collaborative care in the educational and training stages of these professionals’ careers to build trust and understanding of professional scope. Ultimately, the healthcare infrastructure will have to continue to progress to make collaboration more available and valuable ...

Cohort Profile: The Nicotine Dependence In Teens (Ndit) Study, Jennifer O'Loughlin, Joseph R. Difranza, Robert J. Wellman

Robert J. Wellman

The Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study is a prospective cohort investigation of 1294 students recruited in 1999-2000 from all grade 7 classes in a convenience sample of 10 high schools in Montreal, Canada. Its primary objectives were to study the natural course and determinants of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence in novice smokers. The main source of data was self-report questionnaires administered in class at school every 3 months from grade 7 to grade 11 (1999-2005), for a total of 20 survey cycles during high school education. Questionnaires were also completed after graduation from high school in 2007-08 and ...

Clinical Approach To Nonresponsive Pneumonia In Adults Diagnosed By A Primary Care Clinician: A Retrospective Study, Kiley B. Vander Wyst, Jessica J. F. Kram, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is commonly diagnosed in the primary care setting. Management of nonresponsive pneumonia (NRP), i.e. failure to respond to CAP treatment, is not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to describe the initial work-up and treatment of CAP in the ambulatory primary care setting and to determine relative proportion of, diagnostic approach to and treatment of NRP.

Methods

We retrospectively studied adult patients diagnosed with CAP within our large, integrated health care system from October 2006 through July 2013. Cases were defined as patients with CAP who worsened after 4 days, or did not ...

Evaluating One Strategy For Including Reflection In Medical Education And Practice, Meghan Veno, Hugh Silk, Judith A. Savageau, Kate M. Sullivan

Family Medicine and Community Health Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Reflective writing in medicine allows for the opportunity to analyze, interpret, and learn from clinical experiences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the beneficial effects of reflective reading and writing for a department using a weekly listserve.

METHODS: The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School sends out a weekly reflective writing story written by its members to celebrate clinical/teaching success. We conducted a 19-item questionnaire in the summer of 2014 among all 402 members.

RESULTS: Questionnaires were completed by 161 of 402 (40%) readers and 50 ...

Nortex Spring 2016 Newsletter, North Texas Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network

North Texas Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (NorTex) Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Should Primary Care Physicians Address Sleep To Improve Weight Loss In Obese Patients? A Clin-Iq, Kjersti E. Knox

Kjersti Knox, MD

Obesity is a commonly encountered problem in the primary care setting. Simultaneously, sleep is seen to hold an increasingly important role in many components of health and wellness. A review of the literature was performed to determine if improving sleep positively impacts weight loss in obese adults. The evidence reviewed suggests that improving patients’ sleep may initially improve patient weight loss; however, current studies do not show a sustained statistically significant impact. Until higher powered and higher quality studies are completed, there are no clear evidence-based guidelines for primary care physicians to follow regarding sleep and obesity.

Extracting Electronic Health Record Data In A Practice-Based Research Network: Lessons Learned From Collaborations With Translational Researchers, Allison M. Cole, Kari A. Stephens, Gina A. Keppel, Hossein Estiri, Laura-Mae Baldwin

eGEMs (Generating Evidence & Methods to improve patient outcomes)

Context: The widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) offers significant opportunities to conduct research with clinical data from patients outside traditional academic research settings. Because EHRs are designed primarily for clinical care and billing, significant challenges are inherent in the use of EHR data for clinical and translational research. Efficient processes are needed for translational researchers to overcome these challenges. The Data QUEST Coordinating Center (DQCC), which oversees Data QUEST – a primary care EHR data sharing infrastructure – created processes that that guide EHR data extraction for clinical and translational research across these diverse practices. We describe these processes and ...

A Pilot Study: Understanding Health Literacy And Linguistic Factors Related To African Immigrants Engagement In Primary Health Care In Massachusetts, Nicole Baker, Chioma Nnaji, Marianne Sarkis, Siede Slopadoe, Nancy S. Morris

Community Engagement and Research Symposia

Culture impacts how individuals understand, communicate, and respond to health information. Immigrants to the U.S. come from diverse cultural groups and have varying understandings of health care and the U.S. health care system. The primary aim of this study is to explore cultural interpretations and beliefs of select health concepts and to assess the health literacy of African immigrants in Massachusetts. We are a partnership between UMass Graduate School of Nursing, Africans for Improved Access program at the Multicultural AIDS Coalition and Clark University. Using a CBPR approach has been valuable in the design of the study and ...

Primary Care Physicians' Willingness To Disclose Oncology Errors Involving Multiple Providers To Patients, Kathleen Mazor, Douglas Roblin, Sarah Greene, Hassan Fouayzi, Thomas Gallagher

Kathleen M. Mazor

BACKGROUND: Full disclosure of harmful errors to patients, including a statement of regret, an explanation, acceptance of responsibility and commitment to prevent recurrences is the current standard for physicians in the USA.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which primary care physicians' perceptions of event-level, physician-level and organisation-level factors influence intent to disclose a medical error in challenging situations.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey containing two hypothetical vignettes: (1) delayed diagnosis of breast cancer, and (2) care coordination breakdown causing a delayed response to patient symptoms. In both cases, multiple physicians shared responsibility for the error, and both involved oncology diagnoses.

SETTING ...

One Final Goodbye, Dennis Baumgardner

Dennis Baumgardner

N/A

Generational Differences In Practice Site Selection Criteria Amongst Primary Care Physicians., Christopher Duffrin Phd, Mches, Molly Cashion Mph, Doyle M. Cummings Pharmd, Lauren Whetstone Phd, Jonathon Firnhaber Md, Gary Levine Md, Ricky Watson Md, Msph, Aaron Lambert Md

Marshall Journal of Medicine

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Generational differences are often viewed as shaping the overall attitudes and actions of different age cohorts. It is essential to understand the motivations and generational differences in primary care physicians for efforts to recruit, retain, and educate the future physician workforce. Determining what factors most influence different generations of primary care physicians when choosing a practice site is essential to build our future primary care system. This study examined generational differences in the factors that attracted primary care physicians to their current practice.

Methods: A survey instrument was mailed to all active members of the North ...

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth: A Case-Based Review, Kristen H. Reynolds

Kristen Reynolds, MD

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition of increased microbial load in the small intestine. The microbes feed on dietary carbohydrates and starches via fermentation, leading to gas production, inflammation and damage to the lining of the small intestine. Clinical presentation is varied, including abdominal pain, bloating, malabsorption and systemic symptoms. SIBO is associated with many challenging and chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes, and has been shown to be a causative factor in two out of three cases of irritable bowel syndrome. Symptoms improve with antimicrobial treatment, but recurrence is common. Many providers ...

Challenges In Developing Primary Care Physicians' Motivational Interviewing Skills, Daniel Mullin, Lisa Forsberg, Judith Savageau, Barry Saver

Barry G. Saver

INTRODUCTION: Motivational interviewing (MI) skills are relevant for primary care providers (PCPs) who are responsible for caring for patients with diseases affected by behavior. There are significant challenges associated with developing PCP's MI skills. We report on an effort to document the acquisition of MI skills by PCPs using an objective measure of MI competence, the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) coding system. METHOD: Eleven PCPs volunteered to participate in 6 MI workshops over a period of 6 months and to submit work samples between each of these workshops to be assessed with the MITI coding system. RESULTS: Thirteen ...

Assessment Of Obesity Management In A Primary Care Setting, Katie Diffenderfer

DNP Practice Inquiry Projects

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current practices related to obesity in the primary care setting in University of Kentucky’s Healthcare System. The specific aims were to: 1) Determine the proportion of obese patients who had an ICD-9/10 diagnosis code for obesity, 2) Determine the proportion of obese patients who received interventions related to their obesity, 3) Determine whether obesity diagnosis and interventions varied based on patient demographics, and 4) Compare actual obesity interventions to those outlined in the clinical practice guidelines.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of male and female patients between ...