Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Joint Annual Wellness Visit Scheduling, Rob Chamberlin, Jennifer Bliss, Andrea Lai, Paula Dougherty, Deb Swett, Logan Merrithew, Pam Stevens, Scott Williams

Maine Medical Center

Problem/Impact Statement: The pharmacists in Scarborough & Westbrook Primary Care conduct Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) with a physician. The pharmacist and physician see the patient individually. The practices achieved and sustained FY18 Joint AWV volume goals through a new process to reschedule physician-only AWVs to Joints AWVs with a pharmacist. This leads to reschedule rework and reduced time practice staff have for patient care.

Using Physician Champions To Extend The Reach Of The Let’S Go! 5-2-1-0 Obesity Prevention Program In Clinical Practice, Michael Dedekian, Jackie Vine, Jonathan Fanburg, Naomi Anderson Schucker, Victoria Rogers

Journal of Maine Medical Center

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There is limited evidence for large scale interventions to address childhood obesity. Let’s Go! is a Maine-based obesity prevention program that deploys a consistent message across multiple community settings to encourage children and families to make healthy choices. This report describes implementation of Let's Go! in primary care offices.

Methods: Consideration for physician champion recruitment included previous involvement with Let’s Go! and ensuring statewide geographic coverage. Champions received standardized training and became local leaders in obesity prevention and treatment. 13 champions engaged 99 practices at baseline; 71 practices were engaged all 4 years (2012-2015). Data were analyzed on …

Physician Gender Impact On Obesity Care In The Academic Ambulatory Setting, Peggy R. Cyr Md, Christina Holt Md, Msc, Amy Haskins Phd, Karyn King Md, Robert Post Md, Derjung M. Tarn, Arch Mainous Phd

Journal of Maine Medical Center

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess a nationally representative sample of academic family physicians to determine whether personal physician characteristics are associated with attitudes towards and care of overweight and/or obese patients.

METHODS: Questions pertaining to physician’s interactions with overweight and obese patients was administered as the 2012 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey to academic family physicians. We analyzed self-reported demographic responses physicians gave with the main outcome the association between self-reported likelihood of engaging in weight loss discussions with overweight or obese patients and physicians’ personal characteristics …

Safe Care For Seizure Patients On An Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, Deborah Bachand, Lauri Wilson, Rachel Caiola, Lynne Keller, Megan Selvitelli, Mary Jo Farley, Jennifer O'Neill, Sara Shrock, Hannah Plummer, Sally Prokey, Amy Sparks, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman

Operational Transformation

Seizure patients admitted to an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit located within an academic tertiary medical center have a high potential to impact patient safety. As a result, a unit based team identified a need for a higher level of training for both their staff and float companions to ensure safe and standardized care for this group of patients.

The goal of this quality improvement project was to create an educational tool that would assist 100% of staff in better recognizing and responding to seizures. Baseline metrics and root cause analysis demonstrated a lack of consistent information being taught, a poorly identified …

What’S Happening To Our Patients In Their Final Year Of Life?, Teresa Letellier, Amy Haskins, Christina Holt

Maine Medical Center

We want to “die well” which includes:

• Effective symptom management

• Receiving care consistent with wishes Who achieves this, and how?

• Primary care physicians (PCPs) – Insufficient time and training

• Palliative care physicians – Better quality care and decreased health care cost in last years of life

• “Surprise Question” – “Would you be surprised if this patient dies in the next year?”

• To recognize our sickest patients and discuss goals of care and consult palliative care, if appropriate • “Advance care planning tab” – To record code status, advance directive, POLST forms, medical power of …