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Scott McIntosh

Publications and source records attributed to Scott McIntosh.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Do physicians discuss needed diet and nutrition health topics with adolescents?

PURPOSE: Preventive services guidelines recommend screening all adolescents for diet habits, physical activity and growth, counseling underweight teens about body image and dieting patterns, and counseling overweight or obese teens about dietary habits and exercise. In this study, we assess whether adolescents at risk for overweight or for eating disorders have discussed recommended diet and nutrition topics with their physicians. METHODS: We surveyed 14-18-year-old adolescents who had been seen for well care in primary care pediatric and family medicine practices. Adolescents self-reported their weight, height, body image, dieting habits, and issues they had discussed with their clinicians. Body mass index (BMI) was used to define those "at risk for an eating disorder" (< 5% BMI), "at risk of becoming overweight" (85%-95% BMI), and "overweight" (> 95% BMI). RESULTS: A total of 8384 adolescents completed surveys (72% completion rate). Nearly one-third of adolescents were "at risk" or overweight. Females were less likely to be overweight than males (9.4% vs. 15.7%; p < .001). Although 26.4% were attempting to lose weight, only 12.2% of all teens were actually overweight. Exercise and restricting intake were the preferred methods of weight loss. Physicians routinely discussed adolescents' weight during visits, and were more likely to discuss it with those "at risk" (p < .001). Body image was more often discussed with girls than with boys (52% vs. 44.6%, p < .001) and with those at risk (51.6% vs. 45.5%; p < .001). Discussion of healthy eating and weight loss occurred more often with adolescents "at risk" for becoming overweight (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Many adolescents are at risk for being overweight or are currently overweight, confirming the importance of clinicians discussing diet and nutrition health topics with all teens. Many adolescents also misclassify their body image, and hence perceive their body image to be different from their actual BMI; clinicians should discuss body image with all adolescents, not just those at risk for eating disorders. Better interventions are needed to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity to all adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The use of Spanish by medical students and residents at one university hospital.

PURPOSE: To describe how medical trainees report communication with Spanish-speaking patients, and to assess trainees' desire to improve their language skills and have those skills formally evaluated. METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to all fourth-year medical students and non-first-year residents in family practice, pediatrics, medicine, medicine-pediatrics, emergency medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2004 (N = 263). RESULTS: The response rate was 92% (241/263). Each respondent had at least one year of clinical experience at the hospital. Of the 83% (199/241) who reported less than conversational Spanish language skills, 53% had taken a history and/or provided medical advice directly to Spanish-speaking patients without any form of interpretation. When an interpreter was used, professional interpretation services were used less frequently than other forms of interpretation (42% versus 58%, p < .05). Analyses were performed on the 68% (164/241) who reported having at least rudimentary Spanish skills: 85% reported that they would probably or definitely participate in further individual language training, 70% expressed at least possible willingness to have their Spanish formally evaluated, and 80% predicted that it is at least possible that they will use their Spanish as attending physicians. CONCLUSIONS: At the time of this study, this hospital's medical students and residents from multiple specialties used inadequate Spanish language skills to provide direct medical care despite the availability of professional interpretation services. Most of these trainees were motivated to improve their Spanish and would welcome evaluation of their language skills.

Communication↗
PubMed2005

Recruitment of physician offices for an office-based adolescent smoking cessation study.

Physician office settings play an important role in tobacco cessation intervention. However, few tobacco cessation trials are conducted at these sites, in part because of the many challenges associated with recruiting community physician offices into research. The present study identified and implemented strategies for recruiting physician offices into a randomized clinical trial of tobacco screening and cessation interventions with adolescent patients. A total of 30 community physicians participated in focus groups to elicit their perceptions of facilitators of and barriers to initial engagement of physician practices and the subsequent enrollment of the practices in long-term research projects. Physicians identified facilitators such as (a) the involvement of office staff in the recruitment process and (b) on-site presentations of the study's background and aims. Some of the barriers identified were time commitment concerns and the lack of incentives in exchange for participation. These focus group findings were then integrated with theory-based and empirically driven recruitment strategies for a 12-month randomized tobacco intervention trial with adolescent patients. Of 185 office practices approached to participate (screened from a pool of 273 practices), 103 agreed to on-site presentations of the study. Subsequently, almost all of the practices (101) that received the presentation agreed to enroll in the study. Conclusions are that (a) recruitment is a multicomponent process, (b) the processes of communication, engagement, and enrollment must be carefully planned and implemented to achieve maximal results, and (c) the development of effective strategies for recruiting health care provider practices presents an important infrastructure for testing adolescent smoking cessation interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Evaluation of current tobacco curriculum at 12 US medical schools.

BACKGROUND: Training medical students in tobacco prevention and treatment skills is critical if we are to have competent physicians prepared to address the grave levels of morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use. Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Education at US Medical Schools (PACE), a National Cancer Institute funded project, was launched to assess and improve curriculum content and teaching at 12 US medical schools. METHODS: The 2003 survey was completed by faculty and administrators. The survey was divided into four main sections: tobacco content and skills, curricular evaluation, faculty perceptions of barriers and promoters, and educational vision. RESULTS: Thirty-six percent of all medical school courses had some tobacco-related content. Five schools provided a total of between 4 and 8 hours of teaching, 5 schools provided 10-13 hours, and 2 schools provided 17 and 18 hours of teaching. Of the 12 schools, 8 had fewer hours devoted to tobacco teaching in the clerkships than during the 1st-year courses. Only 2 schools noted any tobacco content for Obstetrics/Gynecology clerkships, and only 4 schools provided teaching in the pediatric setting (range 5-201 minutes). CONCLUSION: In comparison to earlier studies, it appears that more tobacco content is now integrated into medical school courses. More improvement is necessary, however, particularly in tobacco use prevention. Institutions need to examine the role of faculty in prioritizing tobacco information and promoting a culture that builds competency in tobacco control and treatment.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2003

Quitlines in North America: evidence base and applications.

Quitlines provide a model for the translation of research findings to public health application. Quitlines are currently in operation in more than half of US states, in Canada, and in multiple countries globally. Overall, when implemented correctly, quitlines have been shown to be efficacious and effective. Multiple quitline models are in use, but there is no evidence on the relative effectiveness of one over the other. Differences have been demonstrated for the efficacy of quitlines for specific applications, with the strongest evidence base for application as a primary intervention or as follow-up for hospitalized patients and particularly for cardiac patients. The evidence base for both reactive and proactive services is reviewed, and future directions to continue to advance the field are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Continuum analysis of an avalanche model for solar flares.

We investigate the continuum limit of a class of self-organized critical lattice models for solar flares. Such models differ from the classical numerical sandpile model in their formulation of stability criteria in terms of the curvature of the nodal field, and are known to belong to a different universality class. A fourth-order nonlinear hyperdiffusion equation is reverse engineered from the discrete model's redistribution rule. A dynamical renormalization-group analysis of the equation yields scaling exponents that compare favorably with those measured in the discrete lattice model within the relevant spectral range dictated by the sizes of the domain and the lattice grid. We argue that the fourth-order nonlinear diffusion equation that models the behavior of the discrete model in the continuum limit is, in fact, compatible with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of the flaring phenomenon in the regime of strong magnetic field and the effective magnetic diffusivity characteristic of strong MHD turbulence.

Journal Article↗