Biomedical subjects

Thomas K Houston

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas K Houston.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Younger stroke survivors have reduced access to physician care and medications: National Health Interview Survey from years 1998 to 2002.

BACKGROUND: More than 5 million US stroke survivors require comprehensive care for risk factor modification and secondary prevention. Younger stroke survivors may have reduced access to physician care and medications because they are more frequently uninsured. OBJECTIVE: To assess age-related differences in access to physician care and medications among stroke survivors (aged 45-64 years vs > or = 65 years). DESIGN: National Health Interview Survey from years 1998 to 2002. SETTING: A US population-based survey. PARTICIPANTS: Stroke survivors (n = 3681) aged 45 years and older among 159 985 survey respondents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: General doctor visit, medical specialist visit, and inability to afford medications within the last 12 months. RESULTS: Compared with older stroke survivors, younger stroke survivors more frequently reported no general doctor visit (10% vs 14%, respectively; P = .002), no general doctor or medical specialist visit (5% vs 8%, respectively; P = .003), and the inability to afford medications (6% vs 15%, respectively; P<.001). Younger age was independently associated with no general doctor visit (odds ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.88), no general doctor or medical specialist visit (odds ratio, 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.52), and the inability to afford medications (odds ratio, 2.94; 95% confidence interval, 2.19-3.94) after adjusting for sex, race, income, neurological disability, health status, and comorbidity. With further adjustment for health insurance, younger age remained independently associated with the inability to afford medications but not the lack of physician visits. CONCLUSIONS: Stroke survivors younger than 65 years reported worse access to physician care and medication affordability than older stroke survivors. Inadequate access among younger stroke survivors may lead to inadequate risk factor modification and recurrent cardiovascular events.

Confidence Intervals↗

PubMed2006

Timely administration of prophylactic antibiotics for major surgical procedures.

BACKGROUND: Prophylactic antibiotics (PA) given within 60 minutes before surgical incision decrease risk of subsequent surgical site infection. Nationwide quality improvement initiatives have focused on improving the proportion of patients who receive timely prophylactic antibiotics. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cohort study of major surgical procedures performed in 108 Veterans Affairs hospitals between January and December 2005. Using data from the External Peer Review Program and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, we examined factors associated with timely PA administration. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed. RESULTS: There were 8,137 major surgical procedures: cardiac (2,664), hip and knee arthroplasty (3,603), colon (1,142), arterial vascular (606), and hysterectomy (122). Timely PA occurred in 76.2% of patients, 18.2% received them too early, and 5.4% received them too late. Early administration accounted for 79% of untimely PA. Differences in timeliness were seen by procedure type (68% to 87%; p < 0.0001), admission status (67% to 80%; p < 0.0001), and antibiotic class (65% to 89%; p < 0.0001). PA administration occurred in the operating room for 63.5% of patients. When PA administration occurred in the operating room, they were timely in 89% of patients, compared with 54% of patients where administration was outside the operating room (odds ratio, 7.74; 95% CI = 6.49 to 9.22). CONCLUSIONS: Early PA administration accounted for the majority of inappropriately timed PA. Efforts to improve performance on this measure should focus on administering antibiotics in the operating room.

Antibiotic Prophylaxis↗

PubMed2006

Instruments for evaluating education in evidence-based practice: a systematic review.

CONTEXT: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the integration of the best research evidence with patients' values and clinical circumstances in clinical decision making. Teaching of EBP should be evaluated and guided by evidence of its own effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: To appraise, summarize, and describe currently available EBP teaching evaluation instruments. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, HAPI, and ERIC databases; reference lists of retrieved articles; EBP Internet sites; and 8 education journals from 1980 through April 2006. For inclusion, studies had to report an instrument evaluating EBP, contain sufficient description to permit analysis, and present quantitative results of administering the instrument. DATA EXTRACTION: Two raters independently abstracted information on the development, format, learner levels, evaluation domains, feasibility, reliability, and validity of the EBP evaluation instruments from each article. We defined 3 levels of instruments based on the type, extent, methods, and results of psychometric testing and suitability for different evaluation purposes. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of 347 articles identified, 115 were included, representing 104 unique instruments. The instruments were most commonly administered to medical students and postgraduate trainees and evaluated EBP skills. Among EBP skills, acquiring evidence and appraising evidence were most commonly evaluated, but newer instruments evaluated asking answerable questions and applying evidence to individual patients. Most behavior instruments measured the performance of EBP steps in practice but newer instruments documented the performance of evidence-based clinical maneuvers or patient-level outcomes. At least 1 type of validity evidence was demonstrated for 53% of instruments, but 3 or more types of validity evidence were established for only 10%. High-quality instruments were identified for evaluating the EBP competence of individual trainees, determining the effectiveness of EBP curricula, and assessing EBP behaviors with objective outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: Instruments with reasonable validity are available for evaluating some domains of EBP and may be targeted to different evaluation needs. Further development and testing is required to evaluate EBP attitudes, behaviors, and more recently articulated EBP skills.

Educational Measurement↗

PubMed2006

Attitudes and illness factors associated with low perceived need for depression treatment among young adults.

BACKGROUND: We do not yet fully understand how low perceived need for treatment leads many young adults to not seek care for their depression. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 10,962 depressed young adults (ages 16-29) who visited a depression screening/education Internet website. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, we developed a multivariate model to determine the effects of beliefs and attitudes, social norms, past treatment behavior, and symptom severity on low perceived depression treatment need (i.e., not agreeing that one needs depression treatment). RESULTS: Negative beliefs and attitudes, social norms, and past treatment behavior predicted low perceived depression treatment need and explained more than half the model variance. Even after adjusting for depression severity and symptoms of other mental disorders, lacking confidence in either a biological or counseling based explanation or treatment approach for depression predicted low perceived depression treatment need. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of helpful treatment experiences and/or confidence in either of the currently practiced depression treatment models may prevent many young adults from seeking depression treatment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Development and testing of a scale to assess physician attitudes about handheld computers with decision support.

OBJECTIVE: The authors developed and evaluated a rating scale, the Attitudes toward Handheld Decision Support Software Scale (H-DSS), to assess physician attitudes about handheld decision support systems. DESIGN: The authors conducted a prospective assessment of psychometric characteristics of the H-DSS including reliability, validity, and responsiveness. Participants were 82 Internal Medicine residents. A higher score on each of the 14 five-point Likert scale items reflected a more positive attitude about handheld DSS. The H-DSS score is the mean across the fourteen items. Attitudes toward the use of the handheld DSS were assessed prior to and six months after receiving the handheld device. STATISTICS: Cronbach's Alpha was used to assess internal consistency reliability. Pearson correlations were used to estimate and detect significant associations between scale scores and other measures (validity). Paired sample t-tests were used to test for changes in the mean attitude scale score (responsiveness) and for differences between groups. RESULTS: Internal consistency reliability for the scale was alpha = 0.73. In testing validity, moderate correlations were noted between the attitude scale scores and self-reported Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) usage in the hospital (correlation coefficient = 0.55) and clinic (0.48), p < 0.05 for both. The scale was responsive, in that it detected the expected increase in scores between the two administrations (3.99 (s.d. = 0.35) vs. 4.08, (s.d. = 0.34), p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The authors' evaluation showed that the H-DSS scale was reliable, valid, and responsive. The scale can be used to guide future handheld DSS development and implementation.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2006

Active and passive smoking and development of glucose intolerance among young adults in a prospective cohort: CARDIA study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether active and passive smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop clinically relevant glucose intolerance or diabetes. DESIGN: Coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA) is a prospective cohort study begun in 1985-6 with 15 years of follow-up. SETTING: Participants recruited from Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Oakland, California, USA. PARTICIPANTS: Black and white men and women aged 18-30 years with no glucose intolerance at baseline, including 1386 current smokers, 621 previous smokers, 1452 never smokers with reported exposure to secondhand smoke (validated by serum cotinine concentrations 1-15 ng/ml), and 1113 never smokers with no exposure to secondhand smoke. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Time to development of glucose intolerance (glucose > or = 100 mg/dl or taking antidiabetic drugs) during 15 years of follow-up. RESULTS: Median age at baseline was 25, 55% of participants were women, and 50% were African-American. During follow-up, 16.7% of participants developed glucose intolerance. A graded association existed between smoking exposure and the development of glucose intolerance. The 15 year incidence of glucose intolerance was highest among smokers (21.8%), followed by never smokers with passive smoke exposure (17.2%), and then previous smokers (14.4%); it was lowest for never smokers with no passive smoke exposure (11.5%). Current smokers (hazard ratio 1.65, 95% confidence interval 1.27 to 2.13) and never smokers with passive smoke exposure (1.35, 1.06 to 1.71) remained at higher risk than never smokers without passive smoke exposure after adjustment for multiple baseline sociodemographic, biological, and behavioural factors, but risk in previous smokers was similar to that in never smokers without passive smoke exposure. CONCLUSION: These findings support a role of both active and passive smoking in the development of glucose intolerance in young adulthood.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Measuring resident physicians' performance of preventive care. Comparing chart review with patient survey.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has suggested various methods for evaluation of practice-based learning and improvement competency, but data on implementation of these methods are limited. OBJECTIVE: To compare medical record review and patient surveys on evaluating physician performance in preventive services in an outpatient resident clinic. DESIGN: Within an ongoing quality improvement project, we collected baseline performance data on preventive services provided for patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Internal Medicine Residents' ambulatory clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy internal medicine and medicine-pediatrics residents from the UAB Internal Medicine Residency program. MEASUREMENTS: Resident- and clinic-level comparisons of aggregated patient survey and chart documentation rates of (1) screening for smoking status, (2) advising smokers to quit, (3) cholesterol screening, (4) mammography screening, and (5) pneumonia vaccination. RESULTS: Six hundred and fifty-nine patient surveys and 761 charts were abstracted. At the clinic level, rates for screening of smoking status, recommending mammogram, and for cholesterol screening were similar (difference <5%) between the 2 methods. Higher rates for pneumonia vaccination (76% vs 67%) and advice to quit smoking (66% vs 52%) were seen on medical record review versus patient surveys. However, within-resident (N=70) comparison of 2 methods of estimating screening rates contained significant variability. The cost of medical record review was substantially higher ($107 vs $17/physician). CONCLUSIONS: Medical record review and patient surveys provided similar rates for selected preventive health measures at the clinic level, with the exception of pneumonia vaccination and advising to quit smoking. A large variation among individual resident providers was noted.

Accreditation↗

PubMed2006

A national collaboration to disseminate skills for outpatient teaching in internal medicine: program description and preliminary evaluation.

The shift of clinical care and teaching to outpatient settings has challenged ambulatory and community-based teachers. To address this challenge, U.S. internal medicine organizations devised "Faculty Development for General Internal Medicine: Generalist Faculty Teaching in Ambulatory Settings," a national program to train leaders to create local faculty development projects. In 1999, teams from all 386 internal medicine training institutions were invited to apply. Participation required an acceptable plan for a local project and inclusion of an institutional leader, residency or clerkship director, and a community-based faculty member on the project team. Team members attended one of three national training conferences held in 1999 and 2000 that included plenary sessions, workshops, and team meetings. Participants were invited to a wrap-up conference to present their accomplishments. One hundred ten teams from 57 university and 53 non-university hospitals attended the training conferences; 412 (93%) participants returned conference evaluations. All sessions were rated highly. Participants preferred workshops and team meetings to plenary sessions. Two hundred thirty-five (57%) would have recommended the training conference to colleagues as an outstanding experience; 148 (36%) as a good experience; and 25 (6%) as a satisfactory experience. Forty-nine teams (122 participants) returned for the wrap up conference where 35 teams presented their local faculty development projects. Cost per team trained was US$11,818. This program demonstrated a national desire for training in teaching skills, reached a broad audience of ambulatory-based clinical teachers, provided highly rated faculty development conferences in teaching skills, and facilitated development of a variety of local projects at modest expense. Partnerships were forged between academic leaders and community-based teachers.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed2006

Implementing achievable benchmarks in preventive health: a controlled trial in residency education.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the Preventive Health Achievable Benchmarks Curriculum, a multifaceted improvement intervention that included an objective, practice-based performance evaluation of internal medicine and pediatric residents' delivery of preventive services. METHOD: The authors conducted a nonrandomized experiment of intervention versus control group residents with baseline and follow-up of performance audited for 2001-2004. All 130 internal medicine and 78 pediatric residents at two continuity clinics at the University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, participated. Performance of preventive care was assessed by structured chart review. The multifaceted feedback curriculum included individualized performance feedback, academic detailing by faculty, and collective didactic sessions. The main outcome was difference in receipt of preventive care for patients seen by intervention and control residents, comparing baseline and follow-up. RESULTS: Charts were reviewed for 3,958 patients. Receipt of preventive care increased for patients of intervention residents, but not for patients of control residents. For the intervention group, significant increases occurred for five of six indicators in internal medicine: smoking screening, quit smoking advice, colon cancer screening, pneumonia vaccine, and lipid screening; and four of six in pediatrics: parental quit smoking advice, car seats, car restraints, and eye alignment (p < .05 for all). For control residents, no consistent improvements were seen. There was greater improvement for intervention than for control residents for four of six indicators in internal medicine, and two of six in pediatrics. CONCLUSIONS: Using a multifaceted feedback curriculum, the authors taught residents about the care they provide and improved documented patient care.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Improving ambulatory prescribing safety with a handheld decision support system: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) prescribing safety in the outpatient setting. DESIGN: The design was a randomized, controlled trial conducted in a university-based resident clinic. Internal medicine residents received a PDA-based CDSS suite. For intervention residents, the CDSS included a prediction rule for NSAID-related gastrointestinal risk assessment and treatment recommendations. Unannounced standardized patients (SPs) trained to portray musculoskeletal symptoms presented to study physicians. Safety outcomes were assessed from the prescriptions given to the SPs. Each prescription was reviewed by a committee of clinicians blinded to participant, intervention group assignment, and baseline or follow-up status. MEASUREMENTS: Prescriptions were judged as safe or unsafe. The main outcome measure was the differential change in unsafe prescribing of NSAIDs for the intervention versus the control group. RESULTS: At baseline, the mean proportion of cases per physician with unsafe prescriptions for the two groups was similar (0.27 vs. 0.29, p > 0.05). Controlling for baseline performance, intervention participants prescribed more safely than controls after receiving the CDSS (0.23 vs. 0.45 [F = 4.24, p < 0.05]). With the CDSS, intervention participants documented more complete assessment of patient gastrointestinal risk from NSAIDs. CONCLUSION: PARTICIPANTS provided with a PDA-based CDSS for NSAID prescribing made fewer unsafe treatment decisions than participants without the CDSS.

Ambulatory Care Information Systems↗

PubMed2005

Post-myocardial infarction smoking cessation counseling: associations with immediate and late mortality in older Medicare patients.

PURPOSE: To assess the difference in immediate (30 and 60 days after admission) and late (2-year) mortality between those who received inpatient post-myocardial infarction smoking cessation counseling and those who did not receive counseling. METHODS: We conducted an observational study of a national random sample of inpatients from 2971 U.S. acute care hospitals participating in the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project in 1994-95. Medicare beneficiaries who were current smokers over age 65, admitted with a documented acute myocardial infarction, and who were discharged to home were included (n=16743). Our main outcome measures were early (30-, 60-day) and late (1-, 2-year) mortality. RESULTS: Smoking cessation counseling was documented during their index hospitalization for 41% of patients. Compared with those not counseled, those who received inpatient counseling had lower 30-day (2.0% vs. 3.0%), 60-day (3.7% vs. 5.6%), and 2-year mortality (25.0% vs. 30%) (logrank P <0.0001). After adjustment for demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, APACHE score, and receipt of treatments including aspirin, reperfusion, beta-blockers, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, those receiving counseling were less likely to die within 1 year, but the effect was lost between 1 and 2 years [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.99 (0.91-1.10)]. The greatest reduction in relative hazard (19%) was seen within 30 days [HR = 0.81 (95% confidence interval 0.65-0.99)]. CONCLUSION: Immediate and long-term mortality rates were lower among those receiving inpatient smoking cessation counseling.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Delay in time to receipt of thrombolytic medication among Medicare patients with kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: Patients with kidney disease and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) receive standard therapy, including thrombolytic medication, less frequently than patients with normal kidney function. Our goal is to identify potential differences in thrombolytic medication delays and thrombolytic-associated bleeding events by severity of kidney disease. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort analysis of Cooperative Cardiovascular Project data for all Medicare patients with AMI from 4,601 hospitals. Outcome measures included time to administration of thrombolytic medication censored at 6 hours and bleeding events. RESULTS: Of 109,169 patients (mean age, 77.4 years; 50.6% women), 13.9% received thrombolysis therapy. Average time to thrombolytic therapy was longer in patients with worse kidney function. Adjusted hazard ratios for minutes to thrombolytic therapy were 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 0.87) for patients with a serum creatinine level of 1.6 to 2.0 mg/dL (141 to 177 micromol/L) and 0.58 (95% CI, 0.53 to 0.63) for patients with a creatinine level greater than 2.0 mg/dL (>177 micromol/L) or on dialysis therapy compared with those with normal kidney function. Odds ratios for bleeding events in patients administered thrombolytics versus those who were not decreased with worse kidney function: adjusted odds ratios, 2.28 (95% CI, 2.16 to 2.42) in patients with normal kidney function and 1.84 (95% CI, 1.09 to 3.10) in dialysis patients. CONCLUSION: Patients with worse kidney function experienced treatment delays, but were not at greater risk for thrombolysis-associated excess bleeding events. Physician concerns of thrombolytic-associated bleeding may not be sufficient reason to delay the administration of thrombolytic medication.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Differences in preventive health quality by residency year. Is seniority better?

BACKGROUND: It is assumed that the performance of more senior residents is superior to that of interns, but this has not been assessed objectively. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether adherence to national guidelines for outpatient preventive health services differs by year of residency training. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twenty Internal Medicine residents, postgraduate year (PGY)- 1 and PGY -2, attending a University Internal Medicine teaching clinic between June 2000 and May 2003. MEASUREMENTS: We studied 6 preventive health care services offered or received by patients by abstracting data from 1,017 patient records. We examined the differences in performance between PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents. RESULTS: Postgraduate year-2 residents did not statistically outperform PGY-1 residents on any measure. The overall proportion of patients receiving appropriate preventive health services for pneumococcal vaccination, advising tobacco cessation, breast and colon cancer screening, and lipid screening was similar across levels of training. PGY-1s outperformed PGY-2s for tobacco use screening (58%, 51%, P = .03). These results were consistent after accounting for clustering of patients within provider and adjusting for patient age, gender, race and insurance, resident gender, and number of visits during the measurement year. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, patients cared for by PGY-2 residents did not receive more outpatient preventive health services than those cared for by PGY-1 residents. Efforts should be made to ensure quality patient care in the outpatient setting for all levels of training.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Patient smoking cessation advice by health care providers: the role of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and health.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed differences by ethnicity in ever receiving advice from providers to quit smoking. We evaluated whether socioeconomic status and health status were moderators of the association. METHODS: We used 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data, a population-based cross-sectional survey. RESULTS: After adjusting for complex survey design, 69% of the 14089 current smokers reported ever being advised to quit by a provider. Hispanics (50%) and African Americans (61%) reported receiving smoking counseling less frequently compared with Whites (72%, P<.01 for each). Ethnic minority status, lower education, and poorer health status remained significantly associated with lower rates of advice to quit after adjustment for number of cigarettes, time from last provider visit, income, comorbidities, health insurance, gender, and age. Smoking counseling differences between African Americans and Whites were greater among those with lower income and those without health insurance. Compared with Whites, differences for both Hispanics and African Americans were also greater among those with lower education. CONCLUSION: We found lower rates of smoking cessation advice among ethnic minorities. However, we also found complex interactions of ethnicity with socioeconomic factors.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Data quality in the outpatient setting: impact on clinical decision support systems.

Clinical decision support system (CDSS) performance may vary with the quality of the input data. We assessed the impact of medical record completeness and accuracy on a CDSS that provides risk assessment for gastrointestinal bleeding and recommends therapy when prescribing NSAIDs. We examined the documentation of six data elements in the medical record and the impact on the performance of the CDSS. We reviewed 178 transcribed clinical encounters from standardized patients with predefined clinical histories. Results showed that the mean completeness score across all encounters was .34. The mean correctness score for those elements present was .94. When the available data was input into the CDSS, the missing data elements resulted in inappropriate and unsafe recommendations in almost 77% of the encounters. The results show that important gaps in the medical record can affect the accuracy of a CDSS designed to improve safe prescribing.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Bridging the digital divide: reaching vulnerable populations.

The AMIA 2003 Spring Congress entitled "Bridging the Digital Divide: Informatics and Vulnerable Populations" convened 178 experts including medical informaticians, health care professionals, government leaders, policy makers, researchers, health care industry leaders, consumer advocates, and others specializing in health care provision to underserved populations. The primary objective of this working congress was to develop a framework for a national agenda in information and communication technology to enhance the health and health care of underserved populations. Discussions during four tracks addressed issues and trends in information and communication technologies for underserved populations, strategies learned from successful programs, evaluation methodologies for measuring the impact of informatics, and dissemination of information for replication of successful programs. Each track addressed current status, ideal state, barriers, strategies, and recommendations. Recommendations of the breakout sessions were summarized under the overarching themes of Policy, Funding, Research, and Education and Training. The general recommendations emphasized four key themes: revision in payment and reimbursement policies, integration of health care standards, partnerships as the key to success, and broad dissemination of findings including specific feedback to target populations and other key stakeholders.

Financing, Organized↗

PubMed2004

Visit satisfaction and tailored health behavior communications in primary care.

BACKGROUND: Although studies suggest that computer-tailored health communications can help patients improve health behaviors, their effect on patient satisfaction, when used in healthcare settings, has yet to be examined. METHODS: A stand-alone computer application was developed to provide tailored, printed feedback for patients and physicians about two of the most common adverse health behaviors seen in primary care: smoking and physical inactivity. Ten primary care providers and 150 of their patients were recruited to use the program in the office before their visit. After the visit, patients completed a self-report survey that addressed demographics, computer use history, satisfaction with the visit, and the extent to which the physician addressed the reports during the visit. All data presented were collected between October 2001 and February 2002. RESULTS: Most patients were female (67.6%), approximately half (46.0%) were seen for a routine exam, most (63.3%) had at least one chronic illness, and fewer than one third (31.3%) had ever used the Internet or e-mail. Most (81.1%) patients reported that the program was easy to use, but fewer than half of the doctors looked at the report in front of the patient (49.2%) or discussed the report with the patient (44.3%). Multivariate modeling showed that visit satisfaction was significantly greater among those whose doctor examined the report. This effect of the doctor examining the report on satisfaction was even greater for those who reported a chronic illness. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians who incorporate computer tailored messaging programs into the primary care setting, but who do not address the feedback reports that they create may contribute to patients being less satisfied with their care.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

A primary care musculoskeletal clinic for residents: success and sustainability.

Musculoskeletal complaints are common, but are often underemphasized in residency training. We evaluated the experience of residents (12) in 4 sessions of an innovative concentrated ambulatory, community-based musculoskeletal (MS) clinic precepted by general internists with additional training in teaching MS medicine. Compared with the year long longitudinal house staff (HS) clinic experience, the mean number of musculoskeletal diagnoses per resident seen in MS clinic was higher (13.9 [standard deviation 4.0] vs 5.4 [standard deviation 4.0]; P <.01). Common diagnoses in MS clinic included shoulder, hip, and knee tendonitis/bursitis, and the majority of diagnoses in HS clinic were nonspecific arthralgia (66%). Fifty-two injections were performed in MS clinic over the year, compared with one in HS clinic.

Ambulatory Care↗