Family Medicine Update

Family-centered rounds on pediatric wards: a PRIS network survey of US and Canadian hospitalists.

Pediatrics. 2010 Jul;126(1):37-43

Authors: Mittal VS, Sigrest T, Ottolini MC, Rauch D, Lin H, Kit B, Landrigan CP, Flores G

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to examine pediatric hospitalist rounding practices and characteristics associated with programs conducting family-centered rounds (FCRs). METHODS: The Pediatric Hospitalist Triennial Survey, sent to a subset of pediatric hospitalists on the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings listserv from the United States and Canada, consisted of 63 questions on sociodemographic characteristics, training, practice characteristics, and rounding practices. RESULTS: Among 265 respondents (response rate: 70%), 78% practiced in academic hospitals and 22% in nonacademic hospitals. The prevalences of specific rounding categories were as follows: FCRs, 44%; sit-down, 24%; hallway, 21%; others, 11%. FCRs occurred significantly more often in academic (48%) than nonacademic (31%) hospitals (P = .04). FCRs can include pediatric residents, bedside nurses, charge nurses, case managers, pharmacists, and social workers. Academic settings and higher average daily patient censuses, but not FCRs, were significantly associated with prolonged rounding duration. The most commonly perceived FCR benefits included increased family involvement and understanding, trainee role modeling, and effective team communication. Physical constraints, trainees’ apprehensions, and time were the main perceived FCR barriers. Greater perceived benefit/barrier ratios, FCR benefits, and family involvement in care were associated with a greater likelihood of conducting FCRs, whereas a greater number of perceived FCR barriers was associated with not conducting FCRs. CONCLUSIONS: FCRs were the most-common rounding category among respondents. FCRs were not associated with a self-reported increase in rounding duration. Successful FCR implementation may require educating staff members and trainees about FCR benefits and addressing FCR barriers.

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Trends in gastroesophageal reflux disease as measured by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Dig Dis Sci. 2010 Jul;55(7):1911-7

Authors: Friedenberg FK, Hanlon A, Vanar V, Nehemia D, Mekapati J, Nelson DB, Richter JE

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of reflux disease is increasing. Health-care utilization including physician visits for this disorder is lacking. Our purpose was to analyze the trend in physician visits for GERD from the period 1995-2006 using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. We also sought to determine health-care utilization for GERD indirectly by assessing prescription trends for proton-pump inhibitors and H2 receptor blockers during the period. METHODS: The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey is a survey of approximately 3,000 office-based physicians that uses a three-stage probability sampling procedure to allow extrapolation to the US population. All visits between 1995 and 2006 for symptoms and/or diagnoses compatible with GERD were combined into a single categorical variable. Weighted data was utilized for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. RESULTS: After weighting, there were N = 321,513 adult ambulatory care encounters for all diagnoses. Visits for reflux increased throughout the examined period. Using logistic regression, visits for reflux were associated with female gender, age over 40, and calcium channel blocker use. Proton-pump inhibitor use increased substantially during the study period while H2 blocker use declined. Family practitioners and internists saw the majority of reflux patients. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of ambulatory visits in the United States for gastroesophageal reflux disease increased significantly between 1995 and 2006. The use of PPI therapy is increasing even more substantially. Older age, female gender, and use of calcium channel blockers were associated with a higher frequency of GERD visits. Health-care utilization for this disorder is increasing perhaps due to our ever-increasing epidemic of obesity.

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The social mission of medical education: ranking the schools.

Ann Intern Med. 2010 Jun 15;152(12):804-11

Authors: Mullan F, Chen C, Petterson S, Kolsky G, Spagnola M

BACKGROUND: The basic purpose of medical schools is to educate physicians to care for the national population. Fulfilling this goal requires an adequate number of primary care physicians, adequate distribution of physicians to underserved areas, and a sufficient number of minority physicians in the workforce. OBJECTIVE: To develop a metric called the social mission score to evaluate medical school output in these 3 dimensions. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Masterfile and of data on race and ethnicity in medical schools from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of American Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. SETTING: U.S. medical schools. PARTICIPANTS: 60 043 physicians in active practice who graduated from medical school between 1999 and 2001. MEASUREMENTS: The percentage of graduates who practice primary care, work in health professional shortage areas, and are underrepresented minorities, combined into a composite social mission score. RESULTS: The contribution of medical schools to the social mission of medical education varied substantially. Three historically black colleges had the highest social mission rankings. Public and community-based medical schools had higher social mission scores than private and non-community-based schools. National Institutes of Health funding was inversely associated with social mission scores. Medical schools in the northeastern United States and in more urban areas were less likely to produce primary care physicians and physicians who practice in underserved areas. LIMITATIONS: The AMA Physician Masterfile has limitations, including specialty self-designation by physicians, inconsistencies in reporting work addresses, and delays in information updates. The public good provided by medical schools may include contributions not reflected in the social mission score. The study was not designed to evaluate quality of care provided by medical school graduates. CONCLUSION: Medical schools vary substantially in their contribution to the social mission of medical education. School rankings based on the social mission score differ from those that use research funding and subjective assessments of school reputation. These findings suggest that initiatives at the medical school level could increase the proportion of physicians who practice primary care, work in underserved areas, and are underrepresented minorities.

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