WorldWideScience

Sample records for care physicians involved

  1. Primary care physicians' willingness to disclose oncology errors involving multiple providers to patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazor, Kathleen; Roblin, Douglas W; Greene, Sarah M; Fouayzi, Hassan; Gallagher, Thomas H

    2016-10-01

    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. 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. 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. The study was conducted in the context of the HMO Cancer Research Network Cancer Communication Research Center. Primary care physicians from three integrated healthcare delivery systems located in Washington, Massachusetts and Georgia; responses from 297 participants were included in these analyses. The dependent variable intent to disclose included intent to provide an apology, an explanation, information about the cause and plans for preventing recurrences. Independent variables included event-level factors (responsibility for the event, perceived seriousness of the event, predictions about a lawsuit); physician-level factors (value of patient-centred communication, communication self-efficacy and feelings about practice); organisation-level factors included perceived support for communication and time constraints. A majority of respondents would not fully disclose in either situation. The strongest predictors of disclosure were perceived personal responsibility, perceived seriousness of the event and perceived value of patient-centred communication. These variables were consistently associated with intent to disclose. To make meaningful progress towards improving disclosure; physicians, risk managers, organisational leaders, professional organisations and

  2. When and Why Do Neonatal and Pediatric Critical Care Physicians Consult Palliative Care?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Claire A; Starks, Helene; O'Connor, M Rebecca; Bourget, Erica; Lindhorst, Taryn; Hays, Ross; Doorenbos, Ardith Z

    2018-06-01

    Parents of children admitted to neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) are at increased risk of experiencing acute and post-traumatic stress disorder. The integration of palliative care may improve child and family outcomes, yet there remains a lack of information about indicators for specialty-level palliative care involvement in this setting. To describe neonatal and pediatric critical care physician perspectives on indicators for when and why to involve palliative care consultants. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 attending physicians from neonatal, pediatric, and cardiothoracic ICUs in a single quaternary care pediatric hospital. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using content and thematic analyses. We identified 2 themes related to the indicators for involving palliative care consultants: (1) palliative care expertise including support and bridging communication and (2) organizational factors influencing communication including competing priorities and fragmentation of care. Palliative care was most beneficial for families at risk of experiencing communication problems that resulted from organizational factors, including those with long lengths of stay and medical complexity. The ability of palliative care consultants to bridge communication was limited by some of these same organizational factors. Physicians valued the involvement of palliative care consultants when they improved efficiency and promoted harmony. Given the increasing number of children with complex chronic conditions, it is important to support the capacity of ICU clinical teams to provide primary palliative care. We suggest comprehensive system changes and critical care physician training to include topics related to chronic illness and disability.

  3. Invasive candidosis: contrasting the perceptions of infectious disease physicians and intensive care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanessa Schultz

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction We analyze how infectious disease physicians perceive and manage invasive candidosis in Brazil, in comparison to intensive care unit specialists. Methods A 38-question survey was administered to 56 participants. Questions involved clinicians' perceptions of the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of invasive candidosis. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The perception that candidemia not caused by Candida albicans occurs in less than 10% of patients is more commonly held by intensive care unit specialists (p=0.018. Infectious disease physicians almost always use antifungal drugs in the treatment of patients with candidemia, and antifungal drugs are not as frequently prescribed by intensive care unit specialists (p=0.006. Infectious disease physicians often do not use voriconazole when a patient's antifungal treatment has failed with fluconazole, which also differs from the behavior of intensive care unit specialists (p=0.019. Many intensive care unit specialists use fluconazole to treat candidemia in neutropenic patients previously exposed to fluconazole, in contrast to infectious disease physicians (p=0.024. Infectious disease physicians prefer echinocandins as a first choice in the treatment of unstable neutropenic patients more frequently than intensive care unit specialists (p=0.013. When candidemia is diagnosed, most infectious disease physicians perform fundoscopy (p=0.015, whereas intensive care unit specialists usually perform echocardiograms on all patients (p=0.054. Conclusions This study reveals a need to better educate physicians in Brazil regarding invasive candidosis. The appropriate management of this disease depends on more drug options being available in our country in addition to global coverage in private and public hospitals, thereby improving health care.

  4. Primary Care Physician Involvement in Shared Decision Making for Critically Ill Patients and Family Satisfaction with Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Kevin B; Weber, Urs; Johnson, Jennifer; Anderson, Nathanial; Knies, Andrea K; Nhundu, Belinda; Bautista, Cynthia; Poskus, Kelly; Sheth, Kevin N; Hwang, David Y

    2018-01-01

    An intensive care unit (ICU) patient's primary care physician (PCP) may be able to assist family with certain ICU shared medical decisions. We explored whether families of patients in nonopen ICUs who nevertheless report involvement of a patient's PCP in medical decision making are more satisfied with ICU shared decision making than families who do not. Between March 2013 and December 2015, we administered the Family Satisfaction in the ICU 24 survey to family members of adult neuroscience ICU patients. We compared the mean score for the survey subsection regarding shared decision making (graded on a 100-point scale), as well as individual survey items, between those who reported the patient's PCP involvement in any medical decision making versus those who did not. Among 263 respondents, there was no difference in mean overall decision-making satisfaction scores for those who reported involvement (81.1; SD = 15.2) versus those who did not (80.1; SD = 12.8; P = .16). However, a higher proportion reporting involvement felt completely satisfied with their 1) inclusion in the ICU decision making process (75.9% vs 61.4%; P = .055), and 2) control over the care of the patient (73.6% vs 55.6%; P = .02), with no difference regarding consistency of clinical information provided by the medical team (64.8% vs 63.5%; P = 1.00). Families who report involvement of a patient's PCP in medical decision making for critically ill patients may be more satisfied than those who do not with regard to specific aspects of ICU decision making. Further research would help understand how best to engage PCPs in shared decisions. © Copyright 2018 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  5. Life-sustaining treatment decisions in Portuguese intensive care units: a national survey of intensive care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardoso, Teresa; Fonseca, Teresa; Pereira, Sofia; Lencastre, Luís

    2003-12-01

    The objective of the present study was to evaluate the opinion of Portuguese intensive care physicians regarding 'do-not-resuscitate' (DNR) orders and decisions to withhold/withdraw treatment. A questionnaire was sent to all physicians working on a full-time basis in all intensive care units (ICUs) registered with the Portuguese Intensive Care Society. A total of 266 questionnaires were sent and 175 (66%) were returned. Physicians from 79% of the ICUs participated. All participants stated that DNR orders are applied in their units, and 98.3% stated that decisions to withhold treatment and 95.4% stated that decisions to withdraw treatment are also applied. About three quarters indicated that only the medical group makes these decisions. Fewer than 15% of the responders stated that they involve nurses, 9% involve patients and fewer than 11% involve patients' relatives in end-of-life decisions. Physicians with more than 10 years of clinical experience more frequently indicated that they involve nurses in these decisions (P atheist doctors more frequently involve patients' relatives in decisions to withhold/withdraw treatment (P religious beliefs of the respondents influences the way in which these decisions are made.

  6. Communication-related allegations against physicians caring for premature infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, J; Muniraman, H; Cascione, M; Ramanathan, R

    2017-10-01

    Maternal-fetal medicine physicians (MFMp) and neonatal-perinatal medicine physicians (NPMp) caring for premature infants and their families are exposed to significant risk for malpractice actions. Effective communication practices have been implicated to decrease litigious intentions but the extent of miscommunication as a cause of legal action is essentially unknown in this population. Analysis of communication-related allegations (CRAs) may help toward improving patient care and physician-patient relationships as well as decrease litigation risks. We retrospectively reviewed the Westlaw database, a primary online legal research resource used by United States lawyers and legal professionals, for malpractice cases against physicians involving premature infants. Inclusion criteria were: 22 to 36 weeks gestational age, cases related to peripartum events through infant discharge and follow-up, and legal records with detailed factual narratives. The search yielded 736 legal records, of which 167 met full inclusion criteria. A CRA was identified in 29% (49/167) of included cases. MFMp and/or NPMp were named in 104 and 54 cases, respectively. CRAs were identified in 26% (27/104) and 35% (19/54) of MFMp- and NPMp-named cases, respectively, with a majority involving physician-family for both specialties (81% and 74%, respectively). Physician-family CRAs for MFMp and NPMp most often regarded lack of informed consent (50% and 57%, respectively), lack of full disclosure (41% and 29%, respectively) and lack of anticipatory guidance (36% and 21%, respectively). This study of a major legal database identifies CRAs as significant causes of legal action against MFMp and NPMp involved in the care of high-risk women and infants delivered preterm. Physicians should be especially vigilant with obtaining genuine informed consent and maintaining open communication with families.

  7. Monitoring quality in Israeli primary care: The primary care physicians' perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nissanholtz-Gannot Rachel

    2012-06-01

    program was widespread even among physicians who are young, board-certified in family medicine, and salaried. Many physicians also reported that various problems had emerged to a great or very great extent: a heavier workload (65%, over-competitiveness (60%, excessive managerial pressure (48%, and distraction from other clinical issues (35%. In addition, there was some criticism of the quality of the measures themselves. Respondents also identified approaches to addressing these problems. Conclusions The findings provide perspective on the anecdotal reports of physician opposition to the monitoring program; they may well accurately reflect the views of the small number of physicians directly involved, but they do not reflect the views of primary care physicians as a whole, who are generally quite supportive of the program. At the same time, the study confirms the existence of several perceived problems. Some of these problems, such as excess managerial pressure, can probably best be addressed by the health plans themselves; while others, such as the need to refine the quality indicators, are probably best addressed at the national level. Cooperation between primary care physicians and health plan managers, which has been an essential component of the program's success thus far, can also play an important role in addressing the problems identified.

  8. Physician's self-perceived abilities at primary care settings in Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Istiono, Wahyudi; Claramita, Mora; Ekawati, Fitriana Murriya; Gayatri, Aghnaa; Sutomo, Adi Heru; Kusnanto, Hari; Graber, Mark Alan

    2015-01-01

    Southeast Asian countries with better-skilled primary care physicians have been shown to have better health outcomes. However, in Indonesia, there has been a large number of inappropriate referrals, leading to suboptimal health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the reasons underlying the unnecessary referrals as related to Indonesian physicians' standard of abilities. This was a multiple-case study that explored physicians' self-evaluation of their abilities. Self-evaluation questionnaires were constructed from the Indonesian Standards of Physicians Competences of 2006-2012 (ISPC), which is a list of 155 diseases. This study was undertaken in three cities, three towns, and one "border-less developed" area during 2011-2014. The study involved 184 physicians in those seven districts. Data were collected using one-on-one, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and clinical observations. This study found that primary care physicians in Indonesia felt that they were competent to handle less than one-third of "typical" primary care cases. The reasons were limited understanding of person-centered care principles and limited patient care services to diagnosis and treatment of common biomedical problems. Additionally, physical facilities in primary care settings are lacking. Strengthening primary health care in Indonesia requires upscaling doctors' abilities in managing health problems through more structured graduate education in family medicine, which emphasizes the bio-psycho-socio-cultural background of persons; secondly, standardizing primary care facilities to support physicians' performance is critical. Finally, a strong national health policy that recognizes the essential role of primary care physicians in health outcomes is an urgent need.

  9. Examining the Role of Primary Care Physicians and Challenges Faced When Their Patients Transition to Home Hospice Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shalev, Ariel; Phongtankuel, Veerawat; Lampa, Katherine; Reid, M C; Eiss, Brian M; Bhatia, Sonica; Adelman, Ronald D

    2018-04-01

    The transition into home hospice care is often a critical time in a patient's medical care. Studies have shown patients and caregivers desire continuity with their physicians at the end of life (EoL). However, it is unclear what roles primary care physicians (PCPs) play and what challenges they face caring for patients transitioning into home hospice care. To understand PCPs' experiences, challenges, and preferences when their patients transition to home hospice care. Nineteen semi-structured phone interviews with PCPs were conducted. Study data were analyzed using standard qualitative methods. Participants included PCPs from 3 academic group practices in New York City. Measured: Physician recordings were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Most PCPs noted that there was a discrepancy between their actual role and ideal role when their patients transitioned to home hospice care. Primary care physicians expressed a desire to maintain continuity, provide psychosocial support, and collaborate actively with the hospice team. Better establishment of roles, more frequent communication with the hospice team, and use of technology to communicate with patients were mentioned as possible ways to help PCPs achieve their ideal role caring for their patients receiving home hospice care. Primary care physicians expressed varying degrees of involvement during a patient's transition to home hospice care, but many desired to be more involved in their patient's care. As with patients, physicians desire to maintain continuity with their patients at the EoL and solutions to improve communication between PCPs, hospice providers, and patients need to be explored.

  10. Physician practice participation in accountable care organizations: the emergence of the unicorn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortell, Stephen M; McClellan, Sean R; Ramsay, Patricia P; Casalino, Lawrence P; Ryan, Andrew M; Copeland, Kennon R

    2014-10-01

    To provide the first nationally based information on physician practice involvement in ACOs. Primary data from the third National Survey of Physician Organizations (January 2012-May 2013). We conducted a 40-minute phone survey in a sample of physician practices. A nationally representative sample of practices was surveyed in order to provide estimates of organizational characteristics, care management processes, ACO participation, and related variables for four major chronic illnesses. We evaluated the associations between ACO participation, organizational characteristics, and a 25-point index of patient-centered medical home processes. We found that 23.7 percent of physician practices (n = 280) reported joining an ACO; 15.7 percent (n = 186) were planning to become involved within the next 12 months and 60.6 percent (n = 717) reported no involvement and no plans to become involved. Larger practices, those receiving patients from an IPA and/or PHO, those that were physician-owned versus hospital/health system-owned, those located in New England, and those with greater patient-centered medical home (PCMH) care management processes were more likely to have joined an ACO. Physician practices that are currently participating in ACOs appear to be relatively large, or to be members of an IPA or PHO, are less likely to be hospital-owned and are more likely to use more care management processes than nonparticipating practices. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  11. Attitudes of palliative home care physicians towards palliative sedation at home in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercadante, Sebastiano; Masedu, Francesco; Mercadante, Alessandro; Marinangeli, Franco; Aielli, Federica

    2017-05-01

    Information about the attitudes towards palliative sedation (PS) at home is limited. The aim of this survey was to assess the attitudes of palliative care physicians in Italy regarding PS at home. A questionnaire was submitted to a sample of palliative care physicians, asking information about their activity and attitudes towards PS at home. This is a survey of home care physicians in Italy who were involved in end-of-life care decisions at home. One hundred and fifty participants responded. A large heterogeneity of home care organizations that generate some problems was found. Indications, intention and monitoring of PS seem to be appropriate, although some cultural and logistic conditions were limiting the use of PS. Specialized home care physicians are almost involved to start PS at home. Midazolam was seldom available at home and opioids were more frequently used. These data should prompt health care agencies to make a minimal set of drugs easily available for home care. Further research is necessary to compare attitudes in countries with different sociocultural profiles.

  12. Core Competencies in Integrative Pain Care for Entry-Level Primary Care Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tick, Heather; Chauvin, Sheila W; Brown, Michael; Haramati, Aviad

    2015-11-01

    The objective was to develop a set of core competencies for graduating primary care physicians in integrative pain care (IPC), using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) domains. These competencies build on previous work in competencies for integrative medicine, interprofessional education, and pain medicine and are proposed for inclusion in residency training. A task force was formed to include representation from various professionals who are involved in education, research, and the practice of IPC and who represent broad areas of expertise. The task force convened during a 1.5-day face-to-face meeting, followed by a series of surveys and other vetting processes involving diverse interprofessional groups, which led to the consensus of a final set of competencies. The proposed competencies focus on interprofessional knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) and are in line with recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, military medicine, and professional pain societies advocating the need for coordination and integration of services for effective pain care with reduced risk and cost and improved outcomes. These ACGME domain compatible competencies for physicians reflect the contributions of several disciplines that will need to be included in evolving interprofessional settings and underscore the need for collaborative care. These core competencies can guide the incorporation of KSAs within curricula. The learning experiences should enable medical educators and graduating primary care physicians to focus more on integrative approaches, interprofessional team-based, patient-centered care that use evidence-based, traditional and complementary disciplines and therapeutics to provide safe and effective treatments for people in pain. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Physician Practice Participation in Accountable Care Organizations: The Emergence of the Unicorn

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortell, Stephen M; McClellan, Sean R; Ramsay, Patricia P; Casalino, Lawrence P; Ryan, Andrew M; Copeland, Kennon R

    2014-01-01

    Objective To provide the first nationally based information on physician practice involvement in ACOs. Data Sources/Study Setting Primary data from the third National Survey of Physician Organizations (January 2012–May 2013). Study Design We conducted a 40-minute phone survey in a sample of physician practices. A nationally representative sample of practices was surveyed in order to provide estimates of organizational characteristics, care management processes, ACO participation, and related variables for four major chronic illnesses. Data Collection/Extraction Methods We evaluated the associations between ACO participation, organizational characteristics, and a 25-point index of patient-centered medical home processes. Principal Findings We found that 23.7 percent of physician practices (n = 280) reported joining an ACO; 15.7 percent (n = 186) were planning to become involved within the next 12 months and 60.6 percent (n = 717) reported no involvement and no plans to become involved. Larger practices, those receiving patients from an IPA and/or PHO, those that were physician-owned versus hospital/health system-owned, those located in New England, and those with greater patient-centered medical home (PCMH) care management processes were more likely to have joined an ACO. Conclusions Physician practices that are currently participating in ACOs appear to be relatively large, or to be members of an IPA or PHO, are less likely to be hospital-owned and are more likely to use more care management processes than nonparticipating practices. PMID:24628449

  14. Physician fees and managed care plans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zwanziger, Jack

    2002-01-01

    One of the objectives of managed care organizations (MCOs) has been to reduce the rate of growth of health care expenditures, including that of physician fees. Yet, due to a lack of data, no one has been able to determine whether MCOs have been successful in encouraging the growth of price competition in the market for physician services in order to slow the growth in physician fees. This study uses a unique, national-level data set to determine what factors influenced the physician fees that MCOs negotiated during the 1990-92 period. The most influential characteristics were physician supply and managed care penetration, which suggest that the introduction of competition into the health care market was an effective force in reducing physician fees.

  15. Responses to assisted suicide requests: an interview study with Swiss palliative care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamondi, Claudia; Borasio, Gian Domenico; Oliver, Pam; Preston, Nancy; Payne, Sheila

    2017-08-11

    Assisted suicide in Switzerland is mainly performed by right-to-die societies. Medical involvement is limited to the prescription of the drug and certification of eligibility. Palliative care has traditionally been perceived as generally opposed to assisted suicide, but little is known about palliative care physicians' involvement in assisted suicide practices. This paper aims to describe their perspectives and involvement in assisted suicide practices. A qualitative interview study was conducted with 23 palliative care physicians across Switzerland. Thematic analysis was used to interpret data. Swiss palliative care physicians regularly receive assisted suicide requests while none reported having received specific training in managing these requests. Participants reported being involved in assisted suicide decision making most were not willing to prescribe the lethal drug. After advising patients of the limits on their involvement in assisted suicide, the majority explored the origins of the patient's request and offered alternatives. Many participants struggled to reconcile their understanding of palliative care principles with patients' wishes to exercise their autonomy. The majority of participants had no direct contact with right-to-die societies, many desired better collaboration. A desire was voiced for a more structured debate on assisted suicide availability in hospitals and clearer legal and institutional frameworks. The Swiss model of assisted suicide gives palliative care physicians opportunities to develop roles which are compatible with each practitioner's values, but may not correspond to patients' expectations. Specific education for all palliative care professionals and more structured ways to manage communication about assisted suicide are warranted. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  16. Physician Communication in Pediatric End-of-Life Care: A Simulation Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bateman, Lori Brand; Tofil, Nancy M; White, Marjorie Lee; Dure, Leon S; Clair, Jeffrey Michael; Needham, Belinda L

    2016-12-01

    The objective of this exploratory study is to describe communication between physicians and the actor parent of a standardized 8-year-old patient in respiratory distress who was nearing the end of life. Thirteen pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric critical care fellows and attendings participated in a high-fidelity simulation to assess physician communication with an actor-parent. Fifteen percent of the participants decided not to initiate life-sustaining technology (intubation), and 23% of participants offered alternatives to life-sustaining care, such as comfort measures. Although 92% of the participants initiated an end-of-life conversation, the quality of that discussion varied widely. Findings indicate that effective physician-parent communication may not consistently occur in cases involving the treatment of pediatric patients at the end of life in emergency and critical care units. The findings in this study, particularly that physician-parent end-of-life communication is often unclear and that alternatives to life-sustaining technology are often not offered, suggest that physicians need more training in both communication and end-of-life care. © The Author(s) 2015.

  17. Physician-patient communication in managed care.

    OpenAIRE

    Gordon, G H; Baker, L; Levinson, W

    1995-01-01

    The quality of physician-patient communication affects important health care outcomes. Managed care presents a number of challenges to physician-patient communication, including shorter visits, decreased continuity, and lower levels of trust. Good communication skills can help physicians create and maintain healthy relationships with patients in the face of these challenges. We describe 5 communication dilemmas that are common in managed care and review possible solutions suggested by recent ...

  18. Physician Networks and Ambulatory Care-sensitive Admissions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casalino, Lawrence P; Pesko, Michael F; Ryan, Andrew M; Nyweide, David J; Iwashyna, Theodore J; Sun, Xuming; Mendelsohn, Jayme; Moody, James

    2015-06-01

    Research on the quality and cost of care traditionally focuses on individual physicians or medical groups. Social network theory suggests that the care a patient receives also depends on the network of physicians with whom a patient's physician is connected. The objectives of the study are: (1) identify physician networks; (2) determine whether the rate of ambulatory care-sensitive hospital admissions (ACSAs) varies across networks--even different networks at the same hospital; and (3) determine the relationship between ACSA rates and network characteristics. We identified networks by applying network detection algorithms to Medicare 2008 claims for 987,000 beneficiaries in 5 states. We estimated a fixed-effects model to determine the relationship between networks and ACSAs and a multivariable model to determine the relationship between network characteristics and ACSAs. We identified 417 networks. Mean size: 129 physicians; range, 26-963. In the fixed-effects model, ACSA rates varied significantly across networks: there was a 46% difference in rates between networks at the 25th and 75th performance percentiles. At 95% of hospitals with admissions from 2 networks, the networks had significantly different ACSA rates; the mean difference was 36% of the mean ACSA rate. Networks with a higher percentage of primary-care physicians and networks in which patients received care from a larger number of physicians had higher ACSA rates. Physician networks have a relationship with ACSAs that is independent of the physicians in the network. Physician networks could be an important focus for understanding variations in medical care and for intervening to improve care.

  19. Physician self-care

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    impact on patient care, increasing the number of medical errors, lowering both patient and physician satisfaction and lengthening the recovery phase.[1-3]. Joan Halifax[4] has taught at programmes in palliative care for health professional caregivers for many years. She identified frequent challenges facing healthcare ...

  20. Views of US physicians about controlling health care costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilburt, Jon C; Wynia, Matthew K; Sheeler, Robert D; Thorsteinsdottir, Bjorg; James, Katherine M; Egginton, Jason S; Liebow, Mark; Hurst, Samia; Danis, Marion; Goold, Susan Dorr

    2013-07-24

    Physicians' views about health care costs are germane to pending policy reforms. To assess physicians' attitudes toward and perceived role in addressing health care costs. A cross-sectional survey mailed in 2012 to 3897 US physicians randomly selected from the AMA Masterfile. Enthusiasm for 17 cost-containment strategies and agreement with an 11-measure cost-consciousness scale. A total of 2556 physicians responded (response rate = 65%). Most believed that trial lawyers (60%), health insurance companies (59%), hospitals and health systems (56%), pharmaceutical and device manufacturers (56%), and patients (52%) have a "major responsibility" for reducing health care costs, whereas only 36% reported that practicing physicians have "major responsibility." Most were "very enthusiastic" for "promoting continuity of care" (75%), "expanding access to quality and safety data" (51%), and "limiting access to expensive treatments with little net benefit" (51%) as a means of reducing health care costs. Few expressed enthusiasm for "eliminating fee-for-service payment models" (7%). Most physicians reported being "aware of the costs of the tests/treatments [they] recommend" (76%), agreed they should adhere to clinical guidelines that discourage the use of marginally beneficial care (79%), and agreed that they "should be solely devoted to individual patients' best interests, even if that is expensive" (78%) and that "doctors need to take a more prominent role in limiting use of unnecessary tests" (89%). Most (85%) disagreed that they "should sometimes deny beneficial but costly services to certain patients because resources should go to other patients that need them more." In multivariable logistic regression models testing associations with enthusiasm for key cost-containment strategies, having a salary plus bonus or salary-only compensation type was independently associated with enthusiasm for "eliminating fee for service" (salary plus bonus: odds ratio [OR], 3.3, 99% CI, 1

  1. Physicians Care for Connecticut, Inc. Business philosophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czarsty, C W; Coffey, J R

    1997-03-01

    Physicians Care will distinguish itself from competitors in the marketplace through the introduction of products with significant value. Physicians Care is dedicated to working closely with providers to identify the contributions made by each party to the building of product value and to appropriately reward providers for those efforts. The ultimate goal is the development of an insurance company in which physicians are truly invested and committed to best clinical practices and who exercise enhanced autonomy in managing their patient's care with clinical and administrative support from Physicians Care.

  2. An Evolving Identity: How Chronic Care Is Transforming What it Means to Be a Physician.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogetz, Alyssa L; Bogetz, Jori F

    2015-12-01

    Physician identity and the professional role physicians play in health care is rapidly evolving. Over 130 million adults and children in the USA have complex and chronic diseases, each of which is shaped by aspects of the patient's social, psychological, and economic status. These patients have lifelong health care needs that require the ongoing care of multiple health care providers, access to community services, and the involvement of patients' family support networks. To date, physician professional identity formation has centered on autonomy, authority, and the ability to "heal." These notions of identity may be counterproductive in chronic disease care, which demands interdependency between physicians, their patients, and teams of multidisciplinary health care providers. Medical educators can prepare trainees for practice in the current health care environment by providing training that legitimizes and reinforces a professional identity that emphasizes this interdependency. This commentary outlines the important challenges related to this change and suggests potential strategies to reframe professional identity to better match the evolving role of physicians today.

  3. Regional variations in health care intensity and physician perceptions of quality of care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirovich, Brenda E; Gottlieb, Daniel J; Welch, H Gilbert; Fisher, Elliott S

    2006-05-02

    Research has documented dramatic differences in health care utilization and spending across U.S. regions with similar levels of patient illness. Although patient outcomes and quality of care have been found to be no better in regions of high health care intensity, it is unknown whether physicians in these regions feel more capable of providing good patient care than those in low-intensity regions. To determine whether physicians in high-intensity regions feel better able to care for patients than physicians in low-intensity regions. Physician telephone survey. 51 metropolitan and 9 nonmetropolitan areas of the United States and a supplemental national sample. 10,577 physicians who provided care to adults in 1998 or 1999 were surveyed for the Community Tracking Study (response rate, 61%). The End-of-Life Expenditure Index, a measure of spending that reflects differences in the overall quantity of medical services provided rather than differences in illness or price, was used to determine health care intensity in the physicians' community. Outcomes included physicians' perceived availability of clinical services, ability to provide high-quality care to patients, and career satisfaction. Although the highest-intensity regions have substantially more hospital beds and specialists per capita, physicians in these regions reported more difficulty obtaining needed services for their patients. The proportion of physicians who felt able to obtain elective hospital admissions ranged from 50% in high-intensity regions to 64% in the lowest-intensity region (P market factors (for example, managed care penetration); the difference in perceived ability to provide high-quality care was no longer statistically significant (P = 0.099). The cross-sectional design prevented demonstration of a causal relationship between intensity and physician perceptions of quality. Despite more resources, physicians in regions of high health care intensity did not report greater ease in obtaining

  4. Young adult cancer survivors' follow-up care expectations of oncologists and primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugh-Yeun, Kiara; Kumar, Divjot; Moghaddamjou, Ali; Ruan, Jenny Y; Cheung, Winson Y

    2017-06-01

    Young adult cancer survivors face unique challenges associated with their illness. While both oncologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) may be involved in the follow-up care of these cancer survivors, we hypothesized that there is a lack of clarity regarding each physician's roles and responsibilities. A self-administered survey was mailed to young adult cancer survivors in British Columbia, Canada, who were aged 20 to 39 years at the time of diagnosis and alive at 2 to 5 years following the diagnosis to capture their expectations of oncologists and PCPs in various important domains of cancer survivorship care. Multivariate logistic regression models that adjusted for confounders were constructed to examine for predictors of the different expectations. Of 722 young cancer survivors surveyed, 426 (59%) responded. Among them, the majority were White women with breast cancer. Oncologists were expected to follow the patient's most recent cancer and treatment-related side effects while PCPs were expected to manage ongoing and future cancer surveillance as well as general preventative care. Neither physician was perceived to be responsible for addressing the return to daily activities, reintegration to interpersonal relationships, or sexual function. Older survivors were significantly less likely to expect oncologists (p = 0.03) and PCPs (p = 0.01) to discuss family planning when compared to their younger counterparts. Those who were White were significantly more likely to expect PCPs to discuss comorbidities (p = 0.009) and preventative care (p = 0.001). Young adult cancer survivors have different expectations of oncologists and PCPs with respect to their follow-up care. Physicians need to better clarify their roles in order to further improve the survivorship phase of cancer care for young adults. Young adult cancer survivors have different expectations of their oncologists and PCPs. Clarification of the roles of each physician group during follow-up can

  5. The primary care physician and Alzheimer's disease: an international position paper.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Villars, H.; Oustric, S.; Andrieu, S.; Baeyens, J.P.; Bernabei, R.; Brodaty, H.; Brummel-Smith, K.; Celafu, C.; Chappell, N.; Fitten, J.; Frisoni, G.; Froelich, L.; Guerin, O.; Gold, G.; Holmerova, I.; Iliffe, S.; Lukas, A.; Melis, R.J.F.; Morley, J.E.; Nies, H.; Nourhashemi, F.; Petermans, J.; Ribera Casado, J.; Rubenstein, L.; Salva, A.; Sieber, C.; Sinclair, A.; Schindler, R.; Stephan, E.; Wong, R.Y.; Vellas, B.

    2010-01-01

    This paper aims to define the role of the primary care physician (PCP) in the management of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to propose a model for a work plan. The proposals in this position paper stem from a collaborative work of experts involved in the care of AD patients. It combines evidence from a

  6. Effects of online palliative care training on knowledge, attitude and satisfaction of primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelayo, Marta; Cebrián, Diego; Areosa, Almudena; Agra, Yolanda; Izquierdo, Juan Vicente; Buendía, Félix

    2011-05-23

    The Spanish Palliative Care Strategy recommends an intermediate level of training for primary care physicians in order to provide them with knowledge and skills. Most of the training involves face-to-face courses but increasing pressures on physicians have resulted in fewer opportunities for provision of and attendance to this type of training. The effectiveness of on-line continuing medical education in terms of its impact on clinical practice has been scarcely studied. Its effect in relation to palliative care for primary care physicians is currently unknown, in terms of improvement in patient's quality of life and main caregiver's satisfaction. There is uncertainty too in terms of any potential benefits of asynchronous communication and interaction among on-line education participants, as well as of the effect of the learning process.The authors have developed an on-line educational model for palliative care which has been applied to primary care physicians in order to measure its effectiveness regarding knowledge, attitude towards palliative care, and physician's satisfaction in comparison with a control group.The effectiveness evaluation at 18 months and the impact on the quality of life of patients managed by the physicians, and the main caregiver's satisfaction will be addressed in a different paper. Randomized controlled educational trial to compared, on a first stage, the knowledge and attitude of primary care physicians regarding palliative care for advanced cancer patients, as well as satisfaction in those who followed an on-line palliative care training program with tutorship, using a Moodle Platform vs. traditional education. 169 physicians were included, 85 in the intervention group and 84 in the control group, of which five were excluded. Finally 82 participants per group were analyzed. There were significant differences in favor of the intervention group, in terms of knowledge (mean 4.6; CI 95%: 2.8 to 6.5 (p = 0.0001), scale range 0-33), confidence

  7. Effects of online palliative care training on knowledge, attitude and satisfaction of primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agra Yolanda

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Spanish Palliative Care Strategy recommends an intermediate level of training for primary care physicians in order to provide them with knowledge and skills. Most of the training involves face-to-face courses but increasing pressures on physicians have resulted in fewer opportunities for provision of and attendance to this type of training. The effectiveness of on-line continuing medical education in terms of its impact on clinical practice has been scarcely studied. Its effect in relation to palliative care for primary care physicians is currently unknown, in terms of improvement in patient's quality of life and main caregiver's satisfaction. There is uncertainty too in terms of any potential benefits of asynchronous communication and interaction among on-line education participants, as well as of the effect of the learning process. The authors have developed an on-line educational model for palliative care which has been applied to primary care physicians in order to measure its effectiveness regarding knowledge, attitude towards palliative care, and physician's satisfaction in comparison with a control group. The effectiveness evaluation at 18 months and the impact on the quality of life of patients managed by the physicians, and the main caregiver's satisfaction will be addressed in a different paper. Methods Randomized controlled educational trial to compared, on a first stage, the knowledge and attitude of primary care physicians regarding palliative care for advanced cancer patients, as well as satisfaction in those who followed an on-line palliative care training program with tutorship, using a Moodle Platform vs. traditional education. Results 169 physicians were included, 85 in the intervention group and 84 in the control group, of which five were excluded. Finally 82 participants per group were analyzed. There were significant differences in favor of the intervention group, in terms of knowledge (mean 4.6; CI

  8. Physician leadership: a health-care system's investment in the future of quality care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orlando, Rocco; Haytaian, Marcia

    2012-08-01

    The current state of health care and its reform will require physician leaders to take on greater management responsibilities, which will require a set of organizational and leadership competencies that traditional medical education does not provide. Physician leaders can form a bridge between the clinical and administrative sides of a health-care organization, serving to further the organization's strategy for growth and success. Recognizing that the health-care industry is rapidly changing and physician leaders will play a key role in that transformation, Hartford HealthCare has established a Physician Leadership Development Institute that provides advanced leadership skills and management education to select physicians practicing within the health-care system.

  9. Pharmaceutical industry gifts to physicians: patient beliefs and trust in physicians and the health care system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grande, David; Shea, Judy A; Armstrong, Katrina

    2012-03-01

    Pharmaceutical industry gifts to physicians are common and influence physician behavior. Little is known about patient beliefs about the prevalence of these gifts and how these beliefs may influence trust in physicians and the health care system. To measure patient perceptions about the prevalence of industry gifts and their relationship to trust in doctors and the health care system. Cross sectional random digit dial telephone survey. African-American and White adults in 40 large metropolitan areas. Respondents' beliefs about whether their physician and physicians in general receive industry gifts, physician trust, and health care system distrust. Overall, 55% of respondents believe their physician receives gifts, and 34% believe almost all doctors receive gifts. Respondents of higher socioeconomic status (income, education) and younger age were more likely to believe their physician receives gifts. In multivariate analyses, those that believe their personal physician receives gifts were more likely to report low physician trust (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.56-3.30) and high health care system distrust (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.49-2.77). Similarly, those that believe almost all doctors accept gifts were more likely to report low physician trust (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.25-2.29) and high health care system distrust (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.82-3.62). Patients perceive physician-industry gift relationships as common. Patients that believe gift relationships exist report lower levels of physician trust and higher rates of health care system distrust. Greater efforts to limit industry-physician gifts could have positive effects beyond reducing influences on physician behavior.

  10. Studying physician effects on patient outcomes: physician interactional style and performance on quality of care indicators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Peter; Jerant, Anthony F; Fiscella, Kevin; Shields, Cleveland G; Tancredi, Daniel J; Epstein, Ronald M

    2006-01-01

    Many prior studies which suggest a relationship between physician interactional style and patient outcomes may have been confounded by relying solely on patient reports, examining very few patients per physician, or not demonstrating evidence of a physician effect on the outcomes. We examined whether physician interactional style, measured both by patient report and objective encounter ratings, is related to performance on quality of care indicators. We also tested for the presence of physician effects on the performance indicators. Using data on 100 US primary care physician (PCP) claims data on 1,21,606 of their managed care patients, survey data on 4746 of their visiting patients, and audiotaped encounters of 2 standardized patients with each physician, we examined the relationships between claims-based quality of care indicators and both survey-derived patient perceptions of their physicians and objective ratings of interactional style in the audiotaped standardized patient encounters. Multi-level models examined whether physician effects (variance components) on care indicators were mediated by patient perceptions or objective ratings of interactional style. We found significant physician effects associated with glycohemoglobin and cholesterol testing. There was also a clinically significant association between better patient perceptions of their physicians and more glycohemoglobin testing. Multi-level analyses revealed, however, that the physician effect on glycohemoglobin testing was not mediated by patient perceived physician interaction style. In conclusion, similar to prior studies, we found evidence of an apparent relationship between patient perceptions of their physician and patient outcomes. However, the apparent relationships found in this study between patient perceptions of their physicians and patient care processes do not reflect physician style, but presumably reflect unmeasured patient confounding. Multi-level modeling may contribute to better

  11. Predictors and Outcomes of Burnout in Primary Care Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabatin, Joseph; Williams, Eric; Baier Manwell, Linda; Schwartz, Mark D; Brown, Roger L; Linzer, Mark

    2016-01-01

    To assess relationships between primary care work conditions, physician burnout, quality of care, and medical errors. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of data from the MEMO (Minimizing Error, Maximizing Outcome) Study. Two surveys of 422 family physicians and general internists, administered 1 year apart, queried physician job satisfaction, stress and burnout, organizational culture, and intent to leave within 2 years. A chart audit of 1795 of their adult patients with diabetes and/or hypertension assessed care quality and medical errors. Women physicians were almost twice as likely as men to report burnout (36% vs 19%, P stress (P work conditions (P work control (P work-life balance (P burnout, care quality, and medical errors. Burnout is highly associated with adverse work conditions and a greater intention to leave the practice, but not with adverse patient outcomes. Care quality thus appears to be preserved at great personal cost to primary care physicians. Efforts focused on workplace redesign and physician self-care are warranted to sustain the primary care workforce. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. The evolution of physician-directed managed care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unland, J J

    1995-01-01

    The health care industry is evolving. In the near term, POs will become the state of the art in physician-directed managed care. Eventually, POs will merge into fully integrated group practices. From there, regional POs and group practices will develop their own insurance products. But because these organizations will be dominated by physicians who wish to practice medicine, rather than sell insurance, money will be made by appropriately managing risk and providing high-quality care. In time, physicians will take control and "manage" managed care, as they are the only ones--not administrators, executives, or other business people--who are in a position to fundamentally revise the way medicine is practiced.

  13. Palliative Care Physicians' Attitudes Toward Patient Autonomy and a Good Death in East Asian Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morita, Tatsuya; Oyama, Yasuhiro; Cheng, Shao-Yi; Suh, Sang-Yeon; Koh, Su Jin; Kim, Hyun Sook; Chiu, Tai-Yuan; Hwang, Shinn-Jang; Shirado, Akemi; Tsuneto, Satoru

    2015-08-01

    Clarification of the potential differences in end-of-life care among East Asian countries is necessary to provide palliative care that is individualized for each patient. The aim was to explore the differences in attitude toward patient autonomy and a good death among East Asian palliative care physicians. A cross-sectional survey was performed involving palliative care physicians in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Physicians' attitudes toward patient autonomy and physician-perceived good death were assessed. A total of 505, 207, and 211 responses were obtained from Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean physicians, respectively. Japanese (82%) and Taiwanese (93%) physicians were significantly more likely to agree that the patient should be informed first of a serious medical condition than Korean physicians (74%). Moreover, 41% and 49% of Korean and Taiwanese physicians agreed that the family should be told first, respectively; whereas 7.4% of Japanese physicians agreed. Physicians' attitudes with respect to patient autonomy were significantly correlated with the country (Japan), male sex, physician specialties of surgery and oncology, longer clinical experience, and physicians having no religion but a specific philosophy. In all 12 components of a good death, there were significant differences by country. Japanese physicians regarded physical comfort and autonomy as significantly more important and regarded preparation, religion, not being a burden to others, receiving maximum treatment, and dying at home as less important. Taiwanese physicians regarded life completion and being free from tubes and machines as significantly more important. Korean physicians regarded being cognitively intact as significantly more important. There are considerable intercountry differences in physicians' attitudes toward autonomy and physician-perceived good death. East Asia is not culturally the same; thus, palliative care should be provided in a culturally acceptable manner for each country

  14. Primary care physician insights into a typology of the complex patient in primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loeb, Danielle F; Binswanger, Ingrid A; Candrian, Carey; Bayliss, Elizabeth A

    2015-09-01

    Primary care physicians play unique roles caring for complex patients, often acting as the hub for their care and coordinating care among specialists. To inform the clinical application of new models of care for complex patients, we sought to understand how these physicians conceptualize patient complexity and to develop a corresponding typology. We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with internal medicine primary care physicians from 5 clinics associated with a university hospital and a community health hospital. We used systematic nonprobabilistic sampling to achieve an even distribution of sex, years in practice, and type of practice. The interviews were analyzed using a team-based participatory general inductive approach. The 15 physicians in this study endorsed a multidimensional concept of patient complexity. The physicians perceived patients to be complex if they had an exacerbating factor-a medical illness, mental illness, socioeconomic challenge, or behavior or trait (or some combination thereof)-that complicated care for chronic medical illnesses. This perspective of primary care physicians caring for complex patients can help refine models of complexity to design interventions or models of care that improve outcomes for these patients. © 2015 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

  15. Stoicism, the physician, and care of medical outliers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Papadimos Thomas J

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Medical outliers present a medical, psychological, social, and economic challenge to the physicians who care for them. The determinism of Stoic thought is explored as an intellectual basis for the pursuit of a correct mental attitude that will provide aid and comfort to physicians who care for medical outliers, thus fostering continued physician engagement in their care. Discussion The Stoic topics of good, the preferable, the morally indifferent, living consistently, and appropriate actions are reviewed. Furthermore, Zeno's cardinal virtues of Justice, Temperance, Bravery, and Wisdom are addressed, as are the Stoic passions of fear, lust, mental pain, and mental pleasure. These concepts must be understood by physicians if they are to comprehend and accept the Stoic view as it relates to having the proper attitude when caring for those with long-term and/or costly illnesses. Summary Practicing physicians, especially those that are hospital based, and most assuredly those practicing critical care medicine, will be emotionally challenged by the medical outlier. A Stoic approach to such a social and psychological burden may be of benefit.

  16. ICU Bedside Nurses' Involvement in Palliative Care Communication: A Multicenter Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Wendy G; Puntillo, Kathleen; Boyle, Deborah; Barbour, Susan; Turner, Kathleen; Cimino, Jenica; Moore, Eric; Noort, Janice; MacMillan, John; Pearson, Diana; Grywalski, Michelle; Liao, Solomon; Ferrell, Bruce; Meyer, Jeannette; O'Neil-Page, Edith; Cain, Julia; Herman, Heather; Mitchell, William; Pantilat, Steven

    2016-03-01

    Successful and sustained integration of palliative care into the intensive care unit (ICU) requires the active engagement of bedside nurses. To describe the perspectives of ICU bedside nurses on their involvement in palliative care communication. A survey was designed, based on prior work, to assess nurses' perspectives on palliative care communication, including the importance and frequency of their involvement, confidence, and barriers. The 46-item survey was distributed via e-mail in 2013 to bedside nurses working in ICUs across the five academic medical centers of the University of California, U.S. The survey was sent to 1791 nurses; 598 (33%) responded. Most participants (88%) reported that their engagement in discussions of prognosis, goals of care, and palliative care was very important to the quality of patient care. A minority reported often discussing palliative care consultations with physicians (31%) or families (33%); 45% reported rarely or never participating in family meeting discussions. Participating nurses most frequently cited the following barriers to their involvement in palliative care communication: need for more training (66%), physicians not asking their perspective (60%), and the emotional toll of discussions (43%). ICU bedside nurses see their involvement in discussions of prognosis, goals of care, and palliative care as a key element of overall quality of patient care. Based on the barriers participants identified regarding their engagement, interventions are needed to ensure that nurses have the education, opportunities, and support to actively participate in these discussions. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Financial incentives and measurement improved physicians' quality of care in the Philippines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peabody, John; Shimkhada, Riti; Quimbo, Stella; Florentino, Jhiedon; Bacate, Marife; McCulloch, Charles E; Solon, Orville

    2011-04-01

    The merits of using financial incentives to improve clinical quality have much appeal, yet few studies have rigorously assessed the potential benefits. The uncertainty surrounding assessments of quality can lead to poor policy decisions, possibly resulting in increased cost with little or no quality improvement, or missed opportunities to improve care. We conducted an experiment involving physicians in thirty Philippine hospitals that overcomes many of the limitations of previous studies. We measured clinical performance and then examined whether modest bonuses equal to about 5 percent of a physician's salary, as well as system-level incentives that increased compensation to hospitals and across groups of physicians, led to improvements in the quality of care. We found that both the bonus and system-level incentives improved scores in a quality measurement system used in our study by ten percentage points. Our findings suggest that when careful measurement is combined with the types of incentives we studied, there may be a larger impact on quality than previously recognized.

  18. Access to care: the physician's perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tice, Alan; Ruckle, Janessa E; Sultan, Omar S; Kemble, Stephen

    2011-02-01

    Private practice physicians in Hawaii were surveyed to better understand their impressions of different insurance plans and their willingness to care for patients with those plans. Physician experiences and perspectives were investigated in regard to reimbursement, formulary limitations, pre-authorizations, specialty referrals, responsiveness to problems, and patient knowledge of their plans. The willingness of physicians to accept new patients from specific insurance company programs clearly correlated with the difficulties and limitations physicians perceive in working with the companies (p<0.0012). Survey results indicate that providers in private practice were much more likely to accept University Health Alliance (UHA) and Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA) Commercial insurance than Aloha Care Advantage and Aloha Quest. This was likely related to the more favorable impressions of the services, payments, and lower administrative burden offered by those companies compared with others. Hawaii Medical Journal Copyright 2011.

  19. Physicians' opinions on palliative care and euthanasia in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Georges, Jean-Jacques; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D; van der Heide, Agnes; van der Wal, Gerrit; van der Maas, Paul J

    2006-10-01

    In recent decades significant developments in end-of-life care have taken place in The Netherlands. There has been more attention for palliative care and alongside the practice of euthanasia has been regulated. The aim of this paper is to describe the opinions of physicians with regard to the relationship between palliative care and euthanasia, and determinants of these opinions. Cross-sectional. Representative samples of physicians (n = 410), relatives of patients who died after euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS; n = 87), and members of the Euthanasia Review Committees (ERCs; n = 35). Structured interviews with physicians and relatives of patients, and a written questionnaire for the members of the ERCs. Approximately half of the physicians disagreed and one third agreed with statements describing the quality of palliative care in The Netherlands as suboptimal and describing the expertise of physicians with regard to palliative care as insufficient. Almost two thirds of the physicians disagreed with the suggestion that adequate treatment of pain and terminal care make euthanasia redundant. Having a religious belief, being a nursing home physician or a clinical specialist, never having performed euthanasia, and not wanting to perform euthanasia were related to the belief that adequate treatment of pain and terminal care could make euthanasia redundant. The study results indicate that most physicians in The Netherlands are not convinced that palliative care can always alleviate all suffering at the end of life and believe that euthanasia could be appropriate in some cases.

  20. [Perceptions of primary care physicians in Madrid on the austerity measures in the health care system].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heras-Mosteiro, Julio; Otero-García, Laura; Sanz-Barbero, Belén; Aranaz-Andrés, Jesús María

    2016-01-01

    To address the current economic crisis, governments have promoted austerity measures that have affected the taxpayer-funded health system. We report the findings of a study exploring the perceptions of primary care physicians in Madrid (Spain) on measures implemented in the Spanish health system. We carried out a qualitative study in two primary health care centres located in two neighbourhoods with unemployment and migrant population rates above the average of those in Madrid. Interviews were conducted with 12 primary health care physicians. Interview data were analysed by using thematic analysis and by adopting some elements of the grounded theory approach. Two categories were identified: evaluation of austerity measures and evaluation of decision-making in this process. Respondents believed there was a need to promote measures to improve the taxpayer-funded health system, but expressed their disagreement with the measures implemented. They considered that the measures were not evidence-based and responded to the need to decrease public health care expenditure in the short term. Respondents believed that they had not been properly informed about the measures and that there was adequate professional participation in the prioritization, selection and implementation of measures. They considered physician participation to be essential in the decision-making process because physicians have a more patient-centred view and have first-hand knowledge of areas requiring improvement in the system. It is essential that public authorities actively involve health care professionals in decision-making processes to ensure the implementation of evidence-based measures with strong professional support, thus maintaining the quality of care. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  1. Exodus of male physicians from primary care drives shift to specialty practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Ha T; O'Malley, Ann S

    2007-06-01

    An exodus of male physicians from primary care is driving a marked shift in the U.S. physician workforce toward medical-specialty practice, according to a national study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Two factors have helped mask the severity of the shift--a growing proportion of female physicians, who disproportionately choose primary care, and continued reliance on international medical graduates (IMGs), who now account for nearly a quarter of all U.S. primary care physicians. Since 1996-97, a 40 percent increase in the female primary care physician supply has helped to offset a 16 percent decline in the male primary care physician supply relative to the U.S. population. At the same time, primary care physicians' incomes have lost ground to both inflation and medical and surgical specialists' incomes. And women in primary care face a 22 percent income gap relative to men, even after accounting for differing characteristics. If real incomes for primary care physicians continue to decline, there is a risk that the migration of male physicians will intensify and that female physicians may begin avoiding primary care--trends that could aggravate a predicted shortage of primary care physicians.

  2. Patients report better satisfaction with part-time primary care physicians, despite less continuity of care and access.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panattoni, Laura; Stone, Ashley; Chung, Sukyung; Tai-Seale, Ming

    2015-03-01

    The growing number of primary care physicians (PCPs) reducing their clinical work hours has raised concerns about meeting the future demand for services and fulfilling the continuity and access mandates for patient-centered care. However, the patient's experience of care with part-time physicians is relatively unknown, and may be mediated by continuity and access to care outcomes. We aimed to examine the relationships between a physicians' clinical full-time equivalent (FTE), continuity of care, access to care, and patient satisfaction with the physician. We used a multi-level structural equation estimation, with continuity and access modeled as mediators, for a cross-section in 2010. The study included family medicine (n = 104) and internal medicine (n = 101) physicians in a multi-specialty group practice, along with their patient satisfaction survey responses (n = 12,688). Physician level FTE, continuity of care received by patients, continuity of care provided by physician, and a Press Ganey patient satisfaction with the physician score, on a 0-100 % scale, were measured. Access to care was measured as days to the third next-available appointment. Physician FTE was directly associated with better continuity of care received (0.172% per FTE, p part-time PCPs in practice redesign efforts and initiatives to meet the demand for primary care services.

  3. Maternity care and maternal serum screening. Do male and female family physicians care for women differently?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodward, C A; Carroll, J C; Ryan, G; Reid, A J; Permaul-Woods, J A; Arbitman, S; Domb, S B; Fallis, B; Kilthei, J

    1997-06-01

    To examine whether male and female family physicians practise maternity care differently, particularly regarding the maternal serum screening (MSS) program. Mailed survey fielded between October 1994 and March 1995. Ontario family practices. Random sample of 2000 members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada who care for pregnant women. More than 90% of eligible physicians responded. Attitudes toward, knowledge about, and behaviour toward MSS. Women physicians were more likely than men to practise part time, in groups, and in larger communities. Men physicians were more likely to perform deliveries; women were more likely to do shared care. Despite a shorter work week, on average, female physicians cared for more pregnant women than male physicians did. Among those providing intrapartum care, women performed more deliveries, on average, than men. Women physicians were more likely than men to offer MSS to all pregnant patients. Although average time spent discussing MSS before the test was similar, women physicians had better knowledge of when best to do the test and its true-positive rate. All differences reported were statistically significant (P women, women physicians cared for more pregnant women than men did. Both spent similar time discussing MSS with their patients before offering screening, but more women physicians offered MSS to all their patients and were more knowledgeable about MSS than men physicians.

  4. Primary care physician perceptions of the nurse practitioner in the 1990s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aquilino, M L; Damiano, P C; Willard, J C; Momany, E T; Levy, B T

    1999-01-01

    To evaluate factors associated with primary care physician attitudes toward nurse practitioners (NPs) providing primary care. A mailed survey of primary care physicians in Iowa. Half (N = 616) of the non-institutional-based, full-time, primary care physicians in Iowa in spring 1994. Although 360 (58.4%) responded, only physicians with complete data on all items in the model were used in these analyses (n = 259 [42.0%]). There were 2 principal dependent measures: physician attitudes toward NPs providing primary care (an 11-item instrument) and physician experience with NPs in this role. Bivariate relationships between physician demographic and practice characteristics were evaluated by chi 2 tests, as were both dependent variables. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to determine factors related to physician attitudes toward NPs. In bivariate analyses, physicians were significantly more likely to have had experience with an NP providing primary care if they were in pediatrics or obstetrics-gynecology (78.3% and 70.0%, respectively; P < .001), had been in practice for fewer than 20 years (P = .045), or were in practices with 5 or more physicians. The ordinary least-squares regression indicated that physicians with previous experience working with NPs providing primary care (P = .01), physicians practicing in urban areas with populations greater than 20,000 but far from a metropolitan area (P = .03), and general practice physicians (P = .04) had significantly more favorable attitudes toward NPs than did other primary care physicians. The association between previous experience with a primary care NP and a more positive attitude toward NPs has important implications for the training of primary care physicians, particularly in community-based, multidisciplinary settings.

  5. Physicians in health care management: 2. Managing performance: who, what, how and when?

    OpenAIRE

    Lemieux-Charles, L

    1994-01-01

    Physicians are becoming more involved in performance management as hospitals restructure to increase effectiveness. Although physicians are not hospital employees, they are subject to performance appraisals because the hospitals are accountable to patients and the community for the quality of hospital services. The performance of a health care professional may be appraised by the appropriate departmental manager, by other professionals in a team or program or by peers, based on prior agreemen...

  6. Physicians' Psychosocial Work Conditions and Quality of Care: A Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Angerer

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Physician jobs are associated with adverse psychosocial work conditions. We summarize research on the relationship of physicians' psychosocial work conditions and quality of care. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and PsycINFO. All studies were classified into three categories of care quality outcomes: Associations between physicians' psychosocial work conditions and (1 the physician-patient-relationship, or (2 the care process and outcomes, or (3 medical errors were examined. Results: 12 publications met the inclusion criteria. Most studies relied on observational cross-sectional and controlled intervention designs. All studies provide at least partial support for physicians’ psychosocial work conditions being related to quality of care. Conclusions: This review found preliminary evidence that detrimental physicians’ psychosocial work conditions adversely influence patient care quality. Future research needs to apply strong designs to disentangle the indirect and direct effects of adverse psychosocial work conditions on physicians as well as on quality of care.Keywords: psychosocial work conditions, physicians, quality of care, physician-patient-relationship, hospital, errors, review, work stress, clinicians

  7. [Health care economics, uncertainty and physician-induced demand].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domenighetti, G; Casabianca, A

    1995-10-21

    The health care market is a very particular one that is mainly characterized by the absence of information and transparency at every level, particularly between the physician-supplier and the patient-consumer. On this market it is up to the physician to evaluate and define the patient's needs and to decide which are the most effective goods for the patient. The determinants of medical prescription are not only related to the health status of the patient, but also to the payment system (fee for services, salary), to physician density, professional uncertainty, the role and status of the physician in his profession, the legal framework which rules the medical profession, and also the information level of the patient. Agency relationship and professional uncertainty are the most relevant determinants of supplier-induced demand. Professional uncertainty inherent in the practice of a stochastic art such as medicine will "always" give an ethical justification for supplier-induced demand or for the pursuit of "maximal" and/or "defensive" care when market competition is perceived by the physician as a threat to his/her income or employment. Time is ripe for consumers and physicians empowerment in the aim to promote better self-management of health and more thoughtful access to care (for consumers) and more evidences based medicine for physicians.

  8. Nurse Practitioner-Physician Comanagement: A Theoretical Model to Alleviate Primary Care Strain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norful, Allison A; de Jacq, Krystyna; Carlino, Richard; Poghosyan, Lusine

    2018-05-01

    Various models of care delivery have been investigated to meet the increasing demands in primary care. One proposed model is comanagement of patients by more than 1 primary care clinician. Comanagement has been investigated in acute care with surgical teams and in outpatient settings with primary care physicians and specialists. Because nurse practitioners are increasingly managing patient care as independent clinicians, our study objective was to propose a model of nurse practitioner-physician comanagement. We conducted a literature search using the following key words: comanagement; primary care; nurse practitioner OR advanced practice nurse. From 156 studies, we extracted information about nurse practitioner-physician comanagement antecedents, attributes, and consequences. A systematic review of the findings helped determine effects of nurse practitioner-physician comanagement on patient care. Then, we performed 26 interviews with nurse practitioners and physicians to obtain their perspectives on nurse practitioner-physician comanagement. Results were compiled to create our conceptual nurse practitioner-physician comanagement model. Our model of nurse practitioner-physician comanagement has 3 elements: effective communication; mutual respect and trust; and clinical alignment/shared philosophy of care. Interviews indicated that successful comanagement can alleviate individual workload, prevent burnout, improve patient care quality, and lead to increased patient access to care. Legal and organizational barriers, however, inhibit the ability of nurse practitioners to practice autonomously or with equal care management resources as primary care physicians. Future research should focus on developing instruments to measure and further assess nurse practitioner-physician comanagement in the primary care practice setting. © 2018 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

  9. Providing primary health care with non-physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, P C

    1984-04-01

    The definition of primary health care is basically the same, but the wide variety of concepts as to the form and type of worker required is largely due to variations in economic, demographic, socio-cultural and political factors. Whatever form it takes, in many parts of the developing world, it is increasingly clear that primary health care must be provided by non-physicians. The reasons for this trend are compelling, yet it is surprisingly opposed by the medical profession in many a developing country. Nonetheless, numerous field trials are being conducted in a variety of situations in several countries around the world. Non-physician primary health care workers vary from medical assistants and nurse practitioners to aide-level workers called village mobilizers, village volunteers, village aides and a variety of other names. The functions, limitations and training of such workers will need to be defined, so that an optimal combination of skills, knowledge and attitudes best suited to produce the desired effect on local health problems may be attained. The supervision of such workers by the physician and other health professionals will need to be developed in the spirit of the health team. An example of the use of non-physicians in providing primary health care in Sarawak is outlined.

  10. Information needs of physicians, care coordinators, and families to support care coordination of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranade-Kharkar, Pallavi; Weir, Charlene; Norlin, Chuck; Collins, Sarah A; Scarton, Lou Ann; Baker, Gina B; Borbolla, Damian; Taliercio, Vanina; Del Fiol, Guilherme

    2017-09-01

    Identify and describe information needs and associated goals of physicians, care coordinators, and families related to coordinating care for medically complex children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with physicians, care coordinators, and parents of CYSHCN following the Critical Decision Method technique. We analyzed the interviews for information needs posed as questions using a systematic content analysis approach and categorized the questions into information need goal types and subtypes. The Critical Decision Method interviews resulted in an average of 80 information needs per interview. We categorized them into 6 information need goal types: (1) situation understanding, (2) care networking, (3) planning, (4) tracking/monitoring, (5) navigating the health care system, and (6) learning, and 32 subtypes. Caring for CYSHCN generates a large amount of information needs that require significant effort from physicians, care coordinators, parents, and various other individuals. CYSHCN are often chronically ill and face developmental challenges that translate into intense demands on time, effort, and resources. Care coordination for CYCHSN involves multiple information systems, specialized resources, and complex decision-making. Solutions currently offered by health information technology fall short in providing support to meet the information needs to perform the complex care coordination tasks. Our findings present significant opportunities to improve coordination of care through multifaceted and fully integrated informatics solutions. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  11. Canadian physicians' responses to cross border health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Runnels, Vivien; Labonté, Ronald; Packer, Corinne; Chaudhry, Sabrina; Adams, Owen; Blackmer, Jeff

    2014-04-03

    The idea for this survey emanated from desk research and two meetings for researchers that discussed medical tourism and out-of-country health care, which were convened by some of the authors of this article (VR, CP and RL). A Cross Border Health Care Survey was drafted by a number of the authors and administered to Canadian physicians via the Canadian Medical Association's e-panel. The purpose of the survey was to gain an understanding of physicians' experiences with and views of their patients acquiring health care out of country, either as medical tourists (paying out-of-pocket for their care) or out-of-country care patients funded by provincial/territorial public health insurance plans. Quantitative and qualitative results of the survey were analyzed. 631 physicians responded to the survey. Diagnostic procedures were the top-ranked procedure for patients either as out-of-country care recipients or medical tourists. Respondents reported that the main reason why patients sought care abroad was because waiting times in Canada were too long. Some respondents were frustrated with a lack of information about out-of-country procedures upon their patients' return to Canada. The majority of physician respondents agreed that it was their responsibility to provide follow-up care to medical travellers on return to Canada, although a substantial minority disagreed that they had such a responsibility. Cross-border health care, whether government-sanctioned (out-of-country-care) or patient-initiated (medical tourism), is increasing in Canada. Such flows are thought likely to increase with aging populations. Government-sanctioned outbound flows are less problematic than patient-initiated flows but are constrained by low approval rates, which may increase patient initiation. Lack of information and post-return complications pose the greatest concern to Canadian physicians. Further research on both types of flows (government-sanctioned and patient-initiated), and how they affect

  12. When doctor becomes patient: challenges and strategies in caring for physician-patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domeyer-Klenske, Amy; Rosenbaum, Marcy

    2012-01-01

    The current study was aimed at exploring the challenges that arise in the doctor-patient relationship when the patient is also a physician and identifying strategies physicians use to meet these challenges. No previous research has systematically investigated primary care physicians' perspectives on caring for physician-patients. Family medicine (n=15) and general internal medicine (n=14) physicians at a large Midwestern university participated in semi-structured interviews where they were asked questions about their experiences with physician-patients and the strategies they used to meet the unique needs of this patient population. Thematic analysis was used to identify common responses. Three of the challenges most commonly discussed by physician participants were: (1) maintaining boundaries between relationships with colleagues or between roles as physician/colleague/friend, (2) avoiding assumptions about patient knowledge and health behaviors, and (3) managing physician-patients' access to informal consultations, personal test results, and opinions from other colleagues. We were able to identify three main strategies clinicians use in addressing these perceived challenges: (1) Ignore the physician-patient's background, (2) Acknowledge the physician-patient's background and negotiate care, and (3) Allow care to be driven primarily by the physician-patient. It is important that primary care physicians understand the challenges inherent in treating physicians and develop a strategy with which they are comfortable addressing them. Explicitly communicating with the physician-patient to ensure boundaries are maintained, assumptions about the physician-patient are avoided, and physician-patient access is properly managed are key to providing quality care to physician-patients.

  13. The Exnovation of Chronic Care Management Processes by Physician Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    HENKE, RACHEL MOSHER; BIBI, SALMA; RAMSAY, PATRICIA P.; SHORTELL, STEPHEN M.

    2016-01-01

    Policy Points The rate of adoption of chronic care management processes (CMPs) by physician organizations has been fairly slow in spite of demonstrated effectiveness of CMPs in improving outcomes of chronic care.Exnovation (ie, removal of innovations) by physician organizations largely explains the slow population‐level increases in practice use of CMPs over time.Expanded health information technology functions may aid practices in retaining CMPs. Low provider reimbursement by Medicaid programs, however, may contribute to disinvestment in CMPs by physician organizations. Context Exnovation is the process of removal of innovations that are not effective in improving organizational performance, are too disruptive to routine operations, or do not fit well with the existing organizational strategy, incentives, structure, and/or culture. Exnovation may contribute to the low overall adoption of care management processes (CMPs) by US physician organizations over time. Methods Three national surveys of US physician organizations, which included common questions about organizational characteristics, use of CMPs, and health information technology (HIT) capabilities for practices of all sizes, and Truven Health Insurance Coverage Estimates were integrated to assess organizational and market influences on the exnovation of CMPs in a longitudinal cohort of 1,048 physician organizations. CMPs included 5 strategies for each of 4 chronic conditions (diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, and depression): registry use, nurse care management, patient reminders for preventive and care management services to prevent exacerbations of chronic illness, use of nonphysician clinicians to provide patient education, and quality of care feedback to physicians. Findings Over one‐third (34.1%) of physician organizations exnovated CMPs on net. Quality of care data feedback to physicians and patient reminders for recommended preventive and chronic care were discontinued by over one

  14. The Exnovation of Chronic Care Management Processes by Physician Organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Hector P; Henke, Rachel Mosher; Bibi, Salma; Ramsay, Patricia P; Shortell, Stephen M

    2016-09-01

    Policy Points The rate of adoption of chronic care management processes (CMPs) by physician organizations has been fairly slow in spite of demonstrated effectiveness of CMPs in improving outcomes of chronic care. Exnovation (ie, removal of innovations) by physician organizations largely explains the slow population-level increases in practice use of CMPs over time. Expanded health information technology functions may aid practices in retaining CMPs. Low provider reimbursement by Medicaid programs, however, may contribute to disinvestment in CMPs by physician organizations. Exnovation is the process of removal of innovations that are not effective in improving organizational performance, are too disruptive to routine operations, or do not fit well with the existing organizational strategy, incentives, structure, and/or culture. Exnovation may contribute to the low overall adoption of care management processes (CMPs) by US physician organizations over time. Three national surveys of US physician organizations, which included common questions about organizational characteristics, use of CMPs, and health information technology (HIT) capabilities for practices of all sizes, and Truven Health Insurance Coverage Estimates were integrated to assess organizational and market influences on the exnovation of CMPs in a longitudinal cohort of 1,048 physician organizations. CMPs included 5 strategies for each of 4 chronic conditions (diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, and depression): registry use, nurse care management, patient reminders for preventive and care management services to prevent exacerbations of chronic illness, use of nonphysician clinicians to provide patient education, and quality of care feedback to physicians. Over one-third (34.1%) of physician organizations exnovated CMPs on net. Quality of care data feedback to physicians and patient reminders for recommended preventive and chronic care were discontinued by over one-third of exnovators, while nurse

  15. Nursing Home Physicians' Assessments of Barriers and Strategies for End-of-Life Care in Norway and The Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fosse, Anette; Zuidema, Sytse; Boersma, Froukje; Malterud, Kirsti; Schaufel, Margrethe Aase; Ruths, Sabine

    2017-08-01

    Working conditions in nursing homes (NHs) may hamper teamwork in providing quality end-of-life (EOL) care, especially the participation of NH physicians. Dutch NH physicians are specialists or trainees in elderly care medicine with NHs as the main workplace, whereas in Norway, family physicians usually work part time in NHs. Thus, we aimed at assessing and comparing NH physicians' perspectives on barriers and strategies for providing EOL care in NHs in Norway and in The Netherlands. A cross-sectional study using an electronic questionnaire was conducted in 2015. All NH physicians in Norway (approximately 1200-1300) were invited to participate; 435 participated (response rate approximately 35%). Of the total 1664 members of the Dutch association of elderly care physicians approached, 244 participated (response rate 15%). We explored NH physicians' perceptions of organizational, educational, financial, legal, and personal prerequisites for quality EOL care. Differences between the countries were compared using χ 2 test and t-test. Most respondents in both countries reported inadequate staffing, lack of skills among nursing personnel, and heavy time commitment for physicians as important barriers; this was more pronounced among Dutch respondents. Approximately 30% of the respondents in both countries reported their own lack of interest in EOL care as an important barrier. Suggested improvement strategies were routines for involvement of patients' family, pain- and symptom assessment protocols, EOL care guidelines, routines for advance care planning, and education in EOL care for physicians and nursing staff. Inadequate staffing levels, as well as lack of competence, time, and interest emerge as important barriers to quality EOL care according to Dutch and Norwegian NH physicians. Their perspectives were mostly similar, despite large educational and organizational differences. Key strategies for improving EOL care in their facilities comprise education and

  16. Physician Knowledge and Attitudes around Confidential Care for Minor Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, Margaret; Ahmed, Sana; Reed, Barbara D; Quint, Elisabeth H

    2015-08-01

    Minor adolescent patients have a legal right to access certain medical services confidentially without parental consent or notification. We sought to assess physicians' knowledge of these laws, attitudes around the provision of confidential care to minors, and barriers to providing confidential care. An anonymous online survey was sent to physicians in the Departments of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan. Response rate was 40% (259/650). The majority of physicians felt comfortable addressing sexual health, mental health, and substance use with adolescent patients. On average, physicians answered just over half of the legal knowledge questions correctly (mean 56.6% ± 16.7%). The majority of physicians approved of laws allowing minors to consent for confidential care (90.8% ± 1.7% approval), while substantially fewer (45.1% ± 4.5%) approved of laws allowing parental notification of this care at the physician's discretion. Most physicians agreed that assured access to confidential care should be a right for adolescents. After taking the survey most physicians (76.6%) felt they needed additional training on confidentiality laws. The provision of confidential care to minors was perceived to be most inhibited by insurance issues, parental concerns/relationships with the family, and issues with the electronic medical record. Physicians are comfortable discussing sensitive issues with adolescents and generally approve of minor consent laws, but lack knowledge about what services a minor can access confidentially. Further research is needed to assess best methods to educate physicians about minors' legal rights to confidential healthcare services. Copyright © 2015 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Physicians’ attitudes towards office-based delivery of methadone maintenance therapy: results from a cross-sectional survey of Nova Scotia primary-care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dooley Jessica

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Approximately 90,000 Canadians use opioids each year, many of whom experience health and social problems that affect the individual user, families, communities and the health care system. For those who wish to reduce or stop their opioid use, methadone maintenance therapy (MMT is effective and supporting evidence is well-documented. However, access and availability to MMT is often inconsistent, with greater inequity outside of urban settings. Involving community based primary-care physicians in the delivery of MMT could serve to expand capacity and accessibility of MMT programs. Little is known, however, about the extent to which MMT, particularly office-based delivery, is acceptable to physicians. The aim of this study is to survey physicians about their attitudes towards MMT, particularly office-based delivery, and the perceived barriers and facilitators to MMT delivery. Methods In May 2008, facilitated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, a cross-sectional, e-mail survey of 950 primary-care physicians practicing in Nova Scotia, Canada was administered via the OPINIO on-line survey software, to assess the acceptability of office-based MMT. Logistic regressions, adjusted for physician sociodemographic characteristics, were used to examine the association between physicians’ willingness to participate in office-based MMT, and a series of measures capturing physician attitudes and knowledge about treatment approaches, opioid use, and methadone, as well as perceived barriers to MMT. Results Overall, 19.8% of primary-care physicians responded to the survey, with 56% who indicated that they would be willing to be involved in MMT under current or similar circumstances; however, willingness was associated with numerous attitudinal and systemic factors. The barriers to involvement in MMT that were frequently cited included a lack of training or experience in MMT, lack of support services, and potential

  18. Seniors’ Perceptions Of Health Care Not Closely Associated With Physician Supply

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyweide, David J.; Anthony, Denise L.; Chang, Chiang-Hua; Goodman, David

    2011-01-01

    We conducted a national random survey of Medicare beneficiaries to better understand the association between the supply of physicians and patients’ perceptions of their health care. We found that patients living in areas with more physicians per capita had perceptions of their health care that were similar to those of patients in regions with fewer physicians. In addition, there were no significant differences between the groups of patients in terms of numbers of visits to their personal physician in the previous year; amount of time spent with a physician; or access to tests or specialists. Our results suggest that simply training more physicians is unlikely to lead to improved access to care. Instead, focusing health policy on improving the quality and organization of care may be more beneficial. PMID:21289342

  19. Burnout among physicians in palliative care: Impact of clinical settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dréano-Hartz, Soazic; Rhondali, Wadih; Ledoux, Mathilde; Ruer, Murielle; Berthiller, Julien; Schott, Anne-Marie; Monsarrat, Léa; Filbet, Marilène

    2016-08-01

    Burnout syndrome is a work-related professional distress. Palliative care physicians often have to deal with complex end-of-life situations and are at risk of presenting with burnout syndrome, which has been little studied in this population. Our study aims to identify the impact of clinical settings (in a palliative care unit (PCU) or on a palliative care mobile team (PCMT)) on palliative care physicians. We undertook a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and we gathered sociodemographic and professional data. The questionnaire was sent to all 590 physicians working in palliative care in France between July of 2012 and February of 2013. The response rate was 61, 8% after three reminders. Some 27 (9%) participants showed high emotional exhaustion, 12 (4%) suffered from a high degree of depersonalization, and 71 (18%) had feelings of low personal accomplishment. Physicians working on a PCMT tended (p = 0.051) to be more likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion than their colleagues. Physicians working on a PCMT worked on smaller teams (fewer physicians, p < 0.001; fewer nonphysicians, p < 0.001). They spent less time doing research (p = 0.019), had fewer resources (p = 0.004), and their expertise seemed to be underrecognized by their colleagues (p = 0.023). The prevalence of burnout in palliative care physicians was low and in fact lower than that reported in other populations (e.g., oncologists). Working on a palliative care mobile team can be a more risky situation, associated with a lack of medical and paramedical staff.

  20. Is there a role for physician involvement in introducing research to surrogate decision makers in the intensive care unit? (The Approach trial: a pilot mixed methods study).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, K E A; Rizvi, L; Smith, O M; Lee, Y; Lee, J; Wang, M; Brown, M; Parker, M; Premji, A; Leung, D; Hammond Mobilio, M; Gotlib-Conn, L; Nisenbaum, R; Santos, M; Li, Y; Mehta, S

    2015-01-01

    To assess the feasibility of conducting a randomized trial comparing two strategies [physician (MD) vs. non-physician (non-MD)] for approaching substitute decision makers (SDMs) for research and to evaluate SDMs' experiences in being approached for consent. A pilot mixed methods study of first encounters with SDMs. Of 137 SDMs (162 eligibility events), 67 and 70 were randomized to MD and non-MD introductions, respectively. Eighty SDMs (98 events) provided consent and 21 SDMs (24 events) declined consent for studies, including 2 SDMs who provided and declined consent. We identified few missed introductions [4/52 (7.7 %)] and protocol violations [6/117 (5.1 %)], high comfort, satisfaction and acceptance scores and similar consent rates in both arms. SDMs provided consent significantly more often when a patient update was provided in the MD arm. Most SDMs (85.7 %) felt that physician involvement was inconsequential and preferred physician time to be dedicated to patient care; however, SDM experiences were closely related to their recall of being approached and recall was poor. SDMs highlighted 7 themes of importance to them in research surrogate decision-making. SDMs prioritized the personal attributes of the person approaching them over professional designation and preferred physician time to be dedicated to patient care. A mixed methods design evaluated intervention fidelity and provided the rationale for not proceeding to a larger trial, despite achieving all feasibility metrics in the pilot trial. NCT01232621.

  1. Physician directed networks: the new generation of managed care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, T; O'Sullivan, D

    1996-07-01

    The external pressure to reduce cost while maintaining quality and services is moving the whole industry into a rapid mode of integration. Hospitals, vendors, MCOs, and now, physicians, are faced with the difficult decisions concerning how their operations will be integrated into the larger health care delivery system. These pressures have forced physicians to consolidate, build leverage, and create efficiencies to become more productive; thereby better positioning themselves to respond to the challenges and the opportunities that lie before them. This initial phase of consolidation has given many physicians the momentum to begin to wrestle back the control of health care and the courage to design the next generation of managed care: Physician Directed Managed Care. What will be the next phase? Perhaps, the next step will be fully-integrated specialty and multi-specialty groups leading to alternate delivery sites. "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Leo Tolstoy

  2. Democratic and Republican physicians provide different care on politicized health issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hersh, Eitan D.; Goldenberg, Matthew N.

    2016-01-01

    Physicians frequently interact with patients about politically salient health issues, such as drug use, firearm safety, and sexual behavior. We investigate whether physicians’ own political views affect their treatment decisions on these issues. We linked the records of over 20,000 primary care physicians in 29 US states to a voter registration database, obtaining the physicians’ political party affiliations. We then surveyed a sample of Democratic and Republican primary care physicians. Respondents evaluated nine patient vignettes, three of which addressed especially politicized health issues (marijuana, abortion, and firearm storage). Physicians rated the seriousness of the issue presented in each vignette and their likelihood of engaging in specific management options. On the politicized health issues—and only on such issues—Democratic and Republican physicians differed substantially in their expressed concern and their recommended treatment plan. We control for physician demographics (like age, gender, and religiosity), patient population, and geography. Physician partisan bias can lead to unwarranted variation in patient care. Awareness of how a physician’s political attitudes might affect patient care is important to physicians and patients alike. PMID:27698126

  3. Criminal liability of physicians and other health care professionals in Hungary (review of case law between 1996-2000).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varga, T; Szabó, A; Dósa, A; Bartha, F

    2006-12-01

    The authors examine the criminal cases involving physicians and other health care workers between January 1996 and December 2000 inclusive. in Hungary. The data are based on the registry of the Criminal Prosecutor's Office. Altogether 94 cases were initiated in this period of time, the accused of the criminal proceeding was a registered nurse in 9 cases, an ambulance paramedic in 5 cases, a pharmacist in 3, and a physician in 77 cases. In cases where registered nurses were involved, the most common act was negligent change of medication or providing inadequate custody of a patient in need, pharmacists were also accused for negligent change of medicinal products. In case of ambulance assistants the most common violation of the professional rules was diagnostic failure or not responding to the call in time. As to physicians, mostly primary care physicians were accused (29%), usually for failing to examine the patient or for diagnostic error, obstetricians-gynecologists (17 %) and traumatologists (12 %) were also frequently accused.

  4. Health Care Resource Utilization for Outpatient Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Care Delivery Among Advanced Practice Providers and Physician Providers in Primary Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virani, Salim S; Akeroyd, Julia M; Ramsey, David J; Deswal, Anita; Nasir, Khurram; Rajan, Suja S; Ballantyne, Christie M; Petersen, Laura A

    2017-10-10

    Although effectiveness of diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD) care delivery between physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) has been shown to be comparable, health care resource utilization between these 2 provider types in primary care is unknown. This study compared health care resource utilization between patients with diabetes or CVD receiving care from APPs or physicians. Diabetes (n = 1,022,588) or CVD (n = 1,187,035) patients with a primary care visit between October 2013 and September 2014 in 130 Veterans Affairs facilities were identified. Using hierarchical regression adjusting for covariates including patient illness burden, the authors compared number of primary or specialty care visits and number of lipid panels and hemoglobinA1c (HbA1c) tests among diabetes patients, and number of primary or specialty care visits and number of lipid panels and cardiac stress tests among CVD patients receiving care from physicians and APPs. Physicians had significantly larger patient panels compared with APPs. In adjusted analyses, diabetes patients receiving care from APPs received fewer primary and specialty care visits and a greater number of lipid panels and HbA1c tests compared with patients receiving care from physicians. CVD patients receiving care from APPs received more frequent lipid testing and fewer primary and specialty care visits compared with those receiving care from physicians, with no differences in the number of stress tests. Most of these differences, although statistically significant, were numerically small. Health care resource utilization among diabetes or CVD patients receiving care from APPs or physicians appears comparable, although physicians work with larger patient panels.

  5. Primary care physicians' perceived barriers and facilitators to conservative care for older adults with chronic kidney disease: design of a mixed methods study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tam-Tham, Helen; Hemmelgarn, Brenda; Campbell, David; Thomas, Chandra; Quinn, Robert; Fruetel, Karen; King-Shier, Kathryn

    2016-01-01

    Guideline committees have identified the need for research to inform the provision of conservative care for older adults with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) who have a high burden of comorbidity or functional impairment. We will use both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to provide a comprehensive understanding of barriers and facilitators to care for these patients in primary care. Our objectives are to (1) interview primary care physicians to determine their perspectives of conservative care for older adults with stage 5 CKD and (2) survey primary care physicians to determine the prevalence of key barriers and facilitators to provision of conservative care for older adults with stage 5 CKD. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted for this study. The first phase of the study will involve fundamental qualitative description and the second phase will be a cross-sectional population-based survey. The research is conducted in Alberta, Canada. The participants are primary care physicians with experience in providing care for older adults with stage 5 CKD not planning on initiating dialysis. The first objective will be achieved by undertaking interviews with primary care physicians from southern Alberta. Participants will be selected purposively to include physicians with a range of characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and location of clinical practice). Interviews will be recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using conventional content analysis to generate themes. The second objective will be achieved by undertaking a population-based survey of primary care physicians in Alberta. The questionnaire will be developed based on the findings from the qualitative interviews and pilot tested for face and content validity. Physicians will be provided multiple options to complete the questionnaire including mail, fax, and online methods. Descriptive statistics and associations between demographic factors and barriers and facilitators to

  6. Burnout Among Anesthetists and Intensive Care Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikalauskas, Audrius; Benetis, Rimantas; Širvinskas, Edmundas; Andrejaitienė, Judita; Kinduris, Šarūnas; Macas, Andrius; Padaiga, Žilvinas

    2018-01-01

    Burnout is a syndrome of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and low personal accomplishment. Little is known about burnout in physicians. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of burnout among anesthetists and intensive care physicians, and associations between burnout and personal, as well as professional, characteristics. In total, 220 anesthetists and intensive care physicians were contacted by email, asking them to participate in the study. For depression screening the PHQ-2 questionnaire, for problem drinking, CAGE items were used. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Overall, 34% anesthetists and intensive care physicians indicated high levels of emotional exhaustion, 25% indicated high levels of depersonalization, and 38% showed low personal accomplishment. Burnout was found more frequent among subjects with problem drinking (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.5-6.8), depressiveness (OR 10.2, 95% CI 4.6-22.6), cardiovascular disorders (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.7-7.1), and digestive disorders (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.0). Some favorite after-work activities positively correlated with burnout, such as sedative medications abuse (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.8-12.5), alcohol abuse (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.3-4.5), eating more than usual (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.5), and transferring the accumulated stress to relatives (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.4-5.5). In contrast, reading of non-medical literature seemed to have a protective effect (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.9). Burnout was highly prevalent among anesthetists and intensive care physicians with two fifths of them meeting diagnostic criteria. It was strongly correlated with problem drinking, depressiveness, cardiovascular and digestive disorders, use of sedatives and overeating.

  7. Physicians' Perspectives on Caring for Cognitively Impaired Elders.(author Abstract)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Wendy L.; McIlvain, Helen E.; Geske, Jenenne A.; Porter, Judy L.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: This study aims to develop ah in-depth understanding of the issues important to primary care physicians in providing care to cognitively impaired elders. Design and Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 primary care physicians. Text coded as "cognitive impairment" was retrieved and analyzed by use of grounded theory analysis…

  8. Medical tourism in India: perceptions of physicians in tertiary care hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qadeer, Imrana; Reddy, Sunita

    2013-12-17

    Senior physicians of modern medicine in India play a key role in shaping policies and public opinion and institutional management. This paper explores their perceptions of medical tourism (MT) within India which is a complex process involving international demands and policy shifts from service to commercialisation of health care for trade, gross domestic profit, and foreign exchange. Through interviews of 91 physicians in tertiary care hospitals in three cities of India, this paper explores four areas of concern: their understanding of MT, their views of the hospitals they work in, perceptions of the value and place of MT in their hospital and their views on the implications of MT for medical care in the country. An overwhelming majority (90%) of physicians in the private tertiary sector and 74.3 percent in the public tertiary sector see huge scope for MT in the private tertiary sector in India. The private tertiary sector physicians were concerned about their patients alone and felt that health of the poor was the responsibility of the state. The public tertiary sector physicians' however, were sensitive to the problems of the common man and felt responsible. Even though the glamour of hi-tech associated with MT dazzled them, only 35.8 percent wanted MT in their hospitals and a total of 56 percent of them said MT cannot be a public sector priority. 10 percent in the private sector expressed reservations towards MT while the rest demanded state subsidies for MT. The disconnect between their concern for the common man and professionals views on MT was due to the lack of appreciation of the continuum between commercialisation, the denial of resources to public hospitals and shift of subsidies to the private sector. The paper highlights the differences and similarities in the perceptions and context of the two sets of physicians, presents evidence, that questions the support for MT and finally analyzes some key implications of MT on Indian health services, ethical

  9. Estimated time spent on preventive services by primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gradison Margaret

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Delivery of preventive health services in primary care is lacking. One of the main barriers is lack of time. We estimated the amount of time primary care physicians spend on important preventive health services. Methods We analyzed a large dataset of primary care (family and internal medicine visits using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2001–4; analyses were conducted 2007–8. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the amount of time spent delivering each preventive service, controlling for demographic covariates. Results Preventive visits were longer than chronic care visits (M = 22.4, SD = 11.8, M = 18.9, SD = 9.2, respectively. New patients required more time from physicians. Services on which physicians spent relatively more time were prostate specific antigen (PSA, cholesterol, Papanicolaou (Pap smear, mammography, exercise counseling, and blood pressure. Physicians spent less time than recommended on two "A" rated ("good evidence" services, tobacco cessation and Pap smear (in preventive visits, and one "B" rated ("at least fair evidence" service, nutrition counseling. Physicians spent substantial time on two services that have an "I" rating ("inconclusive evidence of effectiveness", PSA and exercise counseling. Conclusion Even with limited time, physicians address many of the "A" rated services adequately. However, they may be spending less time than recommended for important services, especially smoking cessation, Pap smear, and nutrition counseling. Future research is needed to understand how physicians decide how to allocate their time to address preventive health.

  10. Helicobacter pylori infection: approach of primary care physicians in a developing country

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Shah Hasnain

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and practices of primary care physicians in diagnosis and management of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori infection in developing country. Methods This convenient sample based, cross sectional study was conducted in primary care physicians of Karachi, Pakistan from March 2008 to August 2008 through a pretested self-designed questionnaire, which contained 11 items pertaining to H. pylori route of transmission, diagnosis, indication for testing, treatment options, follow up and source of information. Results Out of 509 primary care physicians, 451 consented to participate with the response rate of 88.6%. Responses of 426 primary care physicians were analyzed after excluding 19 physicians. 78% of the physicians thought that contaminated water was the source of spread of infection, dyspepsia was the most frequent indication for investigating H. pylori infection (67% of the physicians, while 43% physicians were of the view that serology was the most appropriate test to diagnose active H. pylori infection. 77% of physicians thought that gastric ulcer was the most compelling indication for treatment, 61% physicians preferred Clarithromycin based triple therapy for 7–14 days. 57% of the physicians would confirm H. pylori eradication after treatment in selected patients and 47% physicians preferred serological testing for follow-up. In case of treatment failure, only 36% of the physicians were in favor of gastroenterologist referral. Conclusion The primary care physicians in this study lacked in knowledge regarding management of H. pylori infection. Internationally published guidelines and World gastroenterology organization (WGO practice guideline on H. pylori for developing countries have little impact on current practices of primary care physicians. We recommend more teaching programs, continuous medical education activities regarding H. pylori infection.

  11. Job satisfaction of primary care physicians in Switzerland: an observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goetz, Katja; Jossen, Marianne; Szecsenyi, Joachim; Rosemann, Thomas; Hahn, Karolin; Hess, Sigrid

    2016-10-01

    Job satisfaction of physicians is an important issue for performance of a health care system. The aim of the study was to evaluate the job satisfaction of primary care physicians in Switzerland and to explore associations between overall job satisfaction, individual characteristics and satisfaction with aspects of work within the practice separated by gender. This cross-sectional study was based on a job satisfaction survey. Data were collected from 176 primary care physicians working in 91 primary care practices. Job satisfaction was measured with the 10-item Warr-Cook-Wall job satisfaction scale. Stepwise linear regression analysis was performed for physicians separated by gender. The response rate was 92.6%. Primary care physicians reported the highest level of satisfaction with 'freedom of working method' (mean = 6.45) and the lowest satisfaction for 'hours of work' (mean = 5.38) and 'income' (mean = 5.49). Moreover, some aspects of job satisfaction were rated higher by female physicians than male physicians. Within the stepwise regression analysis, the aspect 'opportunity to use abilities' (β = 0.644) showed the highest association to overall job satisfaction for male physicians while for female physicians it was income (β = 0.733). The presented results contribute to an understanding of factors that influence levels of satisfaction of female and male physicians. Therefore, research and intervention about job satisfaction should consider gender as well as the stereotypes that come along with these social roles. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  12. [Communication between the primary care physician, hospital staff and the patient during hospitalization].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menahem, Sasson; Roitgarz, Ina; Shvartzman, Pesach

    2011-04-01

    HospitaL admission is a crisis for the patient and his family and can interfere with the continuity of care. It may lead to mistakes due to communication problems between the primary care physician and the hospital medical staff. To explore the communication between the primary care physician, the hospital medical staff, the patient and his family during hospitalization. A total of 269 questionnaires were sent to all Clalit Health Services-South District, primary care physicians; 119 of these questionnaires (44.2%) were completed. Half of the primary care physicians thought that they should, always or almost always, have contact with the admitting ward in cases of internal medicine, oncology, surgery or pediatric admissions. However, the actual contact rate, according to their report, was only in a third of the cases. A telephone contact was more common than an actual visit of the patient in the ward. Computer communication between the hospital physicians and the primary care physicians is still insufficiently developed, although 96.6% of the primary care physicians check, with the aid of computer software, for information on their hospitalized patients. The main reasons to visit the hospitalized patient were severe medical conditions or uncertainty about the diagnosis; 79% of the physicians thought that visiting their patients strengthened the level of trust between them and their patients. There are sometimes communication difficulties and barriers between the primary care physicians and the ward's physicians due to partial information delivery and rejection from the hospital physicians. The main barriers for visiting admitted patients were workload and lack of pre-allocated time on the work schedule. No statistically significant differences were found between communication variables and primary care physician's personal and demographic characteristics. The communication between the primary care physician and the hospital physicians should be improved through

  13. Physicians' social competence in the provision of care to persons living in poverty: research protocol

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    Bedos Christophe P

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The quality of the physician-patient therapeutic relationship is a key factor in the effectiveness of care. Unfortunately, physicians and people living in poverty inhabit very different social milieux, and this great social distance hinders the development of a therapeutic alliance. Social competence is a process based on knowledge, skills and attitudes that support effective interaction between the physician and patient despite the intervening social distance. It enables physicians to better understand their patients' living conditions and to adapt care to patients' needs and abilities. Methods/Design This qualitative research is based on a comprehensive design using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 25 general practitioners working with low-income patients in Montreal's metropolitan area (Québec, Canada. Physicians will be recruited based on two criteria: they provide care to low-income patients with at least one chronic illness, and are identified by their peers as having expertise in providing care to a poor population. For this recruitment, we will draw upon contacts we have made in another research study (Loignon et al., 2009 involving clinics located in poor neighbourhoods. That study will include in-clinic observations and interviews with physicians, both of which will help us identify physicians who have developed skills for treating low-income patients. We will also use the snowball sampling technique, asking participants to refer us to other physicians who meet our inclusion criteria. The semi-structured interviews, of 60 to 90 minutes each, will be recorded and transcribed. Our techniques for ensuring internal validity will include data analysis of transcribed interviews, indexation and reduction of data with software qualitative analysis, and development and validation of interpretations. Discussion This research project will allow us to identify the dimensions of the social competence process that helps

  14. Using attachment theory in medical settings: implications for primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hooper, Lisa M; Tomek, Sara; Newman, Caroline R

    2012-02-01

    Mental health researchers, clinicians and clinical psychologists have long considered a good provider-patient relationship to be an important factor for positive treatment outcomes in a range of therapeutic settings. However, primary care physicians have been slow to consider how attachment theory may be used in the context of patient care in medical settings. In the current article, John Bowlby's attachment theory and proposed attachment styles are proffered as a framework to better understand patient behaviors, patient communication styles with physicians and the physician-patient relationship in medical settings. The authors recommend how primary care physicians and other health care providers can translate attachment theory to enhance practice behaviors and health-related communications in medical settings.

  15. Medicare managed care. How physicians can make it better.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roggin, G M

    1997-12-01

    The federal government is attempting to control anticipated, increased Medicare health care costs by providing the senior population with incentives to encourage their movement into managed care programs. For-profit corporate HMOs that currently dominate the managed care arena are coming under increased competitive pressure at a time when their perception of profiteering is undergoing increased public scrutiny. If physicians are to take advantage of this window of opportunity and successfully enter the Medicare managed care marketplace, they must identify the major deficiencies existing in the current model, and fashion a new product that divests itself of the profit orientation of current corporate HMOs. A nonprofit version of a highly integrated, multispecialty provider service organization (PSO) provides an appropriate model to effectively compete with the corporate HMO. The ideal physician-controlled managed care model must: develop a responsive policy board structure; create practice guidelines that decrease variation in physician practice; achieve an appropriate balance between primary and specialty medical care; and adopt a quality-assurance program that effectively addresses both process and outcome data.

  16. Burnout syndrome among physicians working in primary health care ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: The aim of the study was to reveal extent of burnout problem among primary care physicians and the socio-demographic factors affecting its occurrence. Methods: The target population included all physicians working in these two health regions in Kuwait. Two hundred physicians working in the primary health ...

  17. The duty of the physician to care for the family in pediatric palliative care: context, communication, and caring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Barbara L; Contro, Nancy; Koch, Kendra D

    2014-02-01

    Pediatric palliative care physicians have an ethical duty to care for the families of children with life-threatening conditions through their illness and bereavement. This duty is predicated on 2 important factors: (1) best interest of the child and (2) nonabandonment. Children exist in the context of a family and therefore excellent care for the child must include attention to the needs of the family, including siblings. The principle of nonabandonment is an important one in pediatric palliative care, as many families report being well cared for during their child's treatment, but feel as if the physicians and team members suddenly disappear after the death of the child. Family-centered care requires frequent, kind, and accurate communication with parents that leads to shared decision-making during treatment, care of parents and siblings during end-of-life, and assistance to the family in bereavement after death. Despite the challenges to this comprehensive care, physicians can support and be supported by their transdisciplinary palliative care team members in providing compassionate, ethical, and holistic care to the entire family when a child is ill.

  18. Physicians Perceptions of Shared Decision-Making in Neonatal and Pediatric Critical Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Claire A; Starks, Helene; O'Connor, M Rebecca; Bourget, Erica; Hays, Ross M; Doorenbos, Ardith Z

    2018-04-01

    Most children die in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units after decisions are made to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments. These decisions can be challenging when there are different views about the child's best interest and when there is a lack of clarity about how best to also consider the interests of the family. To understand how neonatal and pediatric critical care physicians balance and integrate the interests of the child and family in decisions about life-sustaining treatments. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 physicians from neonatal, pediatric, and cardiothoracic intensive care units in a single quaternary care pediatric hospital. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using content and thematic analysis. We identified 3 main themes: (1) beliefs about child and family interests; (2) disagreement about the child's best interest; and (3) decision-making strategies, including limiting options, being directive, staying neutral, and allowing parents to come to their own conclusions. Physicians described challenges to implementing shared decision-making including unequal power and authority, clinical uncertainty, and complexity of balancing child and family interests. They acknowledged determining the level of engagement in shared decision-making with parents (vs routine engagement) based on their perceptions of the best interests of the child and parent. Due to power imbalances, families' values and preferences may not be integrated in decisions or families may be excluded from discussions about goals of care. We suggest that a systematic approach to identify parental preferences and needs for decisional roles and information may reduce variability in parental involvement.

  19. Patient Perceptions of Whom is Most Involved in Their Care with Successive Duty Hour Limits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, Vineet M; Prochaska, Micah T; Farnan, Jeanne M; Meltzer, David O

    2015-09-01

    Although direct patient care is necessary for experiential learning during residency, inpatient perceptions of the roles of resident and attending physicians in their care may have changed with residency duty hours. We aimed to assess if patients' perceptions of who is most involved in their care changed with residency duty hours. This was a prospective observational study over 12 years at a single institution. Participants were 22,408 inpatients admitted to the general medicine teaching service from 2001 to 2013, who completed a 1-month follow-up phone interview. Percentage of inpatients who reported an attending, resident, or intern as most involved in their care by duty hour period (pre-2003, post-2003-pre-2011, post-2011). With successive duty hour limits, the percentage of patients who reported the attending as most involved in their care increased (pre-2003 20 %, post-2003-pre-2011 29 %, post-2011 37 %, p care (pre-2003 20 %, post-2003-pre-2011 17 %, post-2011 12 %, p duty hours limits, hospitalized patients were more likely to report the attending physician and less likely to report the resident or intern as most involved in their hospital care. Given the importance of experiential learning to the formation of clinical judgment for independent practice, further study on the implications of these trends for resident education and patient safety is warranted.

  20. How sequestration cuts affect primary care physicians and graduate medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauhan, Bindiya; Coffin, Janis

    2013-01-01

    On April 1, 2013, sequestration cuts went into effect impacting Medicare physician payments, graduate medical education, and many other healthcare agencies. The cuts range from 2% to 5%, affecting various departments and organizations. There is already a shortage of primary care physicians in general, not including rural or underserved areas, with limited grants for advanced training. The sequestration cuts negatively impact the future of many primary care physicians and hinder the care many Americans will receive over time.

  1. The physician-administrator as patient: distinctive aspects of medical care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappell, Mitchell S

    2011-01-01

    This article examines distinctive aspects of medical care experienced by a 55-year-old hospitalized for quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery who was also a senior physician-administrator (chief of gastroenterology) at the same hospital. The article describes eight distinctive aspects of administrator-physicians as patients, including special patient treatment; exalted patient expectations by hospital personnel; patient suppression of emotions; patient denial; self-doctoring; job stress contributing to disease; self-sacrifice to achieve better health; and rational medical decisions when not under stress. Health-care workers should recognize how these distinctive aspects of medical care and behavior affect administrator-physicians as patients, in order to mitigate their negative effects, potentiate their positive effects, and optimize the care of these patients.

  2. The communication between patient relatives and physicians in intensive care units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cicekci, Faruk; Duran, Numan; Ayhan, Bunyamin; Arican, Sule; Ilban, Omur; Kara, Iskender; Turkoglu, Melda; Yildirim, Fatma; Hasirci, Ismail; Karaibrahimoglu, Adnan; Kara, Inci

    2017-07-17

    Patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are often physically unable to communicate with their physicians. Thus, the sharing of information about the on-going treatment of the patients in ICUs is directly related to the communication attitudes governing a patient's relatives and the physician. This study aims to analyze the attitudes displayed by the relatives of patients and the physician with the purpose of determining the communication between the two parties. For data collection, two similar survey forms were created in context of the study; one for the relatives of the patients and one for the ICU physicians. The questionnaire included three sub-dimensions: informing, empathy and trust. The study included 181 patient relatives and 103 ICU physicians from three different cities and six hospitals. Based on the results of the questionnaire, identification of the mutual expectations and substance of the messages involved in the communication process between the ICU patients' relatives and physicians was made. The gender and various disciplines of the physicians and the time of the conversation with the patients' relatives were found to affect the communication attitude towards the patient. Moreover, the age of the patient's relatives, the level of education, the physician's perception, and the contact frequency with the patient when he/she was healthy were also proven to have an impact on the communication attitude of the physician. This study demonstrates the mutual expectations and substance of messages in the informing, empathy and trust sub-dimensions of the communication process between patient relatives and physicians in the ICU. The communication between patient relatives and physicians can be strengthened through a variety of training programs to improve communication skills.

  3. Mobility of US Rural Primary Care Physicians During 2000-2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGrail, Matthew R; Wingrove, Peter M; Petterson, Stephen M; Bazemore, Andrew W

    2017-07-01

    Despite considerable investment in increasing the number of primary care physicians in rural shortage areas, little is known about their movement rates and factors influencing their mobility. We aimed to characterize geographic mobility among rural primary care physicians, and to identify location and individual factors that influence such mobility. Using data from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile for each clinically active US physician, we created seven 2-year (biennial) mobility periods during 2000-2014. These periods were merged with county-level "rurality," physician supply, economic characteristics, key demographic measures, and individual physician characteristics. We computed (1) mobility rates of physicians by rurality; (2) linear regression models of county-level rural nonretention (departure); and (3) logit models of physicians leaving rural practice. Biennial turnover was about 17% among physicians aged 45 and younger, compared with 9% among physicians aged 46 to 65, with little difference between rural and metropolitan groups. County-level physician mobility was higher for counties that lacked a hospital (absolute increase = 5.7%), had a smaller population size, and had lower primary care physician supply, but area-level economic and demographic factors had little impact. Female physicians (odds ratios = 1.24 and 1.46 for those aged 45 or younger and those aged 46 to 65, respectively) and physicians born in a metropolitan area (odds ratios = 1.75 and 1.56 for those aged 45 or younger and those aged 46 to 65, respectively) were more likely to leave rural practice. These flndings provide national-level evidence of rural physician mobility rates and factors associated with both county-level retention and individual-level departures. Outcomes were notably poorer in the most remote locations and those already having poorer physician supply and professional support. Rural health workforce planners and policymakers must be cognizant of

  4. Collaboration between physicians and a hospital-based palliative care team in a general acute-care hospital in Japan

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    Nishikitani Mariko

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Continual collaboration between physicians and hospital-based palliative care teams represents a very important contributor to focusing on patients' symptoms and maintaining their quality of life during all stages of their illness. However, the traditionally late introduction of palliative care has caused misconceptions about hospital-based palliative care teams (PCTs among patients and general physicians in Japan. The objective of this study is to identify the factors related to physicians' attitudes toward continual collaboration with hospital-based PCTs. Methods This cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire-based survey was conducted to clarify physicians' attitudes toward continual collaboration with PCTs and to describe the factors that contribute to such attitudes. We surveyed 339 full-time physicians, including interns, employed in a general acute-care hospital in an urban area in Japan; the response rate was 53% (N = 155. We assessed the basic characteristics, experience, knowledge, and education of respondents. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the main factors affecting the physicians' attitudes toward PCTs. Results We found that the physicians who were aware of the World Health Organization (WHO analgesic ladder were 6.7 times (OR = 6.7, 95% CI = 1.98-25.79 more likely to want to treat and care for their patients in collaboration with the hospital-based PCTs than were those physicians without such awareness. Conclusion Basic knowledge of palliative care is important in promoting physicians' positive attitudes toward collaboration with hospital-based PCTs.

  5. Medical tourism in india: perceptions of physicians in tertiary care hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Senior physicians of modern medicine in India play a key role in shaping policies and public opinion and institutional management. This paper explores their perceptions of medical tourism (MT) within India which is a complex process involving international demands and policy shifts from service to commercialisation of health care for trade, gross domestic profit, and foreign exchange. Through interviews of 91 physicians in tertiary care hospitals in three cities of India, this paper explores four areas of concern: their understanding of MT, their views of the hospitals they work in, perceptions of the value and place of MT in their hospital and their views on the implications of MT for medical care in the country. An overwhelming majority (90%) of physicians in the private tertiary sector and 74.3 percent in the public tertiary sector see huge scope for MT in the private tertiary sector in India. The private tertiary sector physicians were concerned about their patients alone and felt that health of the poor was the responsibility of the state. The public tertiary sector physicians’ however, were sensitive to the problems of the common man and felt responsible. Even though the glamour of hi-tech associated with MT dazzled them, only 35.8 percent wanted MT in their hospitals and a total of 56 percent of them said MT cannot be a public sector priority. 10 percent in the private sector expressed reservations towards MT while the rest demanded state subsidies for MT. The disconnect between their concern for the common man and professionals views on MT was due to the lack of appreciation of the continuum between commercialisation, the denial of resources to public hospitals and shift of subsidies to the private sector. The paper highlights the differences and similarities in the perceptions and context of the two sets of physicians, presents evidence, that questions the support for MT and finally analyzes some key implications of MT on Indian health services, ethical

  6. The Phoenix Physician: defining a pathway toward leadership in patient-centered care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Good, Robert G; Bulger, John B; Hasty, Robert T; Hubbard, Kevin P; Schwartz, Elliott R; Sutton, John R; Troutman, Monte E; Nelinson, Donald S

    2012-08-01

    Health care delivery has evolved in reaction to scientific and technological discoveries, emergent patient needs, and market forces. A current focus on patient-centered care has pointed to the need for the reallocation of resources to improve access to and delivery of efficient, cost-effective, quality care. In response to this need, primary care physicians will find themselves in a new role as team leader. The American College of Osteopathic Internists has developed the Phoenix Physician, a training program that will prepare primary care residents and practicing physicians for the changes in health care delivery and provide them with skills such as understanding the contributions of all team members (including an empowered and educated patient), evaluating and treating patients, and applying performance metrics and information technology to measure and improve patient care and satisfaction. Through the program, physicians will also develop personal leadership and communication skills.

  7. The comprehensive care project: measuring physician performance in ambulatory practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmboe, Eric S; Weng, Weifeng; Arnold, Gerald K; Kaplan, Sherrie H; Normand, Sharon-Lise; Greenfield, Sheldon; Hood, Sarah; Lipner, Rebecca S

    2010-12-01

    To investigate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of comprehensively assessing physician-level performance in ambulatory practice. Ambulatory-based general internists in 13 states participated in the assessment. We assessed physician-level performance, adjusted for patient factors, on 46 individual measures, an overall composite measure, and composite measures for chronic, acute, and preventive care. Between- versus within-physician variation was quantified by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). External validity was assessed by correlating performance on a certification exam. Medical records for 236 physicians were audited for seven chronic and four acute care conditions, and six age- and gender-appropriate preventive services. Performance on the individual and composite measures varied substantially within (range 5-86 percent compliance on 46 measures) and between physicians (ICC range 0.12-0.88). Reliabilities for the composite measures were robust: 0.88 for chronic care and 0.87 for preventive services. Higher certification exam scores were associated with better performance on the overall (r = 0.19; pmeasures and by sampling feasible numbers of patients for each condition. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  8. Chiropractic physicians: toward a select conceptual understanding of bureaucratic structures and functions in the health care institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fredericks, Marcel; Kondellas, Bill; Hang, Lam; Fredericks, Janet; Ross, Michael WV

    2011-01-01

    Objective The purpose of this article is to present select concepts and theories of bureaucratic structures and functions so that chiropractic physicians and other health care professionals can use them in their respective practices. The society-culture-personality model can be applied as an organizational instrument for assisting chiropractors in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients irrespective of locality. Discussion Society-culture-personality and social meaningful interaction are examined in relationship to the structural and functional aspects of bureaucracy within the health care institution of a society. Implicit in the examination of the health care bureaucratic structures and functions of a society is the focus that chiropractic physicians and chiropractic students learn how to integrate, synthesize, and actualize values and virtues such as empathy, integrity, excellence, diversity, compassion, caring, and understanding with a deep commitment to self-reflection. Conclusion It is essential that future and current chiropractic physicians be aware of the structural and functional aspects of an organization so that chiropractic and other health care professionals are able to deliver care that involves the ingredients of quality, affordability, availability, accessibility, and continuity for their patients. PMID:22693481

  9. Chiropractic physicians: toward a select conceptual understanding of bureaucratic structures and functions in the health care institution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fredericks, Marcel; Kondellas, Bill; Hang, Lam; Fredericks, Janet; Ross, Michael Wv

    2011-12-01

    The purpose of this article is to present select concepts and theories of bureaucratic structures and functions so that chiropractic physicians and other health care professionals can use them in their respective practices. The society-culture-personality model can be applied as an organizational instrument for assisting chiropractors in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients irrespective of locality. Society-culture-personality and social meaningful interaction are examined in relationship to the structural and functional aspects of bureaucracy within the health care institution of a society. Implicit in the examination of the health care bureaucratic structures and functions of a society is the focus that chiropractic physicians and chiropractic students learn how to integrate, synthesize, and actualize values and virtues such as empathy, integrity, excellence, diversity, compassion, caring, and understanding with a deep commitment to self-reflection. It is essential that future and current chiropractic physicians be aware of the structural and functional aspects of an organization so that chiropractic and other health care professionals are able to deliver care that involves the ingredients of quality, affordability, availability, accessibility, and continuity for their patients.

  10. Impact of patient satisfaction ratings on physicians and clinical care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zgierska A

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Aleksandra Zgierska,1 David Rabago,1 Michael M Miller2–4 1Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, 2American Society of Addiction Medicine, Chevy Chase, MD, 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, 4Herrington Recovery Center, Rogers Memorial Hospital, Oconomowoc, WI, USA Background: Although patient satisfaction ratings often drive positive changes, they may have unintended consequences. Objective: The study reported here aimed to evaluate the clinician-perceived effects of patient satisfaction ratings on job satisfaction and clinical care. Methods: A 26-item survey, developed by a state medical society in 2012 to assess the effects of patient satisfaction surveys, was administered online to physician members of a state-level medical society. Respondents remained anonymous. Results: One hundred fifty five physicians provided responses (3.9% of the estimated 4,000 physician members of the state-level medical society, or approximately 16% of the state's emergency department [ED] physicians. The respondents were predominantly male (85% and practicing in solo or private practice (45%, hospital (43%, or academia (15%. The majority were ED (57%, followed by primary care (16% physicians. Fifty-nine percent reported that their compensation was linked to patient satisfaction ratings. Seventy-eight percent reported that patient satisfaction surveys moderately or severely affected their job satisfaction; 28% had considered quitting their job or leaving the medical profession. Twenty percent reported their employment being threatened because of patient satisfaction data. Almost half believed that pressure to obtain better scores promoted inappropriate care, including unnecessary antibiotic and opioid prescriptions, tests, procedures, and hospital admissions. Among 52 qualitative responses, only three were positive. Conclusion

  11. [Travel times of patients to ambulatory care physicians in Germany].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schang, Laura; Kopetsch, Thomas; Sundmacher, Leonie

    2017-12-01

    The time needed by patients to get to a doctor's office represents an important indicator of realised access to care. In Germany, findings on travel times are only available from surveys or for some regions. For the first time, this study examines nationwide and physician group-specific travel times in the ambulatory care sector in Germany and describes demographic, supply-side and spatial determinants of variations. Using a full review of patient consultations in the statutory health insurance system from 2009/2010 for 14 physician groups (approximately 518 million cases), case-related travel times by car between patients' places of residence and physician's practices were estimated at the municipal level. Physicians were reached in less than 30 min in 90.8% of cases for primary care physicians and up to 63% of cases for radiologists. Patients between 18 and under 30 years of age travel longer to get to the doctor than other age groups. The average travel time at the county level systematically differs between urban and rural planning areas. In the case of gynecologists, dermatologists and ophthalmologists, the average journey time decreases with increasing physician density at the county level, but remains approximately constant from a recognisable point of inflection. There is no association between primary care physician density and travel time at the district level. Spatial analyses show physician group-specific patterns of regional concentrations with an increased proportion of cases with very long travel times. Patients' travel times are influenced by supply- and demand-side determinants. Interactions between influential determinants should be analysed in depth to examine the extent to which the time travelled is an expression of regional under- or over-supply rather than an expression of patient preferences.

  12. Word of mouth and physician referrals still drive health care provider choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Ha T; Lauer, Johanna R

    2008-12-01

    Sponsors of health care price and quality transparency initiatives often identify all consumers as their target audiences, but the true audiences for these programs are much more limited. In 2007, only 11 percent of American adults looked for a new primary care physician, 28 percent needed a new specialist physician and 16 percent underwent a medical procedure at a new facility, according to a new national study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Among consumers who found a new provider, few engaged in active shopping or considered price or quality information--especially when choosing specialists or facilities for medical procedures. When selecting new primary care physicians, half of all consumers relied on word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and relatives, but many also used doctor recommendations (38%) and health plan information (35%), and nearly two in five used multiple information sources when choosing a primary care physician. However, when choosing specialists and facilities for medical procedures, most consumers relied exclusively on physician referrals. Use of online provider information was low, ranging from 3 percent for consumers undergoing procedures to 7 percent for consumers choosing new specialists to 11 percent for consumers choosing new primary care physicians

  13. Experiences of primary care physicians and staff following lean workflow redesign.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hung, Dorothy Y; Harrison, Michael I; Truong, Quan; Du, Xue

    2018-04-10

    In response to growing pressures on primary care, leaders have introduced a wide range of workforce and practice innovations, including team redesigns that delegate some physician tasks to nonphysicians. One important question is how such innovations affect care team members, particularly in view of growing dissatisfaction and burnout among healthcare professionals. We examine the work experiences of primary care physicians and staff after implementing Lean-based workflow redesigns. This included co-locating physician and medical assistant dyads, delegating significant responsibilities to nonphysician staff, and mandating greater coordination and communication among all care team members. The redesigns were implemented and scaled in three phases across 46 primary care departments in a large ambulatory care delivery system. We fielded 1164 baseline and 1333 follow-up surveys to physicians and other nonphysician staff (average 73% response rate) to assess workforce engagement (e.g., job satisfaction, motivation), perceptions of the work environment, and job-related burnout. We conducted multivariate regressions to detect changes in experiences after the redesign, adjusting for respondent characteristics and clustering of within-clinic responses. We found that both physicians and nonphysician staff reported higher levels of engagement and teamwork after implementing redesigns. However, they also experienced higher levels of burnout and perceptions of the workplace as stressful. Trends were the same for both occupational groups, but the increased reports of stress were greater among physicians. Additionally, members of all clinics, except for the pilot site that developed the new workflows, reported higher burnout, while perceptions of workplace stress increased in all clinics after the redesign. Our findings partially align with expectations of work redesign as a route to improving physician and staff experiences in delivering care. Although teamwork and engagement

  14. Plastic Surgery Overseas: How Much Should a Physician Risk in the Pursuit of Higher-Quality Continuity of Care?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schweikart, Scott

    2018-04-01

    In this article I discuss medical tourism, whereby patients go overseas for plastic surgery treatment in order to save money. However, if malpractice occurs abroad, there are several barriers that make it difficult for patients to recover damages. I explain these legal barriers and then discuss the possible causes of action patients can have over their "domestic physician" (their personal physician who might have referred surgery abroad or who gives postoperative follow-up care) and how these causes of action can create avenues of legal recovery not otherwise available. The possible liability of the domestic physician in the context of surgical malpractice abroad creates an ethical tension in the pursuit of higher-quality continuity of care, as the more involved the physician becomes in the process, the more likely he or she will assume liability. © 2018 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

  15. Understanding a Nonlinear Causal Relationship Between Rewards and Physicians' Contributions in Online Health Care Communities: Longitudinal Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jying-Nan; Chiu, Ya-Ling; Yu, Haiyan; Hsu, Yuan-Teng

    2017-12-21

    The online health care community is not just a place for the public to share physician reviews or medical knowledge, but also a physician-patient communication platform. The medical resources of developing countries are relatively inadequate, and the online health care community is a potential solution to alleviate the phenomenon of long hospital queues and the lack of medical resources in rural areas. However, the success of the online health care community depends on online contributions by physicians. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of incentive mechanisms on physician's online contribution behavior in the online health community. We addressed the following questions: (1) from which specialty area are physicians more likely to participate in online health care community activities, (2) what are the factors affecting physician online contributions, and (3) do incentive mechanisms, including psychological and material rewards, result in differences of physician online contributions? We designed a longitudinal study involving a data sample in three waves. All data were collected from the Good Doctor website, which is the largest online health care community in China. We first used descriptive statistics to investigate the physician online contribution behavior in its entirety. Then multiple linear and quadratic regression models were applied to verify the causal relationship between rewards and physician online contribution. Our sample included 40,300 physicians from 3607 different hospitals, 10 different major specialty areas, and 31 different provinces or municipalities. Based on the multiple quadratic regression model, we found that the coefficients of the control variables, past physician online contributions, doctor review rating, clinic title, hospital level, and city level, were .415, .189, -.099, -.106, and -.143, respectively. For the psychological (or material) rewards, the standardized coefficient of the main effect was 0.261 (or 0

  16. Advance Care Planning and Physician Orders in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: A Nationwide Retrospective Study Among Professional Caregivers and Relatives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vandervoort, A.; Houttekier, D.; Block, L.; van der Steen, J.T.; van der Stichele, R.; Deliens, L.

    2014-01-01

    Context: Advance care planning (ACP) is key to good palliative care for nursing home (NH) residents with dementia. Objectives: We examined the extent to which the family physicians (FPs), nurses, and the relative most involved in the resident's care are informed about ACP, written advance

  17. Physicians' and consumers' conflicting attitudes toward health care advertising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krohn, F B; Flynn, C

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore the conflicting attitudes held by physicians and health care consumers toward health care advertising in an attempt to resolve the question. The paper introduces the differing positions held by the two groups. The rationale behind physicians' attitudes is then presented that advertising can be unethical, misleading, deceptive, and lead to unnecessary price increases. They believe that word-of-mouth does and should play the major role in attracting new patients. The opposite view of consumers is then presented which contends that health care advertising leads to higher consumer awareness of services, better services, promotes competitive pricing, and lowers rather than raises health care costs. The final section of the paper compares the arguments presented and concludes that health care advertising clearly has a place in the health care industry.

  18. Addressing the primary care physician shortage in an evolving medical workforce

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lakhan Shaheen E

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Primary care physicians have been shown to play an important role in the general health of the communities in which they serve. In spite of their importance, however, there has been a decrease in the number of physicians interested in pursuing primary care fields, while the proportion of specialists continues to increase. The prediction of an overall physician shortage only augments this issue in the US, where this uneven distribution is particularly evident. As such, serious effort to increase the number of practicing primary care physicians is both necessary and beneficial for meeting this country's health care needs. Discussion There are several factors at play which contribute to the decrease in the number of practicing physicians in primary specialties. Lifestyle concerns, such as schedule and income, as well as the lack of prestige associated with this field seem to be among the most prevalent reasons cited for the diminishing interest. Multifaceted concerns such as these, however, are difficult to adequately invalidate; doing so would not only require a great deal research, but also a good deal of time – a resource which is in short supply given the current physician shortage being faced. Thus, a more immediate solution may lie in the increased recruitment and continued support of those individuals who are already associated with primary care service. This is particularly relevant given the Association of American Medical College's goal of increasing medical school enrollment by 15% over the next 10 years. Several groups have been shown to be large contributors to primary care in the US. Here, we focus on three such groups: minority students, International Medical Graduates (IMGs and Osteopathic Physicians (DOs. Although these groups are highly diverse individually, they all share the distinction of being underutilized in regard to the current primary care shortages faced. Thus, through more fully accentuating these

  19. Knowledge, attitudes and misconceptions of primary care physicians regarding fever in children: a cross sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demir Figen

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Fever is an extremely common sign in paediatric patients and the most common cause for a child to be taken to the doctor. The literature indicates that physicians and parents have too many misconceptions and conflicting results about fever management. In this study we aim to identify knowledge, attitudes and misconceptions of primary care physicians regarding fever in children. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in April-May 2010 involving primary care physicians (n=80. The physicians were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used. Results In our study only 10% of the physicians knew that a body temperature of above 37.2°C according to an auxiliary measurement is defined as fever. Only 26.2% of the physicians took into consideration signs and symptoms other than fever to prescribe antipyretics. 85% of the physicians prescribed antipyretics to control fever or prevent complications of fever especially febrile seizures. Most of the physicians (76.3% in this study reported that the height of fever may be used as an indicator for severe bacterial infection. A great majority of physicians (91.3% stated that they advised parents to alternate the use of ibuprofen and paracetamol. Conclusions There were misconceptions about the management and complications of fever. There is a perceived need to improve the recognition, assessment, and management of fever with regards to underlying illnesses in children.

  20. Is physician supervision of the capsaicin 8% patch administration procedure really necessary? An opinion from health care professionals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kern KU

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Kai-Uwe Kern,1 Janice England,2 Andrea Roth-Daniek,3 Till Wagner3 1Institute for Pain Medicine/Pain Practice, Wiesbaden, Germany; 2Pain Medicine and Anaesthesia, The Christie National Health Service Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; 3Pain Therapy and Palliative Care Department, Medizinisches Zentrum Städteregion Aachen, Aachen, Germany Abstract: Neuropathic pain is difficult to treat and can have a severe effect on quality of life. The capsaicin 8% patch is a novel treatment option that directly targets the source of peripheral neuropathic pain. It can provide pain relief for up to 12 weeks in patients with peripheral neuropathic pain. Treatment with the capsaicin 8% patch follows a clearly defined procedure, and patch application must be carried out by a physician or a health care professional under the supervision of a physician. Nonetheless, in our experience, nurses often take the lead role in capsaicin 8% patch application without the involvement of a physician. We believe that the nurse's key role is of benefit to the patients, as he or she may be better placed, because of time constraints and patient relationships, to support the patient through the application procedure than a physician. Moreover, a number of frequently prescribed drugs, including botulinum toxin and infliximab, can be administered by health care professionals without the requirement for physician supervision. Here we argue that current guidance should be amended to remove the requirement for physician supervision during application of the capsaicin 8% patch. Keywords: capsaicin, neuropathic pain, topical, health care professional, physician, nurse

  1. Physician education programme improves quality of diabetes care ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objectives. To determine if a physician education programme and a structured consultation schedule would improve the quality of diabetes patient care in a diabetes clinic. Setting. Two tertiary care diabetes clinics at Kalafong Hospital, Pretoria. Study design. Quasi-experimental controlled before-and-after study. Methods.

  2. Physician burnout, work engagement and the quality of patient care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loerbroks, A; Glaser, J; Vu-Eickmann, P; Angerer, P

    2017-07-01

    Research suggests that burnout in physicians is associated with poorer patient care, but evidence is inconclusive. More recently, the concept of work engagement has emerged (i.e. the beneficial counterpart of burnout) and has been associated with better care. Evidence remains markedly sparse however. To examine the associations of burnout and work engagement with physicians' self-perceived quality of care. We drew on cross-sectional data from physicians in Germany. We used a six-item version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory measuring exhaustion and depersonalization. We employed the nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to assess work engagement and its subcomponents: vigour, dedication and absorption. We measured physicians' own perceptions of their quality of care by a six-item instrument covering practices and attitudes. We used continuous and categorized dependent and independent variables in linear and logistic regression analyses. There were 416 participants. In multivariable linear regression analyses, increasing burnout total scores were associated with poorer perceived quality of care [unstandardized regression coefficient (b) = 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37, 0.54]. This association was stronger for depersonalization (b = 0.37, 95% CI 0.29, 0.44) than for exhaustion (b = 0.26, 95% CI 0.18, 0.33). Increasing work engagement was associated with higher perceived quality care (b for the total score = -0.20, 95% CI -0.28, -0.11). This was confirmed for each subcomponent with stronger associations for vigour (b = -0.21, 95% CI -0.29, -0.13) and dedication (b = -0.16, 95% CI -0.24, -0.09) than for absorption (b = -0.12, 95% CI -0.20, -0.04). Logistic regression analyses yielded comparable results. Physician burnout was associated with self-perceived poorer patient care, while work engagement related to self-reported better care. Studies are needed to corroborate these findings, particularly for work engagement. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford

  3. Controlling health costs: physician responses to patient expectations for medical care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabbatini, Amber K; Tilburt, Jon C; Campbell, Eric G; Sheeler, Robert D; Egginton, Jason S; Goold, Susan D

    2014-09-01

    Physicians have dual responsibilities to make medical decisions that serve their patients' best interests but also utilize health care resources wisely. Their ability to practice cost-consciously is particularly challenged when faced with patient expectations or requests for medical services that may be unnecessary. To understand how physicians consider health care resources and the strategies they use to exercise cost-consciousness in response to patient expectations and requests for medical care. Exploratory, qualitative focus groups of practicing physicians were conducted. Participants were encouraged to discuss their perceptions of resource constraints, and experiences with redundant, unnecessary and marginally beneficial services, and were asked about patient requests or expectations for particular services. Sixty-two physicians representing a variety of specialties and practice types participated in nine focus groups in Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota in 2012 MEASUREMENTS: Iterative thematic content analysis of focus group transcripts Physicians reported making trade-offs between a variety of financial and nonfinancial resources, considering not only the relative cost of medical decisions and alternative services, but the time and convenience of patients, their own time constraints, as well as the logistics of maintaining a successful practice. They described strategies and techniques to educate patients, build trust, or substitute less costly alternatives when appropriate, often adapting their management to the individual patient and clinical environment. Physicians often make nuanced trade-offs in clinical practice aimed at efficient resource use within a complex flow of clinical work and patient expectations. Understanding the challenges faced by physicians and the strategies they use to exercise cost-consciousness provides insight into policy measures that will address physician's roles in health care resource use.

  4. Caring for LGBTQ patients: Methods for improving physician cultural competence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Elizabeth W; Nakhai, Maliheh

    2016-05-01

    This article summarizes the components of a curriculum used to teach family medicine residents and faculty about LGBTQ patients' needs in a family medicine residency program in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. This curriculum was developed to provide primary care physicians and physicians-in-training with skills to provide better health care for LGBTQ-identified patients. The curriculum covers topics that range from implicit and explicit bias and appropriate terminology to techniques for crafting patient-centered treatment plans. Additionally, focus is placed on improving the understanding of specific and unique barriers to competent health care encountered by LGBTQ patients. Through facilitated discussion, learners explore the health disparities that disproportionately affect LGBTQ individuals and develop skills that will improve their ability to care for LGBTQ patients. The goal of the curriculum is to teach family medicine faculty and physicians in training how to more effectively communicate with and treat LGBTQ patients in a safe, non-judgmental, and welcoming primary care environment. © The Author(s) 2016.

  5. Examining chronic care patient preferences for involvement in health-care decision making: the case of Parkinson's disease patients in a patient-centred clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zizzo, Natalie; Bell, Emily; Lafontaine, Anne-Louise; Racine, Eric

    2017-08-01

    Patient-centred care is a recommended model of care for Parkinson's disease (PD). It aims to provide care that is respectful and responsive to patient preferences, values and perspectives. Provision of patient-centred care should entail considering how patients want to be involved in their care. To understand the participation preferences of patients with PD from a patient-centred care clinic in health-care decision-making processes. Mixed-methods study with early-stage Parkinson's disease patients from a patient-centred care clinic. Study involved a modified Autonomy Preference Index survey (N=65) and qualitative, semi-structured in-depth interviews, analysed using thematic qualitative content analysis (N=20, purposefully selected from survey participants). Interviews examined (i) the patient preferences for involvement in health-care decision making; (ii) patient perspectives on the patient-physician relationship; and (iii) patient preferences for communication of information relevant to decision making. Preferences for participation in decision making varied between individuals and also within individuals depending on decision type, relational and contextual factors. Patients had high preferences for communication of information, but with acknowledged limits. The importance of communication in the patient-physician relationship was emphasized. Patient preferences for involvement in decision making are dynamic and support shared decision making. Relational autonomy corresponds to how patients envision their participation in decision making. Clinicians may need to assess patient preferences on an on-going basis. Our results highlight the complexities of decision-making processes. Improved understanding of individual preferences could enhance respect for persons and make for patient-centred care that is truly respectful of individual patients' wants, needs and values. © 2016 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. End-of-life care beliefs among Hindu physicians in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramalingam, Vijaya Sivalingam; Saeed, Fahad; Sinnakirouchenan, Ramapriya; Holley, Jean L; Srinivasan, Sinnakirouchenan

    2015-02-01

    Several studies from the United States and Europe showed that physicians' religiosity is associated with their approach to end-of-life care beliefs. No such studies have focused exclusively on Hindu physicians practicing in the United States. A 34-item questionnaire was sent to 293 Hindu physicians in the United States. Most participants believed that their religious beliefs do not influence their practice of medicine and do not interfere with withdrawal of life support. The US practice of discussing end-of-life issues with the patient, rather than primarily with the family, seems to have been adopted by Hindu physicians practicing in the United States. It is likely that the ethical, cultural, and patient-centered environment of US health care has influenced the practice of end-of-life care by Hindu physicians in this country. © The Author(s) 2013.

  7. Organizational factors affecting the adoption of diabetes care management processes in physician organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Rui; Simon, Jodi; Bodenheimer, Thomas; Gillies, Robin R; Casalino, Lawrence; Schmittdiel, Julie; Shortell, Stephen M

    2004-10-01

    To describe the extent of adoption of diabetes care management processes in physician organizations in the U.S. and to investigate the organizational factors that affect the adoption of diabetes care management processes. Data are derived from the National Survey of Physician Organizations and the Management of Chronic Illness, conducted in 2000-2001. A total of 1,104 of the 1,590 physician organizations identified responded to the survey. The extent of adoption of four diabetes care management processes is measured by an index consisting of the organization's use of diabetic patient registries, clinical practice guidelines, case management, and physician feedback. The ordinary least-squares model is used to determine the association of organizational characteristics with the adoption of diabetes care management processes in physician organizations. A logistic regression model is used to determine the association of organizational characteristics with the adoption of individual diabetes care management processes. Of the 987 physician organizations studied that treat patients with diabetes, 48% either do not use any or use only one of the four diabetes care management processes. A total of 20% use two care management processes, and 32% use three or four processes. External incentives to improve quality, computerized clinical information systems, and ownership by hospitals or health maintenance organizations are strongly associated with the diabetes care management index and the adoption of individual diabetes care management processes. Policies to encourage external incentives to improve quality and to facilitate the adoption of computerized clinical information technology may promote greater use of diabetes care management processes. Copyright 2004 American Diabetes Association

  8. Physician Burnout and the Calling to Care for the Dying: A National Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, John D; Hunt, Natalie B; Ravella, Krishna C; Jun, Christine S; Curlin, Farr A

    2017-12-01

    Physician burnout raises concerns over what sustains physicians' career motivations. We assess whether physicians in end-of-life specialties had higher rates of burnout and/or calling to care for the dying. We also examined whether the patient centeredness of the clinical environment was associated with burnout. In 2010 to 2011, we conducted a national survey of US physicians from multiple specialties. Primary outcomes were a validated single-item measure of burnout or sense of calling to end-of-life care. Primary predictors of burnout (or calling) included clinical specialty, frequency of encounters with dying patients, and patient centeredness of the clinical environments ("My clinical environment prioritizes the need of the patient over maximizing revenue"). Adjusted response rate among eligible respondents was 62% (1156 of 1878). Nearly a quarter of physicians (23%) experienced burnout, and rates were similar across all specialties. Half of the responding physicians (52%) agreed that they felt called to take care of patients who are dying. Burned-out physicians were more likely to report working in profit-centered clinical environments (multivariate odds ratio [OR] of 1.9; confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-2.8) or experiencing emotional exhaustion when caring for the dying (multivariate OR of 2.1; CI: 1.4-3.0). Physicians who identified their work as a calling were more likely to work in end-of-life specialties, to feel emotionally energized when caring for the dying, and to be religious. Physicians from end-of-life specialties not only did not have increased rates of burnout but they were also more likely to report a sense of calling in caring for the dying.

  9. Impact of Physician Asthma Care Education on Patient Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabana, Michael D.; Slish, Kathryn K.; Evans, David; Mellins, Robert B.; Brown, Randall W.; Lin, Xihong; Kaciroti, Niko; Clark, Noreen M.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness of a continuing medical education program, Physician Asthma Care Education, in improving pediatricians' asthma therapeutic and communication skills and patients' health care utilization for asthma. Methods: We conducted a randomized trial in 10 regions in the United States. Primary care providers were…

  10. Differences between early and late involvement of palliative home care in oncology care: A focus group study with palliative home care teams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhollander, Naomi; Deliens, Luc; Van Belle, Simon; De Vleminck, Aline; Pardon, Koen

    2018-05-01

    To date, no randomised controlled trials on the integration of specialised palliative home care into oncology care have been identified. Information on whether existing models of integrated care are applicable to the home care system and how working procedures and skills of the palliative care teams might require adaptation is missing. To gain insight into differences between early and late involvement and the effect on existing working procedures and skills as perceived by palliative home care teams. Qualitative study - focus group interviews. Six palliative home care teams in Flanders, Belgium. Participants included physicians, nurses and psychologists. Differences were found concerning (1) reasons for initiation, (2) planning of care process, (3) focus on future goals versus problems, (4) opportunity to provide holistic care, (5) empowerment of patients and (6) empowerment of professional caregivers. A shift from a medical approach to a more holistic approach is the most noticeable. Being involved earlier also results in a more structured follow-up and in empowering the patient to be part of the decision-making process. Early involvement creates the need for transmural collaboration, which leads to the teams taking on more supporting and coordinating tasks. Being involved earlier leads to different tasks and working procedures and to the need for transmural collaboration. Future research might focus on the development of an intervention model for the early integration of palliative home care into oncology care. To develop this model, components of existing models might need to be adapted or extended.

  11. Assessing predictors of intention to prescribe sick leave among primary care physicians using the theory of planned behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swarna Nantha, Yogarabindranath; Wee, Lei Hum; Chan, Caryn Mei-Hsien

    2018-01-16

    Providing sickness certification is a decision that primary care physicians make on a daily basis. The majority of sickness certification studies in the literature involve a general assessment of physician or patient behaviour without the use of a robust psychological framework to guide research accuracy. To address this deficiency, this study utilized the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to specifically gauge the intention and other salient predictors related to sickness certification prescribing behaviour amongst primary care physicians. A cross-sectional study was conducted among N = 271 primary care physicians from 86 primary care practices throughout two states in Malaysia. Questionnaires used were specifically developed based on the TPB, consisting of both direct and indirect measures related to the provision of sickness leave. Questionnaire validity was established through factor analysis and the determination of internal consistency between theoretically related constructs. The temporal stability of the indirect measures was determined via the test-retest correlation analysis. Structural equation modelling was conducted to determine the strength of predictors related to intentions. The mean scores for intention to provide patients with sickness was low. The Cronbach α value for the direct measures was good: overall physician intent to provide sick leave (0.77), physician attitude towards prescribing sick leave for patients (0.77) and physician attitude in trusting the intention of patients seeking sick leave (0.83). The temporal stability of the indirect measures of the questionnaire was satisfactory with significant correlation between constructs separated by an interval of two weeks (p sick leave to patients. An integrated behavioural model utilizing the TPB could help fully explain the complex act of providing sickness leave to patients. Findings from this study could assist relevant agencies to facilitate the creation of policies that may help

  12. Bridges to Excellence--recognizing high-quality care: analysis of physician quality and resource use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenthal, Meredith B; de Brantes, Francois S; Sinaiko, Anna D; Frankel, Matthew; Robbins, Russell D; Young, Sara

    2008-10-01

    To examine whether physicians who sought and received Bridges to Excellence (BTE) recognition performed better than similar physicians on a standardized set of population-based performance measures. Cross-sectional comparison of performance data. Using a claims dataset of all commercially insured members from 6 health plans in Massachusetts, we examined population-based measures of quality and resource use for physicians recognized by the BTE programs Physician Office Link and Diabetes Care Link, compared with nonrecognized physicians in the same specialties. Differences in performance were tested using generalized linear models. Physician Office Link-recognized physicians performed significantly better than their nonrecognized peers on measures of cervical cancer screening, mammography, and glycosylated hemoglobin testing. Diabetes Care Link-recognized physicians performed significantly better on all 4 diabetes process measures of quality, with the largest differences observed in microalbumin screening (17.7%). Patients of Physician Office Link-recognized physicians had a significantly greater percentage of their resource use accounted for by evaluation and management services (3.4%), and a smaller percentage accounted for by facility (-1.6%), inpatient ancillary (-0.1%), and nonmanagement outpatient services (-1.0%). After adjustment for patient age and sex, and case mix, Physician Office Link-recognized physicians had significantly fewer episodes per patient (0.13) and lower resource use per episode (dollars 130), but findings were mixed for Diabetes Care Link-recognized physicians. Our findings suggest that the BTE approach to ascertaining physician quality identifies physicians who perform better on claims-based quality measures and primary care physicians who use a less resource-intensive practice style.

  13. Job satisfaction among primary care physicians: results of a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behmann, Mareike; Schmiemann, Guido; Lingner, Heidrun; Kühne, Franziska; Hummers-Pradier, Eva; Schneider, Nils

    2012-03-01

    A shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs) seems likely in Germany in the near future and already exists in some parts of the country. Many currently practicing PCPs will soon reach retirement age, and recruiting young physicians for family practice is difficult. The attractiveness of primary care for young physicians depends on the job satisfaction of currently practicing PCPs. We studied job satisfaction among PCPs in Lower Saxony, a large federal state in Germany. In 2009, we sent a standardized written questionnaire on overall job satisfaction and on particular aspects of medical practice to 3296 randomly chosen PCPs and internists in family practice in Lower Saxony (50% of the entire target population). 1106 physicians (34%) responded; their mean age was 52, and 69% were men. 64% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their job overall. There were particularly high rates of satisfaction with patient contact (91%) and working atmosphere (87% satisfied or very satisfied). In contrast, there were high rates of dissatisfaction with administrative tasks (75% dissatisfied or not at all satisfied). The results were more indifferent concerning payment and work life balance. Overall, younger PCPs and physicians just entering practice were more satisfied than their older colleagues who had been in practice longer. PCPs are satisfied with their job overall. However, there is significant dissatisfaction with administrative tasks. Improvements in this area may contribute to making primary care more attractive to young physicians.

  14. Preconception care by family physicians and general practitioners in Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fetters Michael D

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Preconception care provided by family physicians/general practitioners (FP/GPs can provide predictable benefits to mothers and infants. The objective of this study was to elucidate knowledge of, attitudes about, and practices of preconception care by FP/GPs in Japan. Methods A survey was distributed to physician members of the Japanese Academy of Family Medicine. The questionnaire addressed experiences of preconception education in medical school and residency, frequency of preconception care in clinical practice, attitudes about providing preconception care, and perceived need for preconception education to medical students and residents. Results Two hundred and sixty-eight of 347 (77% eligible physicians responded. The most common education they reported receiving was about smoking cessation (71%, and the least was about folic acid supplementation (12%. Many participants reported providing smoking cessation in their practice (60%, though only about one third of respondents advise restricting alcohol intake. Few reported advising calcium supplementation (10% or folic acid supplementation (4%. About 70% reported their willingness to provide preconception care. Almost all participants believe medical students and residents should have education about preconception care. Conclusion FP/GPs in Japan report little training in preconception care and few currently provide it. With training, most participants are willing to provide preconception care themselves and think medical students and residents should receive this education.

  15. Educational outreach and collaborative care enhances physician's perceived knowledge about Developmental Coordination Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaines, Robin; Missiuna, Cheryl; Egan, Mary; McLean, Jennifer

    2008-01-24

    Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental condition that affects 5-6% of children. When not recognized and properly managed during the child's development, DCD can lead to academic failure, mental health problems and poor physical fitness. Physicians, working in collaboration with rehabilitation professionals, are in an excellent position to recognize and manage DCD. This study was designed to determine the feasibility and impact of an educational outreach and collaborative care model to improve chronic disease management of children with DCD. The intervention included educational outreach and collaborative care for children with suspected DCD. Physicians were educated by and worked with rehabilitation professionals from February 2005 to April 2006. Mixed methods evaluation approach documented the process and impact of the intervention. Physicians: 750 primary care physicians from one major urban area and outlying regions were invited to participate; 147 physicians enrolled in the project. Children: 125 children were identified and referred with suspected DCD. The main outcome was improvement in knowledge and perceived skill of physicians concerning their ability to screen, diagnose and manage DCD. At baseline 91.1% of physicians were unaware of the diagnosis of DCD, and only 1.6% could diagnose condition. Post-intervention, 91% of participating physicians reported greater knowledge about DCD and 29.2% were able to diagnose DCD compared to 0.5% of non-participating physicians. 100% of physicians who participated in collaborative care indicated they would continue to use the project materials and resources and 59.4% reported they would recommend or share the materials with medical colleagues. In addition, 17.6% of physicians not formally enrolled in the project reported an increase in knowledge of DCD. Physicians receiving educational outreach visits significantly improved their knowledge about DCD and their ability to identify and

  16. US approaches to physician payment: the deconstruction of primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berenson, Robert A; Rich, Eugene C

    2010-06-01

    The purpose of this paper is to address why the three dominant alternatives to compensating physicians (fee-for-service, capitation, and salary) fall short of what is needed to support enhanced primary care in the patient-centered medical home, and the relevance of such payment reforms as pay-for-performance and episodes/bundling. The review illustrates why prevalent physician payment mechanisms in the US have failed to adequately support primary care and why innovative approaches to primary care payment play such a prominent role in the PCMH discussion. FFS payment for office visits has never effectively rewarded all the activities that comprise prototypical primary care and may contribute to the "hamster on a treadmill" problems in current medical practice. Capitation payments are associated with risk adjustment challenges and, perhaps, public perceptions of conflict with patients' best interests. Most payers don't employ and therefore cannot generally place physicians on salary; while in theory such salary payments might neutralize incentives, operationally, "time is money;" extra effort devoted to meeting the needs of a more complex patient will likely reduce the services available to others. Fee-for-service, the predominant physician payment scheme, has contributed to both the continuing decline in the primary care workforce and the capability to serve patients well. Yet, the conceptual alternative payment approaches, modified fee-for-service (including fee bundles), capitation, and salary, each have their own problems. Accordingly, new payment models will likely be required to support restoration of primary care to its proper role in the US health care system, and to promote and sustain the development of patient-centered medical homes.

  17. Identification of physicians providing comprehensive primary care in Ontario: a retrospective analysis using linked administrative data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultz, Susan E; Glazier, Richard H

    2017-12-19

    Given the changing landscape of primary care, there may be fewer primary care physicians available to provide a broad range of services to patients of all age groups and health conditions. We sought to identify physicians with comprehensive primary care practices in Ontario using administrative data, investigating how many and what proportion of primary care physicians provided comprehensive primary care and how this changed over time. We identified the pool of active primary care physicians in linked population-based databases for Ontario from 1992/93 to 2014/15. After excluding those who saw patients fewer than 44 days per year, we identified physicians as providing comprehensive care if more than half of their services were for core primary care and if these services fell into at least 7 of 22 activity areas. Physicians with 50% or less of their services for core primary care but with more than 50% in a single location or type of service were identified as being in focused practice. In 2014/15, there were 12 891 physicians in the primary care pool: 1254 (9.7%) worked fewer than 44 days per year, 1619 (12.6%) were in focused practice, and 1009 (7.8%) could not be classified. The proportion in comprehensive practice ranged from 67.5% to 74.9% between 1992/93 and 2014/15, with a peak in 2002/03 and relative stability from 2009/10 to 2014/15. Over this period, there was an increase of 8.8% in population per comprehensive primary care physician. We found that just over two-thirds of primary care physicians provided comprehensive care in 2014/15, which indicates that traditional estimates of the primary care physician workforce may be too high. Although implementation will vary by setting and available data, this approach is likely applicable elsewhere. Copyright 2017, Joule Inc. or its licensors.

  18. Evidence-based medicine in primary care: qualitative study of family physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dantas Guilherme

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The objectives of this study were: a to examine physician attitudes to and experience of the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM in primary care; b to investigate the influence of patient preferences on clinical decision-making; and c to explore the role of intuition in family practice. Method Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of 15 family physicians purposively selected from respondents to a national survey on EBM mailed to a random sample of Canadian family physicians. Results Participants mainly welcomed the promotion of EBM in the primary care setting. A significant number of barriers and limitations to the implementation of EBM were identified. EBM is perceived by some physicians as a devaluation of the 'art of medicine' and a threat to their professional/clinical autonomy. Issues regarding the trustworthiness and credibility of evidence were of great concern, especially with respect to the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. Attempts to become more evidence-based often result in the experience of conflicts. Patient factors exert a powerful influence on clinical decision-making and can serve as trumps to research evidence. A widespread belief that intuition plays a vital role in primary care reinforced views that research evidence must be considered alongside other factors such as patient preferences and the clinical judgement and experience of the physician. Discussion Primary care physicians are increasingly keen to consider research evidence in clinical decision-making, but there are significant concerns about the current model of EBM. Our findings support the proposed revisions to EBM wherein greater emphasis is placed on clinical expertise and patient preferences, both of which remain powerful influences on physician behaviour.

  19. Evidence-based medicine in primary care: qualitative study of family physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracy, C Shawn; Dantas, Guilherme Coelho; Upshur, Ross E G

    2003-05-09

    The objectives of this study were: a) to examine physician attitudes to and experience of the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in primary care; b) to investigate the influence of patient preferences on clinical decision-making; and c) to explore the role of intuition in family practice. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of 15 family physicians purposively selected from respondents to a national survey on EBM mailed to a random sample of Canadian family physicians. Participants mainly welcomed the promotion of EBM in the primary care setting. A significant number of barriers and limitations to the implementation of EBM were identified. EBM is perceived by some physicians as a devaluation of the 'art of medicine' and a threat to their professional/clinical autonomy. Issues regarding the trustworthiness and credibility of evidence were of great concern, especially with respect to the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. Attempts to become more evidence-based often result in the experience of conflicts. Patient factors exert a powerful influence on clinical decision-making and can serve as trumps to research evidence. A widespread belief that intuition plays a vital role in primary care reinforced views that research evidence must be considered alongside other factors such as patient preferences and the clinical judgement and experience of the physician. Primary care physicians are increasingly keen to consider research evidence in clinical decision-making, but there are significant concerns about the current model of EBM. Our findings support the proposed revisions to EBM wherein greater emphasis is placed on clinical expertise and patient preferences, both of which remain powerful influences on physician behaviour.

  20. Justification: How to get referring physicians involved

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Remedios, D.

    2011-01-01

    Barriers to involvement of clinicians in the process of justification include an already overloaded knowledge base, lack of time, inconsistent guidance and disproportionate patient expectations. Strategies to improve referring physicians' input include education, use of imaging referral guidelines, clinical audit and regulation. This article discusses and reviews evidence for approaches to encourage greater participation in justification by clinicians. Approaches are best summarised by 'Awareness, appropriateness and audit'. (authors)

  1. Physicians and implicit bias: how doctors may unwittingly perpetuate health care disparities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Elizabeth N; Kaatz, Anna; Carnes, Molly

    2013-11-01

    Although the medical profession strives for equal treatment of all patients, disparities in health care are prevalent. Cultural stereotypes may not be consciously endorsed, but their mere existence influences how information about an individual is processed and leads to unintended biases in decision-making, so called "implicit bias". All of society is susceptible to these biases, including physicians. Research suggests that implicit bias may contribute to health care disparities by shaping physician behavior and producing differences in medical treatment along the lines of race, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics. We review the origins of implicit bias, cite research documenting the existence of implicit bias among physicians, and describe studies that demonstrate implicit bias in clinical decision-making. We then present the bias-reducing strategies of consciously taking patients' perspectives and intentionally focusing on individual patients' information apart from their social group. We conclude that the contribution of implicit bias to health care disparities could decrease if all physicians acknowledged their susceptibility to it, and deliberately practiced perspective-taking and individuation when providing patient care. We further conclude that increasing the number of African American/Black physicians could reduce the impact of implicit bias on health care disparities because they exhibit significantly less implicit race bias.

  2. US Approaches to Physician Payment: The Deconstruction of Primary Care

    OpenAIRE

    Berenson, Robert A.; Rich, Eugene C.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to address why the three dominant alternatives to compensating physicians (fee-for-service, capitation, and salary) fall short of what is needed to support enhanced primary care in the patient-centered medical home, and the relevance of such payment reforms as pay-for-performance and episodes/bundling. The review illustrates why prevalent physician payment mechanisms in the US have failed to adequately support primary care and why innovative approaches to primary ...

  3. Evaluating topic model interpretability from a primary care physician perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Corey W; Oh, Andrea; Chen, Shawn; Speier, William

    2016-02-01

    Probabilistic topic models provide an unsupervised method for analyzing unstructured text. These models discover semantically coherent combinations of words (topics) that could be integrated in a clinical automatic summarization system for primary care physicians performing chart review. However, the human interpretability of topics discovered from clinical reports is unknown. Our objective is to assess the coherence of topics and their ability to represent the contents of clinical reports from a primary care physician's point of view. Three latent Dirichlet allocation models (50 topics, 100 topics, and 150 topics) were fit to a large collection of clinical reports. Topics were manually evaluated by primary care physicians and graduate students. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for Paired Samples were used to evaluate differences between different topic models, while differences in performance between students and primary care physicians (PCPs) were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests for each of the tasks. While the 150-topic model produced the best log likelihood, participants were most accurate at identifying words that did not belong in topics learned by the 100-topic model, suggesting that 100 topics provides better relative granularity of discovered semantic themes for the data set used in this study. Models were comparable in their ability to represent the contents of documents. Primary care physicians significantly outperformed students in both tasks. This work establishes a baseline of interpretability for topic models trained with clinical reports, and provides insights on the appropriateness of using topic models for informatics applications. Our results indicate that PCPs find discovered topics more coherent and representative of clinical reports relative to students, warranting further research into their use for automatic summarization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Sexual minorities and selection of a primary care physician in a midwestern U.S. city.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labig, Chalmer E; Peterson, Tim O

    2006-01-01

    How and why sexual minorities select a primary care physician is critical to the development of methods for attracting these clients to a physician's practice. Data obtained from a sample of sexual minorities in a mid-size city in our nation's heartland would indicate that these patients are loyal when the primary care physician has a positive attitude toward their sexual orientation. The data also confirms that most sexual minorities select same sex physicians but not necessarily same sexual orientation physicians because of lack of knowledge of physicians' sexual orientation. Family practice physicians and other primary care physicians can reach out to this population by encouraging word of mouth advertising and by displaying literature on health issues for all sexual orientations in their offices.

  5. Acceptance of New Medicaid Patients by Primary Care Physicians and Experiences with Physician Availability among Children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Sandra L

    2015-01-01

    Objective To estimate the relationship between physicians' acceptance of new Medicaid patients and access to health care. Data Sources The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Electronic Health Records Survey and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2011/2012. Study Design Linear probability models estimated the relationship between measures of experiences with physician availability among children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from the NHIS and state-level estimates of the percent of primary care physicians accepting new Medicaid patients from the NAMCS, controlling for other factors. Principal Findings Nearly 16 percent of children with a significant health condition or development delay had a doctor's office or clinic indicate that the child's health insurance was not accepted in states with less than 60 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients, compared to less than 4 percent in states with at least 75 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients. Adjusted estimates and estimates for other measures of access to care were similar. Conclusions Measures of experiences with physician availability for children on Medicaid/CHIP were generally good, though better in states where more primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients. PMID:25683869

  6. Using a conflict conceptual framework to describe challenges to coordinated patient care from the physicians' and pharmacists' perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maxwell, Leigh; Odukoya, Olufunmilola K; Stone, Jamie A; Chui, Michelle A

    2014-01-01

    In an effort to increase cost-effectiveness of health care and reduce overall costs, patient-centered medical homes have been proposed to spur fundamental changes in the way primary care is delivered. One of the chief principles that describe a patient-centered medical home is that care is organized across all elements of the broader health care system, including community pharmacies. To identify and describe challenges derived from a conflict management framework to a physician-pharmacist approach to coordinating patient care. A descriptive, exploratory, non-experimental study was conducted in Wisconsin (U.S. State) from June to December, 2011. Data were collected through two rounds of face-to-face interviews with physicians and community pharmacists. The first round involved one-on-one interviews with pharmacists and physicians. The second round brought pharmacist-physician dyads together in an open-ended interview exploring issues raised in the first round. Content analysis was guided by a conflict management conceptual framework using NVivo 10 qualitative software. A total of four major themes emerged from the conflict analysis of interviews that illustrate challenges to coordinated patient care: Scarce resources, technology design and usability, insurance constraints, and laws and policy governing patient care. The study findings indicate that both groups of health care professionals work within an environment of conflict and have to negotiate the challenges and strains that exist in the current health care system. Their need to work together, or interdependence, is primarily challenged by scarce resources and external interference. Efforts to coordinate patient care through teams of inter-professional health care providers will be more successful if they acknowledge the inherent conflict that exists. Efforts should be made to provide an infrastructure for interdependence and to support interpersonal communication. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights

  7. Association between quality domains and health care spending across physician networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Farah; Guan, Jun; Glazier, Richard H.; Brown, Adalsteinn; Bierman, Arlene S.; Croxford, Ruth; Stukel, Therese A.

    2018-01-01

    One of the more fundamental health policy questions is the relationship between health care quality and spending. A better understanding of these relationships is needed to inform health systems interventions aimed at increasing quality and efficiency of care. We measured 65 validated quality indicators (QI) across Ontario physician networks. QIs were aggregated into domains representing six dimensions of care: screening and prevention, evidence-based medications, hospital-community transitions (7-day post-discharge visit with a primary care physician; 30-day post-discharge visit with a primary care physician and specialist), potentially avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits, potentially avoidable readmissions and unplanned returns to the ED, and poor cancer end of life care. Each domain rate was computed as a weighted average of QI rates, weighting by network population at risk. We also measured overall and sector-specific per capita healthcare network spending. We evaluated the associations between domain rates, and between domain rates and spending using weighted correlations, weighting by network population at risk, using an ecological design. All indicators were measured using Ontario health administrative databases. Large variations were seen in timely hospital-community transitions and potentially avoidable hospitalizations. Networks with timely hospital-community transitions had lower rates of avoidable admissions and readmissions (r = -0.89, -0.58, respectively). Higher physician spending, especially outpatient primary care spending, was associated with lower rates of avoidable hospitalizations (r = -0.83) and higher rates of timely hospital-community transitions (r = 0.81) and moderately associated with lower readmission rates (r = -0.46). Investment in effective primary care services may help reduce burden on the acute care sector and associated expenditures. PMID:29614131

  8. Patient and Physician Characteristics Associated with the Provision of Weight Loss Counseling in Primary Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutton, Gareth R.; Herman, Katharine G.; Tan, Fei; Goble, Mary; Dancer-Brown, Melissa; Van Vessem, Nancy; Ard, Jamy D.

    2013-01-01

    Background A variety of physician and patient characteristics may influence whether weight loss counseling occurs in primary care encounters. Objectives This study utilized a cross-sectional survey of primary care patients, which examined patient characteristics, physician characteristics, and characteristics of the physician-patient relationship associated with weight loss counseling and recommendations provided by physicians. Participants Participants (N=143, mean age=46.8 years, mean BMI=36.9 kg/m2, 65% Caucasian) were overweight and obese primary care patients participating in a managed care weight loss program. Measures Participants completed self-report surveys in the clinic prior to the initial weight loss session. Surveys included items assessing demographic/background characteristics, weight, height, and a health care questionnaire evaluating whether their physician had recommended weight loss, the frequency of their physicians’ weight loss counseling, and whether their physician had referred them for obesity treatment. Results Patient BMI and physician sex were most consistently associated with physicians’ weight loss counseling practices. Patients seen by female physicians were more likely to be told that they should lose weight, received more frequent obesity counseling, and were more likely to have been referred for obesity treatment by their physician. Length and frequency of physician-patient contacts were unrelated to the likelihood of counseling. Conclusions These findings add to previous evidence suggesting possible differences in the weight loss counseling practices of male and female physicians, although further research is needed to understand this potential difference between physicians. PMID:24743007

  9. Physician attitude toward depression care interventions: Implications for implementation of quality improvement initiatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chanin Johann C

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Few individuals with depression treated in the primary care setting receive care consistent with clinical treatment guidelines. Interventions based on the chronic care model (CCM have been promoted to address barriers and improve the quality of care. A current understanding of barriers to depression care and an awareness of whether physicians believe interventions effectively address those barriers is needed to enhance the success of future implementation. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 primary care physicians across the US regarding their experience treating patients with depression, barriers to care, and commonly promoted CCM-based interventions. Themes were identified from interview transcripts using a grounded theory approach. Results Six barriers emerged from the interviews: difficulty diagnosing depression, patient resistance, fragmented mental health system, insurance coverage, lack of expertise, and competing demands and other responsibilities as a primary care provider. A number of interventions were seen as helpful in addressing these barriers – including care managers, mental health integration, and education – while others received mixed reviews. Mental health consultation models received the least endorsement. Two systems-related barriers, the fragmented mental health system and insurance coverage limitations, appeared incompletely addressed by the interventions. Conclusion CCM-based interventions, which include care managers, mental health integration, and patient education, are most likely to be implemented successfully because they effectively address several important barriers to care and are endorsed by physicians. Practices considering the adoption of interventions that received less support should educate physicians about the benefit of the interventions and attend to physician concerns prior to implementation. A focus on interventions that address systems-related barriers is

  10. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 587: Effective patient-physician communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-02-01

    Physicians' ability to effectively and compassionately communicate information is key to a successful patient-physician relationship. The current health care environment demands increasing clinical productivity and affords less time with each patient, which can impede effective patient-physician communication. The use of patient-centered interviewing, caring communication skills, and shared decision making improves patient-physician communication. Involving advanced practice nurses or physician assistants may improve the patient's experience and understanding of her visit. Electronic communication with established patients also can enhance the patient experience in select situations.

  11. Physician Competition in the Era of Accountable Care Organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Michael R; Smith, Catherine T; Graves, Amy J; Buntin, Melinda B; Resnick, Matthew J

    2018-04-01

    To calculate physician concentration levels for all U.S. markets using detailed data on integration and accountable care organization (ACO) participation. 2015 SK&A office-based physician survey linked to all commercial and public payer ACOs. We construct three separate Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) measures and plot their distributions. We then investigate how prevailing levels of concentration change when incorporating more detailed organizational features into the HHI measure. Horizontal and vertical integration strongly influences measures of physician concentration; however, ACOs have limited impact overall. ACOs are often present in competitive markets, and only in a minority of these markets do ACOs substantively increase physician concentration. Monitoring ACO effects on physician competition will likely have to proceed on a case-by-case basis. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  12. Seasonal variation in family member perceptions of physician competence in the intensive care unit: findings from one academic medical center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Jennifer P; Kachniarz, Bart; O'Reilly, Kristin; Howell, Michael D

    2015-04-01

    Researchers have found mixed results about the risk to patient safety in July, when newly minted physicians enter U.S. hospitals to begin their clinical training, the so-called "July effect." However, patient and family satisfaction and perception of physician competence during summer months remain unknown. The authors conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of 815 family members of adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients who completed the Family Satisfaction with Care in the Intensive Care Unit instrument from eight ICUs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, between April 2008 and June 2011. The association of ICU care in the summer months (July-September) versus other seasons and family perception of physician competence was examined in univariable and multivariable analyses. A greater proportion of family members described physicians as competent in summer months as compared with winter months (odds ratio [OR] 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-3.0; P = .003). After adjustment for patient and proxy demographics, severity of illness, comorbidities, and features of the admission in a multivariable model, seasonal variation of family perception of physician competence persisted (summer versus winter, OR of judging physicians competent 2.4; 95% CI 1.3-4.4; P = .004). Seasonal variation exists in family perception of physician competence in the ICU, but opposite to the "July effect." The reasons for this variation are not well understood. Further research is necessary to explore the role of senior provider involvement, trainee factors, system factors such as handoffs, or other possible contributors.

  13. How do high cost-sharing policies for physician care affect total care costs among people with chronic disease?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, Haichang; Harman, Jeffrey S; Yang, Zhou

    2014-01-01

    This study examines whether high cost-sharing in physician care is associated with a differential impact on total care costs by health status. Total care includes physician care, emergency room (ER) visits and inpatient care. Since high cost-sharing policies can reduce needed care as well as unneeded care use, it raises the concern whether these policies are a good strategy for controlling costs among chronically ill patients. This study used the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data with a cross-sectional study design. Difference in difference (DID), instrumental variable technique, two-part model, and bootstrap technique were employed to analyze cost data. Chronically ill individuals' probability of reducing any overall care costs was significantly less than healthier individuals (beta = 2.18, p = 0.04), while the integrated DID estimator from split results indicated that going from low cost-sharing to high cost-sharing significantly reduced costs by $12,853.23 more for sick people than for healthy people (95% CI: -$17,582.86, -$8,123.60). This greater cost reduction in total care among sick people likely resulted from greater cost reduction in physician care, and may have come at the expense of jeopardizing health outcomes by depriving patients of needed care. Thus, these policies would be inappropriate in the short run, and unlikely in the long run to control health plans costs among chronically ill individuals. A generous benefit design with low cost-sharing policies in physician care or primary care is recommended for both health plans and chronically ill individuals, to save costs and protect these enrollees' health status.

  14. How to Manage Hospital-Based Palliative Care Teams Without Full-Time Palliative Care Physicians in Designated Cancer Care Hospitals: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakashita, Akihiro; Kishino, Megumi; Nakazawa, Yoko; Yotani, Nobuyuki; Yamaguchi, Takashi; Kizawa, Yoshiyuki

    2016-07-01

    To clarify how highly active hospital palliative care teams can provide efficient and effective care regardless of the lack of full-time palliative care physicians. Semistructured focus group interviews were conducted, and content analysis was performed. A total of 7 physicians and 6 nurses participated. We extracted 209 codes from the transcripts and organized them into 3 themes and 21 categories, which were classified as follows: (1) tips for managing palliative care teams efficiently and effectively (7 categories); (2) ways of acquiring specialist palliative care expertise (9 categories); and (3) ways of treating symptoms that are difficult to alleviate (5 categories). The findings of this study can be used as a nautical chart of hospital-based palliative care team (HPCT) without full-time PC physician. Full-time nurses who have high management and coordination abilities play a central role in resource-limited HPCTs. © The Author(s) 2015.

  15. The physician executive in a changing world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, L R

    1999-01-01

    Physicians are losing their historic franchise as sole and primary providers of medical care. In addition to eroding moral and scientific authority, physicians are also losing income and status. It is no wonder that physicians are retrenching--confused and angry about the increasing marginalization of their profession and about society's changing expectations. Physicians are caught in a transition zone between the world that was and the one that will soon be. This is destabilizing and causes great anxiety. Rather than being buffeted by changing social and cultural definitions of health care, physicians must become proactively involved in the future of their profession. Physicians can only do this by offering a better mental model of health, medicine, and the community. This cannot be a defensive retreat from engagement. Rather, it must be an imaginative vision, vigorously set forth--a vision that will enlist the support of all constituencies involved in the effort to improve the health and well-being of all members of our society. The physician executive needs to work with physicians to orchestrate this effort to create a new vision of health in the 21st century.

  16. Knowledge of Primary Care Physicians Regarding Domestic Violence.

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Knowledge of Primary Care Physicians Regarding Domestic Violence. ... prevalence of DV, and 4 main aspects relevant to DV, namely deprivation, psychological, ... and instructions about DV from scientific formal sources as medical schools, ...

  17. The desired moral attitude of the physician: (III) care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelhaus, Petra

    2013-05-01

    In professional medical ethics, the physician traditionally is obliged to fulfil specific duties as well as to embody a responsible and trustworthy personality. In the public discussion, different concepts are suggested to describe the desired moral attitude of physicians. In a series of three articles, three of the discussed concepts are presented in an interpretation that is meant to characterise the morally emotional part of this attitude: "empathy", "compassion" and "care". In the first article of the series, "empathy" has been developed as a mainly cognitive and morally neutral capacity of understanding. In the second article, the emotional and virtuous core of the desired professional attitude-compassion-has been presented. Compassion as a professional attitude has been distinguished from a spontaneous feeling of compassion, and has been related to a general idea of man as vulnerable and solidary being. Thus, the dignity of the patient is safeguarded in spite of the asymmetry of compassion. In this article, the third concept of the triad-"care"-is presented. Care is conceived as an attitude as well as an activity which can be directed to different objects: if it is directed to another sentient being, it is regarded as intrinsically morally valuable; implying (1) the acceptance of being addressed, (2) a benevolent inclination to help and to foster, and (3) activity to realize this. There are different forms of benevolence that can underlie caring. With regard to the professional physician's ethos, the attitude of empathic compassion as developed in the two previous articles is proposed to be the adequate underlying attitude of care which demands the right balance between closeness and professionalism and the right form of attention to the person of the patient. 'Empathic compassionate care' does not, however, describe the whole of the desired attitude of a physician, but focuses on the morally-emotive aspects. In order to get also the cognitive and practical

  18. Physician attitudes regarding pregnancy, fertility care, and assisted reproductive technologies for HIV-infected individuals and couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudin, Mark H; Money, Deborah M; Cheung, Matthew C; Loutfy, Mona R

    2012-01-01

    Family and pregnancy planning are important for HIV-infected individuals and couples. There is a paucity of data regarding physician attitudes with respect to reproduction in this population, but some evidence suggests that attitudes can influence the information, advice, and services they will provide. To determine physician attitudes toward pregnancy, fertility care, and access to assisted reproductive technologies for HIV-infected individuals, and to determine whether attitudes differed based on specific physician characteristics. A survey was sent electronically to obstetrician/gynecologists and infectious disease specialists in Canada. Items were grouped into 5 key domains: physician demographics, physician attitudes toward pregnancy and adoption, physician attitudes toward fertility care, physician attitudes toward assisted reproductive technology, and challenges for an HIV-infected population. Attitudes were determined based on answers to individual questions and also for each domain. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the influence of specific physician characteristics on attitudes. Completed surveys were received from 165 physicians. Most had positive attitudes regarding pregnancy or adoption (89%), fertility care (72%), and assisted reproductive technology (79%). In multivariate analyses, having cared for HIV-infected patients was significantly associated with having a positive attitude toward fertility care or assisted reproductive technology. In this national survey of Canadian physicians, most had positive attitudes toward pregnancy, adoption, fertility care, and use of assisted reproductive technology among HIV-infected persons. Physicians who had cared for HIV-infected individuals in the past were more likely to have positive attitudes than those who had not.

  19. Roles of primary care physicians in managing bipolar disorders in adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CPG Secretariat

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Management of bipolar disorder (BD is challenging due to its multiple and complex facets of presentations as well as various levels of interventions. There is also limitation of treatment accessibility especially at the primary care level. Local evidence-based clinical practice guidelines address the importance of integrated care of BD at various levels. Primary care physicians hold pertinent role in maintaining remission and preventing relapse by providing systematic monitoring of people with BD. Pharmacological treatment in particular mood stabilisers remain the most effective management with psychosocial interventions as adjunct. This paper highlights the role of primary care physicians in the management of BD.

  20. [Professional Burnout Syndrome of intensive care physicians from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tironi, Márcia Oliveira Staffa; Nascimento Sobrinho, Carlito Lopes; Barros, Dalton de Souza; Reis, Eduardo José Farias Borges; Marques Filho, Edson Silva; Almeida, Alessandro; Bitencourt, Almir; Feitosa, Ana Isabela Ramos; Neves, Flávia Serra; Mota, Igor Carlos Cunha; França, Juliana; Borges, Lorena Guimarães; Lordão, Manuela Barreto de Jesus; Trindade, Maria Valverde; Teles, Marcelo Santos; Almeida, Mônica Bastos T; Souza, Ygor Gomes de

    2009-01-01

    Describe prevalence of the Burnout syndrome in intensive care physicians of Salvador, associated to demographic data and aspects of the work environment (psychological demand and job control). This cross sectional study has investigated the association between work conditions and Burnout Syndrome in a population of 297 Intensive Care Physicians from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. An individual, self-report questionnaire evaluated the physicians' psychological aspects of work, using the demand-control model (Job Content Questionnaire) and their mental health, using the Maslash Burnout Inventory (MBI). The study found work overload,a high proportion of on duty physicians and low income for the hours worked. Prevalence of the Burnout Syndrome was 7.4% and it was more closely associated with aspects of the job's psychological demand than with its control. Physicians under great stress (high demand and low control) presented prevalence of the Bornout Syndrome 10.2 times higher than those under low stress (low demand and high control) jobs.

  1. Health care restructuring and family physician care for those who died of cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johnston Grace

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background During the 1990s, health care restructuring in Nova Scotia resulted in downsized hospitals, reduced inpatient length of stay, capped physician incomes and restricted practice locations. Concurrently, the provincial homecare program was redeveloped and out-of-hospital cancer deaths increased from 20% (1992 to 30% (1998. These factors all pointed to a transfer of end-of-life inpatient hospital care to more community-based care. The purpose of this study was to describe the trends in the provision of Family Physician (FP visits to advanced cancer patients in Nova Scotia (NS during the years of health care restructuring. Methods Design Secondary multivariate analysis of linked population-based datafiles including the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre Oncology Patient Information System (NS Cancer Registry, Vital Statistics, the NS Hospital Admissions/Separations file and the Medical Services Insurance Physician Services database. Setting Nova Scotia, an eastern Canadian province (population: 950,000. Subjects: All patients who died of lung, colorectal, breast or prostate cancer between April 1992 and March 1998 (N = 7,212. Outcome Measures Inpatient and ambulatory FP visits, ambulatory visits by location (office, home, long-term care facility, emergency department, time of day (regular hours, after hours, total length of inpatient hospital stay and number of hospital admissions during the last six months of life. Results In total, 139,641 visits were provided by family physicians: 15% of visits in the office, 10% in the home, 5% in the emergency department (ED, 5% in a long-term-care centre and 64% to hospital inpatients. There was no change in the rate of FP visits received for office, home and long-term care despite the fact that there were 13% fewer hospital admissions, and length of hospital stay declined by 21%. Age-sex adjusted estimates using negative binomial regression indicate a decline in hospital inpatient FP

  2. Physicians and AIDS care: does knowledge influence their attitude ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Adequate knowledge, positive attitude, and feeling of comfort are important factors in providing compassionate care to patients. The purpose of this study was to assess physicians' knowledge, attitude and global comfort in caring for patients with AIDS (PWA), to determine the sociodemographic variables that could influence ...

  3. The Relationships among Physician Nonverbal Immediacy and Measures of Patient Satisfaction with Physician Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conlee, Connie J.; And Others

    1993-01-01

    Examines the relationship among four dimensions of patient satisfaction with physician care and nonverbal immediacy. Finds a significant positive correlation between nonverbal immediacy and overall patient satisfaction, with the strongest correlation to the attention/respect factor. (SR)

  4. Osteoporosis practice patterns in 2006 among primary care physicians participating in the NORA study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, T W; Siris, E S; Barrett-Connor, E; Miller, P D; McHorney, C A

    2007-11-01

    This study investigated osteoporosis management trends from 1998 to 2006 among 808 primary care physicians involved in the US-based NORA (National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment) study. These results suggest some significant improvements in osteoporosis management over the past eight years. The purpose of this study was to investigate osteoporosis management trends among a large cohort of primary care physicians (PCPs) involved in the US-based NORA (National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment) study. In 2006, we undertook a resurvey of the 2,836 NORA PCPs who completed a baseline survey in 1998. Of the 2,199 PCPs for whom we had current contact information and who were still practicing, we collected usable surveys from 808 (37% response rate). From 1998 to 2006, more than double the percentage of NORA PCPs reported using BMDs "often" (35% vs. 87%). There was a doubling of the percentage of NORA PCPs who reported that a T-score of NORA PCPs who reported using bone turnover markers to screen, diagnosis, or monitor osteoporosis almost tripled (19% vs. 55%). The percentage of patients prescribed or recommended hormone therapy dropped sixfold (67% to 11%), and the percentage of patients prescribed bisphosphonates increased fourfold from 15% to 59%. These results suggest some significant improvements in osteoporosis management over the past eight years.

  5. Family Violence and Family Physicians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herbert, Carol P.

    1991-01-01

    The acronym IDEALS summarizes family physicians' obligations when violence is suspected: to identify family violence; document injuries; educate families and ensure safety for victims; access resources and coordinate care; co-operate in the legal process; and provide support for families. Failure to respond reflects personal and professional experience and attitudes, fear of legal involvement, and lack of knowledge. Risks of intervention include physician burnout, physician overfunctioning, escalation of violence, and family disruption. PMID:21228987

  6. Serious reportable events within the inpatient mental health care: Impact on physicians and nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martens, J; Van Gerven, E; Lannoy, K; Panella, M; Euwema, M; Sermeus, W; De Hert, M; Vanhaecht, K

    2016-07-01

    To investigate the prevalence of physicians and nurses involved in an adverse event within mental health. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was performed. Six Flemish psychiatric hospitals (Belgium) participated in this exploratory cross-sectional study. All psychiatrists and nurses working in these hospitals were invited to complete an online questionnaire in March 2013. 28 psychiatrists and 252 nurses completed the survey. 205 (73%) of the 280 respondents were personally involved at least once in an adverse event within their entire career. Respondents reported that the adverse event with the greatest impact was related to suicide in almost 64% of the cases. About one in eight respondents considered quitting their job because of it. Almost 18% declared that due to the impact of the event, they believed that the quality of the administered care was affected for longer than one month. Respondents stated that they received much support of colleagues (95%), the chief nurse (86%) and the partner (71%). Colleagues seemed to be most supportive in the recovery process. Physicians and nurses working in inpatient mental health care may be at high risk to being confronted with an adverse event at some point in their career. The influence on health professionals involved in an adverse event on their work is particularly important in the first 4-24h. Professionals at those moments had higher likelihood to be involved in another adverse event. Institutions should seriously consider giving support almost at that time. Copyright © 2016 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  7. Physician office vs retail clinic: patient preferences in care seeking for minor illnesses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Arif; Fincham, Jack E

    2010-01-01

    Retail clinics are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States, offering cheaper and convenient alternatives to physician offices for minor illness and wellness care. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of cost of care and appointment wait time on care-seeking decisions at retail clinics or physician offices. As part of a statewide random-digit-dial survey of households, adult residents of Georgia were interviewed to conduct a discrete choice experiment with 2 levels each of 4 attributes: price ($59; $75), appointment wait time (same day; 1 day or longer), care setting-clinician combination (nurse practitioner in retail clinic; physician in private office), and acute illness (urinary tract infection [UTI]; influenza). The respondents indicated whether they would seek care under each of the 16 resulting choice scenarios. A cooperation rate of 33.1% yielded 493 completed telephone interviews. The respondents preferred to seek care for both conditions; were less likely to seek care for UTI (beta = -0.149; P = .008); preferred to seek care from a physician (beta = 1.067; P clinic and $82.12 to wait 1 day or more. Time and cost savings offered by retail clinics are attractive to patients, and they are likely to seek care there given sufficient cost savings. Appointment wait time is the most important factor in care-seeking decisions and should be considered carefully in setting appointment policies in primary care practices.

  8. Physician Acceptance of Gateway to Care at Irwin Army Community Hospital

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-07-27

    frontier cavalry post once commanded by General George Armstrong Custer. Today it is the home of almost 20,000 soldiers of the Big Red One, First Infantry...especially important for the future. Physicians, as key "players" in healthcare organizations, are also key to the success of Gateway to Care. Kotler and...research (3rd ed.). New York: Holt. Physician Acceptance 32 Kotler , P., & Clarke, R. (1987). Marketing for health care organizations. Englewood Cliffs

  9. Physician Charity Care in America: Almost Always an Illusion, Ever More Commercial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruce D. White

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The first Code of Medical Ethics promulgated by the American Medical Association (AMA in 1847 included a provision that essentially obligated physicians to care for those in their communities who could not afford to pay for professional services. The spirit of that provision remains embodied in today’s Code. However, a “charity care” ethical obligation may not make as much professional sense as it once did. Health care institutions have assumed a much greater role in providing charity care and many physicians are now under legal and quasi-legal obligations to provide care in some cases. Under the recently enacted Affordable Care Act (ACA—if fully implemented—it is theorized that as many as 95% of Americans will be covered by some basic insurance plan. Perhaps today’s physicians should tailor the charity care mandate into a new jacket, which envisions that all doctors share equally in the care for those without adequate means. An individual obligation may have to make way for a more communal one in professional codes. Moreover, it may be wise to consider if there are any lessons to draw from other health care systems (e.g., the Dutch, where questions about charity care still exist within a universal health care system context.

  10. arriba-lib: evaluation of an electronic library of decision aids in primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hirsch Oliver

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The successful implementation of decision aids in clinical practice initially depends on how clinicians perceive them. Relatively little is known about the acceptance of decision aids by physicians and factors influencing the implementation of decision aids from their point of view. Our electronic library of decision aids (arriba-lib is to be used within the encounter and has a modular structure containing evidence-based decision aids for the following topics: cardiovascular prevention, atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, oral antidiabetics, conventional and intensified insulin therapy, and unipolar depression. The aim of our study was to evaluate the acceptance of arriba-lib in primary care physicians. Methods We conducted an evaluation study in which 29 primary care physicians included 192 patients. The physician questionnaire contained information on which module was used, how extensive steps of the shared decision making process were discussed, who made the decision, and a subjective appraisal of consultation length. We used generalised estimation equations to measure associations within patient variables and traditional crosstab analyses. Results Only a minority of consultations (8.9% was considered to be unacceptably extended. In 90.6% of consultations, physicians said that a decision could be made. A shared decision was perceived by physicians in 57.1% of consultations. Physicians said that a decision was more likely to be made when therapeutic options were discussed “detailed”. Prior experience with decision aids was not a critical variable for implementation within our sample of primary care physicians. Conclusions Our study showed that it might be feasible to apply our electronic library of decision aids (arriba-lib in the primary care context. Evidence-based decision aids offer support for physicians in the management of medical information. Future studies should monitor the long-term adoption of

  11. Naturopathic physicians: holistic primary care and integrative medicine specialists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litchy, Andrew P

    2011-12-01

    The use of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is increasing in the United States; there is a need for physician level practitioners who possess extensive training in both CAM and conventional medicine. Naturopathic physicians possess training that allows integration of modern scientific knowledge and the age-old wisdom of natural healing techniques. Naturopathic philosophy provides a framework to implement CAM in concert with conventional therapies. The naturopathic physician's expertise in both conventional medicine and CAM allows a practice style that provides excellent care through employing conventional and CAM modalities while utilizing modern research and evidence-based medicine.

  12. Assessing the critical behavioral competencies of outstanding managed care primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duberman, T L

    1999-03-01

    This study used job competence assessment to identify the behavioral characteristics that distinguish outstanding job performances of primary care physicians (PCPs) within a network-model HMO. Primary care physicians were chosen for the study based on six standard performance measures: (1) member satisfaction, (2) utilization, (3) patient complaints, (4) emergency room referrals, (5) out-of-network referrals, and (6) medical record completeness. Outstanding PCPs (N = 16) were identified as those performing within one standard deviation above the mean on all six of the performance measures. A control group of typical PCPs (N = 10) was selected from those performing outside the peer group mean on at least two performance measures. Subjects were administered the Behavioral Event Interview and the Picture Story Exercise. Higher overall competency levels of achievement orientation, concern for personal influence, empathic caregiving, and empowerment drive distinguished outstanding from typical PCPs. Outstanding PCPs also had higher overall frequency of competency in building team effectiveness and interpersonal understanding when compared with typical PCPs. This study suggests that PCP performance is the product of measurable competencies that are potentially amenable to improvement. Competency assessment and development of PCPs may benefit both organizational efficiency and physician and patient satisfaction.

  13. Consultation with specialist palliative care services in palliative sedation: considerations of Dutch physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koper, Ian; van der Heide, Agnes; Janssens, Rien; Swart, Siebe; Perez, Roberto; Rietjens, Judith

    2014-01-01

    Palliative sedation is considered a normal medical practice by the Royal Dutch Medical Association. Therefore, consultation of an expert is not considered mandatory. The European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) framework for palliative sedation, however, is more stringent: it considers the use of palliative sedation without consulting an expert as injudicious and insists on input from a multi-professional palliative care team. This study investigates the considerations of Dutch physicians concerning consultation about palliative sedation with specialist palliative care services. Fifty-four physicians were interviewed on their most recent case of palliative sedation. Reasons to consult were a lack of expertise and the view that consultation was generally supportive. Reasons not to consult were sufficient expertise, the view that palliative sedation is a normal medical procedure, time pressure, fear of disagreement with the service and regarding consultation as having little added value. Arguments in favour of mandatory consultation were that many physicians lack expertise and that palliative sedation is an exceptional intervention. Arguments against mandatory consultation were practical obstacles that may preclude fulfilling such an obligation (i.e. lack of time), palliative sedation being a standard medical procedure, corroding a physician's responsibility and deterring physicians from applying palliative sedation. Consultation about palliative sedation with specialist palliative care services is regarded as supportive and helpful when physicians lack expertise. However, Dutch physicians have both practical and theoretical objections against mandatory consultation. Based on the findings in this study, there seems to be little support among Dutch physicians for the EAPC recommendations on obligatory consultation.

  14. Self-care as a professional imperative: physician burnout, depression, and suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, Catherine M; Flanagan, Ellen M

    2017-02-01

    Burnout has been identified in approximately half of all practicing physicians, including anesthesiologists. In this narrative review, the relationship between burnout, depression, and suicide is explored, with particular attention to the anesthesiologist. Throughout this review, we highlight our professional imperative regarding this epidemic. The authors searched the existing English language literature via PubMed from 1986 until present using the search terms physician burnout, depression, and suicide, with particular attention to studies regarding anesthesiologists and strategies to address these problems. Burnout and depression have increased among physicians, while the rate of suicide has remained relatively the same. There are many factors associated with burnout and depression as well as many causes. Certain individual factors include sex, amount of social support, and mental health history. Systems factors that play a role in burnout and depression include work compression, demands of electronic health records, production pressure, and lack of control over one's professional life. Medical license applications include questions that reinforce the stigma of psychological stresses and discourage physicians from seeking appropriate care. The concept of physician well-being is multidimensional and includes factors related to each physician as an individual as well as to the working environment. Anesthesiologists must actively engage in self-care. Anesthesiology practices and healthcare organizations should evaluate the balance between demands they place on physicians and the resources provided to sustain an engaged, productive, and satisfied physician workforce. National efforts must be rallied to support physicians seeking help for physical and psychological health problems.

  15. Job Resources, Physician Work Engagement, and Patient Care Experience in an Academic Medical Setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheepers, Renée A; Lases, Lenny S S; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Heineman, Maas Jan; Lombarts, Kiki M J M H

    2017-10-01

    Physician work engagement is associated with better work performance and fewer medical errors; however, whether work-engaged physicians perform better from the patient perspective is unknown. Although availability of job resources (autonomy, colleague support, participation in decision making, opportunities for learning) bolster work engagement, this relationship is understudied among physicians. This study investigated associations of physician work engagement with patient care experience and job resources in an academic setting. The authors collected patient care experience evaluations, using nine validated items from the Dutch Consumer Quality index in two academic hospitals (April 2014 to April 2015). Physicians reported job resources and work engagement using, respectively, the validated Questionnaire on Experience and Evaluation of Work and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. The authors conducted multivariate adjusted mixed linear model and linear regression analyses. Of the 9,802 eligible patients and 238 eligible physicians, respectively, 4,573 (47%) and 185 (78%) participated. Physician work engagement was not associated with patient care experience (B = 0.01; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.02 to 0.03; P = .669). However, learning opportunities (B = 0.28; 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.52; P = .019) and autonomy (B = 0.31; 95% CI = 0.10 to 0.51; P = .004) were positively associated with work engagement. Higher physician work engagement did not translate into better patient care experience. Patient experience may benefit from physicians who deliver stable quality under varying levels of work engagement. From the physicians' perspective, autonomy and learning opportunities could safeguard their work engagement.

  16. International variations in primary care physician consultation time: a systematic review of 67 countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irving, Greg; Neves, Ana Luisa; Dambha-Miller, Hajira; Oishi, Ai; Tagashira, Hiroko; Verho, Anistasiya; Holden, John

    2017-11-08

    To describe the average primary care physician consultation length in economically developed and low-income/middle-income countries, and to examine the relationship between consultation length and organisational-level economic, and health outcomes. This is a systematic review of published and grey literature in English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian languages from 1946 to 2016, for articles reporting on primary care physician consultation lengths. Data were extracted and analysed for quality, and linear regression models were constructed to examine the relationship between consultation length and health service outcomes. One hundred and seventy nine studies were identified from 111 publications covering 28 570 712 consultations in 67 countries. Average consultation length differed across the world, ranging from 48 s in Bangladesh to 22.5 min in Sweden. We found that 18 countries representing about 50% of the global population spend 5 min or less with their primary care physicians. We also found significant associations between consultation length and healthcare spending per capita, admissions to hospital with ambulatory sensitive conditions such as diabetes, primary care physician density, physician efficiency and physician satisfaction. There are international variations in consultation length, and it is concerning that a large proportion of the global population have only a few minutes with their primary care physicians. Such a short consultation length is likely to adversely affect patient healthcare and physician workload and stress. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  17. Physician Rating Websites: What Aspects Are Important to Identify a Good Doctor, and Are Patients Capable of Assessing Them? A Mixed-Methods Approach Including Physicians' and Health Care Consumers' Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothenfluh, Fabia; Schulz, Peter J

    2017-05-01

    Physician rating websites (PRWs) offer health care consumers the opportunity to evaluate their doctor anonymously. However, physicians' professional training and experience create a vast knowledge gap in medical matters between physicians and patients. This raises ethical concerns about the relevance and significance of health care consumers' evaluation of physicians' performance. To identify the aspects physician rating websites should offer for evaluation, this study investigated the aspects of physicians and their practice relevant for identifying a good doctor, and whether health care consumers are capable of evaluating these aspects. In a first step, a Delphi study with physicians from 4 specializations was conducted, testing various indicators to identify a good physician. These indicators were theoretically derived from Donabedian, who classifies quality in health care into pillars of structure, process, and outcome. In a second step, a cross-sectional survey with health care consumers in Switzerland (N=211) was launched based on the indicators developed in the Delphi study. Participants were asked to rate the importance of these indicators to identify a good physician and whether they would feel capable to evaluate those aspects after the first visit to a physician. All indicators were ordered into a 4×4 grid based on evaluation and importance, as judged by the physicians and health care consumers. Agreement between the physicians and health care consumers was calculated applying Holsti's method. In the majority of aspects, physicians and health care consumers agreed on what facets of care were important and not important to identify a good physician and whether patients were able to evaluate them, yielding a level of agreement of 74.3%. The two parties agreed that the infrastructure, staff, organization, and interpersonal skills are both important for a good physician and can be evaluated by health care consumers. Technical skills of a doctor and outcomes

  18. Migraine-preventive prescription patterns by physician specialty in ambulatory care settings in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takaki, Hiroko; Onozuka, Daisuke; Hagihara, Akihito

    2018-03-01

    Many adults with migraine who require preventive therapy are often not prescribed the proper medications. The most likely reason is that primary care physicians are unacquainted with preventive medications for migraine. The present study assessed the migraine-preventive prescription patterns in office visits using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 2006 to 2009 in the United States. Patients who were 18 years or older and diagnosed with migraine were included in the analysis. In accordance with the recommendations of the headache guidelines, we included beta-blockers, antidepressants, triptans for short-term prevention of menstrual migraine, and other triptans for acute treatment. Weighted visits of adults with migraine prescribed with preventive medication ranged from 32.8% in 2006 to 38.6% in 2009. Visits to primary care physicians accounted for 72.6% of the analyzed adult migraine visits. Anticonvulsants (odds ratio [OR] 0.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14-0.57, p  < 0.001) and triptans for menstrual migraine (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.28-0.91, p  = 0.025) were less frequently prescribed by primary care physicians compared with specialty care physicians, such as neurologists and psychiatrists. There were no significant differences in the prescription patterns of antidepressants and beta-blockers between primary and specialty care physicians. Beta-blockers were prescribed to patients with comorbidity of hypertension, and antidepressants were used by patients with comorbidity of depression. There are differences in the prescription patterns of certain type of preventive medications between primary care physicians and specialty care physicians.

  19. Migraine-preventive prescription patterns by physician specialty in ambulatory care settings in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroko Takaki

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Many adults with migraine who require preventive therapy are often not prescribed the proper medications. The most likely reason is that primary care physicians are unacquainted with preventive medications for migraine. The present study assessed the migraine-preventive prescription patterns in office visits using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 2006 to 2009 in the United States. Patients who were 18 years or older and diagnosed with migraine were included in the analysis. In accordance with the recommendations of the headache guidelines, we included beta-blockers, antidepressants, triptans for short-term prevention of menstrual migraine, and other triptans for acute treatment. Weighted visits of adults with migraine prescribed with preventive medication ranged from 32.8% in 2006 to 38.6% in 2009. Visits to primary care physicians accounted for 72.6% of the analyzed adult migraine visits. Anticonvulsants (odds ratio [OR] 0.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14–0.57, p < 0.001 and triptans for menstrual migraine (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.28–0.91, p = 0.025 were less frequently prescribed by primary care physicians compared with specialty care physicians, such as neurologists and psychiatrists. There were no significant differences in the prescription patterns of antidepressants and beta-blockers between primary and specialty care physicians. Beta-blockers were prescribed to patients with comorbidity of hypertension, and antidepressants were used by patients with comorbidity of depression. There are differences in the prescription patterns of certain type of preventive medications between primary care physicians and specialty care physicians.

  20. Coordination of cancer care between family physicians and cancer specialists: Importance of communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easley, Julie; Miedema, Baukje; Carroll, June C; Manca, Donna P; O'Brien, Mary Ann; Webster, Fiona; Grunfeld, Eva

    2016-10-01

    To explore health care provider (HCP) perspectives on the coordination of cancer care between FPs and cancer specialists. Qualitative study using semistructured telephone interviews. Canada. A total of 58 HCPs, comprising 21 FPs, 15 surgeons, 12 medical oncologists, 6 radiation oncologists, and 4 GPs in oncology. This qualitative study is nested within a larger mixed-methods program of research, CanIMPACT (Canadian Team to Improve Community-Based Cancer Care along the Continuum), focused on improving the coordination of cancer care between FPs and cancer specialists. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, telephone interviews were conducted with HCPs involved in cancer care. Invitations to participate were sent to a purposive sample of HCPs based on medical specialty, sex, province or territory, and geographic location (urban or rural). A coding schema was developed by 4 team members; subsequently, 1 team member coded the remaining transcripts. The resulting themes were reviewed by the entire team and a summary of results was mailed to participants for review. Communication challenges emerged as the most prominent theme. Five key related subthemes were identified around this core concept that occurred at both system and individual levels. System-level issues included delays in medical transcription, difficulties accessing patient information, and physicians not being copied on all reports. Individual-level issues included the lack of rapport between FPs and cancer specialists, and the lack of clearly defined and broadly communicated roles. Effective and timely communication of medical information, as well as clearly defined roles for each provider, are essential to good coordination of care along the cancer care trajectory, particularly during transitions of care between cancer specialist and FP care. Despite advances in technology, substantial communication challenges still exist. This can lead to serious consequences that affect clinical decision making

  1. Barriers and facilitators to recruitment of physicians and practices for primary care health services research at one centre.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Sharon; Liddy, Clare; Hogg, William; Donskov, Melissa; Russell, Grant; Gyorfi-Dyke, Elizabeth

    2010-12-13

    While some research has been conducted examining recruitment methods to engage physicians and practices in primary care research, further research is needed on recruitment methodology as it remains a recurrent challenge and plays a crucial role in primary care research. This paper reviews recruitment strategies, common challenges, and innovative practices from five recent primary care health services research studies in Ontario, Canada. We used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data from investigators and/or project staff from five research teams. Team members were interviewed and asked to fill out a brief survey on recruitment methods, results, and challenges encountered during a recent or ongoing project involving primary care practices or physicians. Data analysis included qualitative analysis of interview notes and descriptive statistics generated for each study. Recruitment rates varied markedly across the projects despite similar initial strategies. Common challenges and creative solutions were reported by many of the research teams, including building a sampling frame, developing front-office rapport, adapting recruitment strategies, promoting buy-in and interest in the research question, and training a staff recruiter. Investigators must continue to find effective ways of reaching and involving diverse and representative samples of primary care providers and practices by building personal connections with, and buy-in from, potential participants. Flexible recruitment strategies and an understanding of the needs and interests of potential participants may also facilitate recruitment.

  2. Perceptions of community health center impact on private primary care physician practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffrin, Christopher; Jackson, Natalie; Whetstone, Lauren; Cummings, Doyle; Watson, Ricky; Wu, Qiang

    2014-01-01

    Community health centers (CHCs) were created in the mid-1960s to expand access to care in impoverished and underserved areas. The number of CHC sites has more than tripled in eastern North Carolina from 28 primary care centers in 2000 to 89 in 2010. This study determined the perceptions of physicians on the impact of CHC expansion on the local practice environment. Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to compare responses regarding perceptions and differences between practice characteristics as well as physician ratios by year. Both CHC and private practice physician addresses were mapped using ArcGIS. Surveys were sent to 1422 (461 returns/32.5% response rate) primary care physicians residing in 43 predominantly rural eastern North Carolina counties. A large percentage of the respondents (82.7%) affirmed that they felt neutral or did not view CHCs to be competitors, whereas a minority (17%) did view them to be difficult to compete against. Forty-two percent of private practice respondents disagreed that CHCs offer a wider range of services despite significantly more CHC physicians than private practice respondents indicating that their facility provided basic services. The CHCs were perceived to offer a wider range of services, employ more staff, and have more practice locations than private practices. However, private practice physicians did not perceive CHCs to have a competitive advantage or to unfairly impact their practices, possibly due to inconsistent population growth in relation to the physician retention during the last 10 years.

  3. Verbal communication among Alzheimer's disease patients, their caregivers, and primary care physicians during primary care office visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Karen L; Lingler, Jennifer H; Schulz, Richard

    2009-11-01

    Primary care visits of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) often involve communication among patients, family caregivers, and primary care physicians (PCPs). The objective of this study was to understand the nature of each individual's verbal participation in these triadic interactions. To define the verbal communication dynamics of AD care triads, we compared verbal participation (percent of total visit speech) by each participant in patient/caregiver/PCP triads. Twenty-three triads were audio taped during a routine primary care visit. Rates of verbal participation were described and effects of patient cognitive status (MMSE score, verbal fluency) on verbal participation were assessed. PCP verbal participation was highest at 53% of total visit speech, followed by caregivers (31%) and patients (16%). Patient cognitive measures were related to patient and caregiver verbal participation, but not to PCP participation. Caregiver satisfaction with interpersonal treatment by PCP was positively related to caregiver's own verbal participation. Caregivers of AD patients and PCPs maintain active, coordinated verbal participation in primary care visits while patients participate less. Encouraging verbal participation by AD patients and their caregivers may increase the AD patient's active role and caregiver satisfaction with primary care visits.

  4. Five-year Retrospective Review of Physician and Non-physician Performed Ultrasound in a Canadian Critical Care Helicopter Emergency Medical Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Dochartaigh, Domhnall; Douma, Matthew; MacKenzie, Mark

    2017-01-01

    To describe the use of prehospital ultrasonography (PHUS) to support interventions, when used by physician and non-physician air medical crew (AMC), in a Canadian helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). A retrospective review was conducted of consecutive patients who underwent ultrasound examination during HEMS care from January 1, 2009 through March 10, 2014. An a priori created data form was used to record patient demographics, type of ultrasound scan performed, ultrasound findings, location of scan, type of interventions supported by PHUS, factors that affected PHUS completion, and quality indicator(s). Data analysis was performed through descriptive statistics, Student's t-test for continuous variables, Z-test for proportions, and Mann-Whitney U Test for nonparametric data. Outcomes included interventions supported by PHUS, factors associated with incomplete scans, and quality indicators associated with PHUS use. Differences between physician and AMC groups were also assessed. PHUS was used in 455 missions, 318 by AMC and 137 by physicians. In combined trauma and medical patients, in the AMC group interventions were supported by PHUS in 26% of cases (95% CI 18-34). For transport physicians the percentage support was found to be significantly greater at 45% of cases (95% CI 34-56) p = reasons included patient obesity, lack of time, patient access, and clinical reasons. Quality indicators associated with PHUS were rarely identified. The use of PHUS by both physicians and non-physicians was found to support interventions in select trauma and medical patients. Key words: emergency medical services; aircraft; helicopter; air ambulance; ultrasonography; emergency care, prehospital; prehospital emergency care.

  5. Family physicians' attitude and practice of infertility management at primary care--Suez Canal University, Egypt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eldein, Hebatallah Nour

    2013-01-01

    The very particular natures of infertility problem and infertility care make them different from other medical problems and services in developing countries. Even after the referral to specialists, the family physicians are expected to provide continuous support for these couples. This place the primary care service at the heart of all issues related to infertility. to improve family physicians' attitude and practice about the approach to infertility management within primary care setting. This study was conducted in the between June and December 2010. The study sample comprised 100 family physician trainees in the family medicine department and working in family practice centers or primary care units. They were asked to fill a questionnaire about their personal characteristics, attitude, and practice towards support, investigations, and treatment of infertile couples. Hundred family physicians were included in the study. They were previously received training in infertility management. Favorable attitude scores were detected among (68%) of physicians and primary care was considered a suitable place for infertility management among (77%) of participants. There was statistically significant difference regarding each of age groups, gender and years of experience with the physicians' attitude. There was statistically significant difference regarding gender, perceiving PHC as an appropriate place to manage infertility and attitude towards processes of infertility management with the physicians' practice. Favorable attitude and practice were determined among the study sample. Supporting the structure of primary care and evidence-based training regarding infertility management are required to improve family physicians' attitude and practice towards infertility management.

  6. Family Physicians May Benefit From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Skills in Primary Care Setting.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omer Serkan Turan

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Dr Francis Peabody commented that the swing of the pendulum toward specialization had reached its apex, and that modern medicine had fragmented the health care delivery system too greatly. Thus the system was in need of a generalist physician to provide comprehensive personalized care. Family physician is the perfect candidate to fill the gap which Dr Peabody once speaks of and grants biopsychosocial model as its main philosophy. Biopsychosocial model proposes physician to consider multiple aspects of patient's life in order to manage disease. Behavioral pathogens such as poor diet, lack of physical activity, stress, substance abuse, unsafe sexual activity, inadequate emotional support, nonadherence to medical advice contribute to disease progress. Family physician can guide patient like a coach to obtain higher levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as biopsychosocial model suggests and obtain the change in behavior towards a healthier life with using cognitive behavioral therapy skills. So family physician, biopsychosocial model and cognitive behavioral skills are three pillars of comprehensive personalized care and family physicians having these skill sets can be very helpful in making positive changes in the life of the patient. [JCBPR 2017; 6(2.000: 98-100

  7. Involving the health care system in domestic violence: what women want.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usta, Jinan; Antoun, Jumana; Ambuel, Bruce; Khawaja, Marwan

    2012-01-01

    PURPOSE Domestic violence is prevalent among women using primary health care services in Lebanon and has a negative effect on their health, yet physicians are not inquiring about it. In this study, we explored the attitudes of these women regarding involving the health care system in domestic violence management. METHODS We undertook a qualitative focus group study. Health care professionals in 6 primary health care centers routinely screened women for domestic violence using the HITS (Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream) instrument. At each center, 12 women who were screened (regardless of the result) were recruited to participate in a focus group discussion. RESULTS Most of the 72 women encouraged involvement of the health care system in the management of domestic violence and considered it to be a "socially accepted way to break the silence." Women expected health care professionals to have an "active conscience"; to be open minded, ready to listen, and unhurried; and to respect confidentiality. Additionally, they recommended mass media and community awareness campaigns focusing on family relationships to address domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS Addressing domestic violence through the health care system, if done properly, may be socially acceptable and nonoffensive even to women living in conservative societies such as Lebanon. The women in this study described characteristics of health professionals that would be conducive to screening and that could be extrapolated to the health care of immigrant Arab women.

  8. Building relationships with physicians. Internal marketing efforts help strengthen organizational bonds at a rural health care clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peltier, J W; Boyt, T; Westfall, J E

    1997-01-01

    Physician turnover is costly for health care organizations, especially for rural organizations. One approach management can take to reduce turnover is to promote physician loyalty by treating them as an important customer segment. The authors develop an information--oriented framework for generating physician loyalty and illustrate how this framework has helped to eliminate physician turnover at a rural health care clinic. Rural health care organizations must develop a more internal marketing orientation in their approach to establishing strong relationship bonds with physicians.

  9. Physician Religion and End-of-Life Pediatric Care: A Qualitative Examination of Physicians' Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bateman, Lori Brand; Clair, Jeffrey Michael

    2015-01-01

    Physician religion/spirituality has the potential to influence the communication between physicians and parents of children at the end of life. In order to explore this relationship, the authors conducted two rounds of narrative interviews to examine pediatric physicians' perspectives (N=17) of how their religious/spiritual beliefs affect end-of-life communication and care. Grounded theory informed the design and analysis of the study. As a proxy for religiosity/spirituality, physicians were classified into the following groups based on the extent to which religious/spiritual language was infused into their responses: Religiously Rich Responders (RRR), Moderately Religious Responders (MRR), and Low Religious Responders (LRR). Twelve of the 17 participants (71%) were classified into the RRR or MRR groups. The majority of participants suggested that religion/spirituality played a role in their practice of medicine and communication with parents in a myriad of ways and to varying degrees. Participants used their religious/spiritual beliefs to support families' spirituality, uphold hope, participate in prayer, and alleviate their own emotional distress emerging from their patients' deaths.

  10. Care Provision and Prescribing Practices of Physicians Treating Children and Adolescents With ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Ayush; Medhekar, Rohan; Ochoa-Perez, Melissa; Aparasu, Rajender R; Chan, Wenyaw; Sherer, Jeffrey T; Alonzo, Joy; Chen, Hua

    2017-07-01

    Care provision and prescribing practices of physicians treating children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were compared. A retrospective cohort study was conducted with the 1995-2010 General Electric Centricity Electronic Medical Record database. The sample included children (≤18 years) with newly diagnosed ADHD (ICD-9-CM code 314.XX) who received a prescription for a stimulant or atomoxetine. Identification of comorbid psychiatric disorders, duration from initial ADHD diagnosis to treatment, prescription of other psychotropic medications, and follow-up care during the ten months after the ADHD treatment initiation were compared across provider type (primary care physicians [PCPs], child psychiatrists, and physicians with an unknown specialty). The associations between provider type and practice variations were further determined by multivariate logistic regression accounting for patient demographic characteristics, region, insurance type, and prior mental health care utilizations. Of the 66,719 children identified, 75.8% were diagnosed by PCPs, 2.6% by child psychiatrists, and 21.6% by physicians whose specialty was unknown. Child psychiatrists were less likely than PCPs to initiate ADHD medication immediately after the diagnosis. However, once the ADHD treatment was initiated, they were more likely to prescribe psychotropic polytherapy even after analyses accounted for the comorbid psychiatric disorders identified. Only one-third of ADHD cases identified by both PCPs and child psychiatrists have met the HEDIS quality measure for ADHD medication-related follow-up visits. Differences were found by physician type in care of children with ADHD. Additional studies are needed to understand clinical consequences of these differences and the implications for care coordination across provider specialties.

  11. Physicians' impression on the elders' functionality influences decision making for emergency care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Molinero, Alejandro; López-Diéguez, María; Tabuenca, Ana I; de la Cruz, Juan J; Banegas, José R

    2010-09-01

    This study analyzes the elements that compose the emergency physicians' criterion for selecting elderly patients for intensive care treatment. This issue has not been studied in-depth. A cross-sectional study was conducted at 4 university teaching hospitals, covering 101 randomly selected elderly patients admitted to emergency department and their respective physicians. Physicians were asked to forecast their plans for treatment or therapeutic abstention, in the event that patients might require aggressive measures (cardiopulmonary resuscitation or admission to critical care units). Data were collected on physicians' reasons for taking such decisions and their patients' functional capacity and cognitive status (Katz index and Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly). A logistic regression model was constructed taking physicians' decisions as the dependent variables and adjusting for patient factors and physician impressions. The functional status reported by reliable informants and the mental status measured by validated instruments were not coincident with the physicians' perception (functional status κ, 0.47; mental status κ, 0.26). A multivariate analysis showed that the age and the functional and mental status of patients, as perceived by the physicians, were the variables that better explained the physicians' decisions. Physicians' impressions on the functional and mental status of their patients significantly influenced their selection of patients for high-intensity treatments despite the fact that some of these impressions were not correct. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Substitution of physicians by nurses in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martinez-Gonzalez, N.A.; Djalali, S.; Tandjung, R.; Huber-Geismann, F.; Markun, S.; Wensing, M.; Rosemann, T.

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND: In many countries, substitution of physicians by nurses has become common due to the shortage of physicians and the need for high-quality, affordable care, especially for chronic and multi-morbid patients. We examined the evidence on the clinical effectiveness and care costs of

  13. The patient-centered medical home neighbor: A primary care physician's view.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinsky, Christine A

    2011-01-04

    The American College of Physicians' position paper on the patient-centered medical home neighbor (PCMH-N) extends the work of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) as a means of improving the delivery of health care. Recognizing that the PCMH does not exist in isolation, the PCMH-N concept outlines expectations for comanagement, communication, and care coordination and broadens responsibility for safe, effective, and efficient care beyond primary care to include physicians of all specialties. As such, it is a fitting follow-up to the PCMH and moves further down the road toward improved care for complex patients. Yet, there is more work to be done. Truly transforming the U.S. health care system around personalized medical homes embedded in highly functional medical neighborhoods will require better staffing models; more robust electronic information tools; aligned incentives for quality and efficiency within payment and regulatory policies; and a culture of greater engagement of patients, their families, and communities.

  14. Physicians involved in the care of patients with high risk of skin cancer should be trained regarding sun protection measures: evidence from a cross sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, M; Rioual, E; Adamski, H; Roguedas, A-M; Misery, L; Michel, M; Chastel, F; Schmutz, J-L; Aubin, F; Marguery, M-C; Meyer, N

    2011-01-01

    Knowledge, regarding sun protection, is essential to change behaviour and to reduce sun exposure of patients at risk for skin cancer. Patient education regarding appropriate or sun protection measures, is a priority to reduce skin cancer incidence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge about sun protection and the recommendations given in a population of non-dermatologists physicians involved in the care of patients at high risk of skin cancer. This study is a cross-sectional study. Physicians were e-mailed an anonymous questionnaire evaluating the knowledge about risk factors for skin cancer, sun protection and about the role of the physician in providing sun protection recommendations. Of the responders, 71.4% considered that the risk of skin cancer of their patients was increased when compared with the general population. All the responders knew that UV-radiations can contribute to induce skin cancers and 71.4% of them declared having adequate knowledge about sun protection measures. A proportion of 64.2% of them declared that they were able to give sun protection advices: using sunscreens (97.8%), wearing covering clothes (95.5%), performing regular medical skin examination (91.1%), to avoid direct sunlight exposure (77.8%), avoiding outdoor activities in the hottest midday hours (73.3%) and practising progressive exposure (44.4%). Non-dermatologist physicians reported a correct knowledge of UV-induced skin cancer risk factors. The majority of responders displayed adequate knowledge of sun protection measures and declared providing patients with sun protection recommendation on a regular basis. Several errors persisted. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology © 2010 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

  15. Exploring family physicians' reasons to continue or discontinue providing intrapartum care: Qualitative descriptive study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dove, Marion; Dogba, Maman Joyce; Rodríguez, Charo

    2017-08-01

    To examine the reasons why family physicians continue or discontinue providing intrapartum care in their clinical practice. Qualitative descriptive study. Two hospitals located in a multicultural area of Montreal, Que, in November 2011 to June 2012. Sixteen family physicians who were current or former providers of obstetric care. Data were collected using semistructured qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Three overarching themes that help create understanding of why family doctors continue to provide obstetric care were identified: their attraction, often initiated by role models early in their careers, to practising complete continuity of care and accompanying patients in a special moment in their lives; the personal, family, and organizational pressures experienced while pursuing a family medicine career that includes obstetrics; and their ongoing reflection about continuing to practise obstetrics. The practice of obstetrics was very attractive to family physician participants whether they provided intrapartum care or decided to stop. More professional support and incentives might help keep family doctors practising obstetrics. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

  16. The views of primary care physicians on health risks from electromagnetic fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berg-Beckhoff, Gabi; Heyer, Kristina; Kowall, Bernd

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this study was to find out what primary care physicians in Germany think about the possible health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and how they deal with this topic in discussions with patients.......The aim of this study was to find out what primary care physicians in Germany think about the possible health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and how they deal with this topic in discussions with patients....

  17. Psychosocial determinants of physicians' intention to practice euthanasia in palliative care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavoie, Mireille; Godin, Gaston; Vézina-Im, Lydi-Anne; Blondeau, Danielle; Martineau, Isabelle; Roy, Louis

    2015-01-22

    Euthanasia remains controversial in Canada and an issue of debate among physicians. Most studies have explored the opinion of health professionals regarding its legalization, but have not investigated their intentions when faced with performing euthanasia. These studies are also considered atheoretical. The purposes of the present study were to fill this gap in the literature by identifying the psychosocial determinants of physicians' intention to practice euthanasia in palliative care and verifying whether respecting the patient's autonomy is important for physicians. A validated anonymous questionnaire based on an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior was mailed to a random sample of 445 physicians from the province of Quebec, Canada. The response rate was 38.3% and the mean score for intention was 3.94 ± 2.17 (range: 1 to 7). The determinants of intention among physicians were: knowing patients' wishes (OR = 10.77; 95%CI: 1.33-86.88), perceived behavioral control-physicians' evaluation of their ability to adopt a given behavior-(OR = 4.35; 95%CI: 1.44-13.15), moral norm-the appropriateness of adopting a given behavior according to one's personal and moral values-(OR = 3.22; 95%CI: 1.29-8.00) and cognitive attitude-factual consequences of the adoption of a given behavior-(OR = 3.16; 95%CI: 1.20-8.35). This model correctly classified 98.8% of physicians. Specific beliefs that might discriminate physicians according to their level of intention were also identified. For instance, physicians' moral norm was related to the ethical principle of beneficence. Overall, physicians have weak intentions to practice euthanasia in palliative care. Nevertheless, respecting patients' final wishes concerning euthanasia seems to be of particular importance to them and greatly affects their motivation to perform euthanasia.

  18. Searching for consensus among physicians involved in the management of sick-listed workers in the Belgian health care sector: a qualitative study among practitioners and stakeholders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanmeerbeek, Marc; Govers, Patrick; Schippers, Nathalie; Rieppi, Stéphane; Mortelmans, Katrien; Mairiaux, Philippe

    2016-02-17

    In Belgium, the management of sick leave involves general practitioners (GPs), occupational health physicians (OPs) and social insurance physicians (SIPs). A dysfunctional relationship among these physicians can impede a patient's ability to return to work. The objective of this study was to identify ways to improve these physicians' mutual collaboration. Two consensus techniques were successively performed among the three professional groups. Eight nominal groups (NGs) gathered 74 field practitioners, and a two-round Delphi process involved 32 stakeholders. From the results, it appears that two areas (reciprocal knowledge and evolution of the legal and regulatory framework) are objects of consensus among the three medical group that were surveyed. Information transfer, particularly electronic transfer, was stressed as an important way to improve. The consensual proposals regarding interdisciplinary collaboration indicate specific and practical changes to be implemented when professionals are managing workers who are on sick leave. The collaboration process appeared to be currently more problematic, but the participants correctly identified the need for common training. The three physician groups all agree regarding several inter-physician collaboration proposals. The study also revealed a latent conflict situation among the analysed professionals that can arise from a lack of mutual recognition. Practical changes or improvements must be included in an extended framework that involves the different determinants of interdisciplinary collaboration that are shown by theoretical models. Collaboration is a product of the actions and behaviours of various partners, which requires reciprocal knowledge and trust; collaboration also implies political and economic structures that are led by public health authorities.

  19. Health care reform and job satisfaction of primary health care physicians in Lithuania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blazeviciene Aurelija

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this research paper is to study job satisfaction of physicians and general practitioners at primary health care institutions during the health care reform in Lithuania. Methods Self-administrated anonymous questionnaires were distributed to all physicians and general practitioners (N = 243, response rate – 78.6%, working at Kaunas primary health care level establishments, in October – December 2003. Results 15 men (7.9% and 176 women (92.1% participated in the research, among which 133 (69.6% were GPs and 58 (30.4% physicians. Respondents claimed to have chosen to become doctors, as other professions were of no interest to them. Total job satisfaction of the respondents was 4.74 point (on a 7 point scale. Besides 75.5% of the respondents said they would not recommend their children to choose a PHC level doctor's profession. The survey also showed that the respondents were most satisfied with the level of autonomy they get at work – 5.28, relationship with colleagues – 5.06, and management quality – 5.04, while compensation (2.09, social status (3.36, and workload (3.93 turned to be causing the highest dissatisfaction among the respondents. The strongest correlation (Spearmen's ratio was observed between total job satisfaction and such factors as the level of autonomy – 0.566, workload – 0.452, and GP's social status – 0.458. Conclusion Total job satisfaction of doctors working at primary health care establishments in Lithuania is relatively low, and compensation, social status, and workload are among the key factors that condition PHC doctors' dissatisfaction with their job.

  20. Association of Financial Integration Between Physicians and Hospitals With Commercial Health Care Prices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neprash, Hannah T; Chernew, Michael E; Hicks, Andrew L; Gibson, Teresa; McWilliams, J Michael

    2015-12-01

    Financial integration between physicians and hospitals may help health care provider organizations meet the challenges of new payment models but also may enhance the bargaining power of provider organizations, leading to higher prices and spending in commercial health care markets. To assess the association between recent increases in physician-hospital integration and changes in spending and prices for outpatient and inpatient services. Using regression analysis, we estimated the relationship between changes in physician-hospital integration from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2012, in 240 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and concurrent changes in spending. Adjustments were made for patient, plan, and market characteristics, including physician, hospital, and insurer market concentration. The study population included a cohort of 7,391,335 nonelderly enrollees in preferred-provider organizations or point-of-service plans included in the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Database during the study period. Data were analyzed from December 1, 2013, through July 13, 2015. Physician-hospital integration, measured using Medicare claims data as the share of physicians in an MSA who bill for outpatient services with a place-of-service code indicating employment or practice ownership by a hospital. Annual inpatient and outpatient spending per enrollee and associated use of health care services, with utilization measured by price-standardized spending (the sum of annual service counts multiplied by the national mean of allowed charges for the service). Among the 240 MSAs, physician-hospital integration increased from 2008 to 2012 by a mean of 3.3 percentage points, with considerable variation in increases across MSAs (interquartile range, 0.8-5.2 percentage points). For our study sample of 7,391,335 nonelderly enrollees, an increase in physician-hospital integration equivalent to the 75th percentile of changes experienced by MSAs was associated with a mean

  1. Health care management of sickness certification tasks: results from two surveys to physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindholm, Christina; von Knorring, Mia; Arrelöv, Britt; Nilsson, Gunnar; Hinas, Elin; Alexanderson, Kristina

    2013-05-23

    Health care in general and physicians in particular, play an important role in patients' sickness certification processes. However, a lack of management within health care regarding how sickness certification is carried out has been identified in Sweden. A variety of interventions to increase the quality of sickness certification were introduced by the government and County Councils. Some of these measures were specifically aimed at strengthening health care management of sickness certification; e.g. policy making and management support. The aim was to describe to what extent physicians in different medical specialties had access to a joint policy regarding sickness certification in their clinical settings and experienced management support in carrying out sickness certification. A descriptive study, based on data from two cross-sectional questionnaires sent to all physicians in the Stockholm County regarding their sickness certification practice. Criteria for inclusion in this study were working in a clinical setting, being a board-certified specialist, sickness certification consultations at least a few times a year. These criteria were met by 2497 physicians in 2004 and 2204 physicians in 2008. Proportions were calculated regarding access to policy and management support, stratified according to medical specialty. The proportions of physicians working in clinical settings with a well-established policy regarding sickness certification were generally low both in 2004 and 2008, but varied greatly between different types of medical specialties (from 6.1% to 46.9%). Also, reports of access to substantial management support regarding sickness certification varied greatly between medical specialties (from 10.5% to 48.8%). More than one third of the physicians reported having no such management support. Most physicians did not work in a clinical setting with a well-established policy on sickness certification tasks, nor did they experience substantial support from

  2. Barriers and facilitators to recruitment of physicians and practices for primary care health services research at one centre

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hogg William

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background While some research has been conducted examining recruitment methods to engage physicians and practices in primary care research, further research is needed on recruitment methodology as it remains a recurrent challenge and plays a crucial role in primary care research. This paper reviews recruitment strategies, common challenges, and innovative practices from five recent primary care health services research studies in Ontario, Canada. Methods We used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data from investigators and/or project staff from five research teams. Team members were interviewed and asked to fill out a brief survey on recruitment methods, results, and challenges encountered during a recent or ongoing project involving primary care practices or physicians. Data analysis included qualitative analysis of interview notes and descriptive statistics generated for each study. Results Recruitment rates varied markedly across the projects despite similar initial strategies. Common challenges and creative solutions were reported by many of the research teams, including building a sampling frame, developing front-office rapport, adapting recruitment strategies, promoting buy-in and interest in the research question, and training a staff recruiter. Conclusions Investigators must continue to find effective ways of reaching and involving diverse and representative samples of primary care providers and practices by building personal connections with, and buy-in from, potential participants. Flexible recruitment strategies and an understanding of the needs and interests of potential participants may also facilitate recruitment.

  3. What matters in the patients' decision to revisit the same primary care physician?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoun, Jumana M; Hamadeh, Ghassan N; Adib, Salim M

    2014-01-01

    To assess the priority of various aspects of the patient-primary care physician relationship in the decision to visit again that same physician. STUDY SETTINGS: A total of 400 community residents in Ras Beirut, Lebanon. A cross-sectional community based study sampled by a nonrandom sex-education quota-based procedure. Participants were asked to fill a survey where they indicated the ranking of nine items by importance in their decision to revisit the same physician. The nine items were chosen from three categories of factors: professional expertise of the physician; characteristics of the patient-physician relationship, office organization. Having a physician that gives the patient adequate time for discussion prevailed as rank 1 and luxurious clinic ranked as 9th. Affordability was one of the main concerns among men, those with poor health and those of lower socioeconomic status. Accessibility of the physician's phone was considered highly important among women and those of lesser education status. This study emphasizes the importance of adequate time with the patient, accessibility and affordability of the physician in maintaining continuity of care and patient satisfaction, beyond mere medical expertise.

  4. The Latino Physician Shortage: How the Affordable Care Act Increases the Value of Latino Spanish-Speaking Physicians and What Efforts Can Increase Their Supply.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daar, David A; Alvarez-Estrada, Miguel; Alpert, Abigail E

    2018-02-01

    The United States Latino population is growing at a rapid pace and is set to reach nearly 30% by 2050. The demand for culturally and linguistically competent health care is increasing in lockstep with this growth; however, the supply of doctors with skills and experience suited for this care is lagging. In particular, there is a major shortage of Latino Spanish-speaking physicians, and the gap between demand and supply is widening. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has increased the capacity of the US healthcare system to care for the growing Latino Spanish-speaking population, through health insurance exchanges, increased funding for safety net institutions, and efforts to improve efficiency and coordination of care, particularly with Accountable Care Organizations and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. With these policies in mind, the authors discuss how the value of Latino Spanish-speaking physicians to the healthcare system has increased under the environment of the ACA. In addition, the authors highlight key efforts to increase the supply of this physician population, including the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, premedical pipeline programs, and academic medicine and medical school education initiatives to increase Latino representation among physicians.

  5. Training Physicians to Provide High-Value, Cost-Conscious Care A Systematic Review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stammen, L.A.; Stalmeijer, R.E.; Paternotte, E.; Pool, A.O.; Driessen, E.W.; Scheele, F.; Stassen, L.P.S.

    2015-01-01

    Importance Increasing health care expenditures are taxing the sustainability of the health care system. Physicians should be prepared to deliver high-value, cost-conscious care. Objective To understand the circumstances in which the delivery of high-value, cost-conscious care is learned, with a goal

  6. ICU nurses and physicians dialogue regarding patients clinical status and care options-a focus group study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kvande, Monica; Lykkeslet, Else; Storli, Sissel Lisa

    2017-12-01

    Nurses and physicians work side-by-side in the intensive care unit (ICU). Effective exchanges of patient information are essential to safe patient care in the ICU. Nurses often rate nurse-physician communication lower than physicians and report that it is difficult to speak up, that disagreements are not resolved and that their input is not well received. Therefore, this study explored nurses' dialogue with physicians regarding patients' clinical status and the prerequisites for effective and accurate exchanges of information. We adopted a qualitative approach, conducting three focus group discussions with five to six nurses and physicians each (14 total). Two themes emerged. The first theme highlighted nurses' contributions to dialogues with physicians; nurses' ongoing observations of patients were essential to patient care discussions. The second theme addressed the prerequisites of accurate and effective dialogue regarding care options, comprising three subthemes: nurses' ability to speak up and present clinical changes, establishment of shared goal and clinical understanding, and open dialogue and willingness to listen to each other. Nurses should understand their essential role in conducting ongoing observations of patients and their right to be included in care-related decision-making processes. Physicians should be willing to listen to and include nurses' clinical observations and concerns.

  7. Physician-industry relations. Part 1: individual physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle, Susan L

    2002-03-05

    This is part 1 of a 2-part paper on ethics and physician-industry relationships. Part 1 offers advice to individual physicians; part 2 gives recommendations to medical education providers and medical professional societies. Physicians and industry have a shared interest in advancing medical knowledge. Nonetheless, the primary ethic of the physician is to promote the patient's best interests, while the primary ethic of industry is to promote profitability. Although partnerships between physicians and industry can result in impressive medical advances, they also create opportunities for bias and can result in unfavorable public perceptions. Many physicians and physicians-in-training think they are impervious to commercial influence. However, recent studies show that accepting industry hospitality and gifts, even drug samples, can compromise judgment about medical information and subsequent decisions about patient care. It is up to the physician to judge whether a gift is acceptable. A very general guideline is that it is ethical to accept modest gifts that advance medical practice. It is clearly unethical to accept gifts or services that obligate the physician to reciprocate. Conflicts of interest can arise from other financial ties between physicians and industry, whether to outside companies or self-owned businesses. Such ties include honorariums for speaking or writing about a company's product, payment for participating in clinic-based research, and referrals to medical resources. All of these relationships have the potential to influence a physician's attitudes and practices. This paper explores the ethical quandaries involved and offers guidelines for ethical business relationships.

  8. Physician Perspectives on Palliative Care for Children With Neuroblastoma: An International Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balkin, Emily M; Thompson, Daria; Colson, K Ellicott; Lam, Catherine G; Matthay, Katherine K

    2016-05-01

    Studies have shown that children with cancer globally lack access to palliative care. Little is known regarding physicians' perceptions of palliative care, treatment access, and self-reported competence in providing palliative care. Members of the Global Neuroblastoma Network (online tumor board) were surveyed. Eighty-three respondents met inclusion criteria; 53 (64%) completed the survey. Most respondents trained in high-income countries (HIC) but practice in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and care for more than five patients with neuroblastoma annually. WHO Essential Medicines in palliative care varied in availability, with incomplete access across LMIC centers. Nonpharmacologic therapies were inconsistently available. Contrary to international definitions, 17% of respondents inappropriately considered palliative care as that initiated only after curative therapy is stopped. Mean physician competence composite score (Likert scale 1-5, 5 = very competent) in providing symptomatic relief and palliative care across phases of care was 2.93 (95% CI 2.71-3.22). Physicians reported significantly greater competence in symptom management during cure-directed therapy than during end-of-life (P = 0.02) or when patients are actively dying (P = 0.007). Practicing in HIC, prior palliative care training, having access to radiotherapy, and not having to turn patients away due to bed shortages were significantly predictive of perceived competence in providing palliative care at end of life. An international sample identified gaps in treatment and palliative care service availability, in understanding the definition of palliative care, and in self-reported competence in providing palliative care. Increased perceived competence was associated with training, which supports the need for increased palliative care education and advocacy, especially in LMIC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Involving the Health Care System in Domestic Violence: What Women Want

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usta, Jinan; Antoun, Jumana; Ambuel, Bruce; Khawaja, Marwan

    2012-01-01

    PURPOSE Domestic violence is prevalent among women using primary health care services in Lebanon and has a negative effect on their health, yet physicians are not inquiring about it. In this study, we explored the attitudes of these women regarding involving the health care system in domestic violence management. METHODS We undertook a qualitative focus group study. Health care professionals in 6 primary health care centers routinely screened women for domestic violence using the HITS (Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream) instrument. At each center, 12 women who were screened (regardless of the result) were recruited to participate in a focus group discussion. RESULTS Most of the 72 women encouraged involvement of the health care system in the management of domestic violence and considered it to be a “socially accepted way to break the silence.” Women expected health care professionals to have an “active conscience”; to be open minded, ready to listen, and unhurried; and to respect confidentiality. Additionally, they recommended mass media and community awareness campaigns focusing on family relationships to address domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS Addressing domestic violence through the health care system, if done properly, may be socially acceptable and nonoffensive even to women living in conservative societies such as Lebanon. The women in this study described characteristics of health professionals that would be conducive to screening and that could be extrapolated to the health care of immigrant Arab women. PMID:22585885

  10. HIV Serostatus and Having Access to a Physician for Regular Hepatitis C Virus Care Among People Who Inject Drugs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaulieu, Tara; Hayashi, Kanna; Milloy, Michael J; Nosova, Ekaterina; DeBeck, Kora; Montaner, Julio; Kerr, Thomas; Ti, Lianping

    2018-05-01

    People who inject drugs (PWIDs) and who are living with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are vulnerable to a range of health-related harms, including liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and death. There is limited evidence describing how HIV serostatus shapes access to a physician for regular HCV care among PWID. Data were collected through the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), the AIDS Care Cohort to evaluate Exposure to Survival Services (ACCESS), and the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS), 3 prospective cohorts involving people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada, between 2005 and 2015. Using generalized estimating equations, we examined the relationship between HIV-seropositivity and having access to a physician for regular HCV care. We conducted a mediation analysis to examine whether this association was mediated by increased frequency of engagement in health care. In total, 1627 HCV-positive PWID were eligible for analysis; 582 (35.8%) were HIV-positive at baseline; and 31 (1.9%) became HIV-positive during follow-up. In multivariable analyses, after adjusting for a range of confounders, HIV serostatus [adjusted odds ratio = 1.99; 95% confidence interval: 1.77 to 2.24] was significantly associated with having access to HCV care. Approximately 26% of the effect was due to mediation. Our results demonstrate a positive relationship between HIV-seropositivity and having access to a physician for regular HCV care, which is partially explained through increased frequency of engagement in health care. These findings highlight the need to address patterns of inequality in access to HCV care among PWID.

  11. Maternity Care Services Provided by Family Physicians in Rural Hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Richard A

    The purpose of this study was to describe how many rural family physicians (FPs) and other types of providers currently provide maternity care services, and the requirements to obtain privileges. Chief executive officers of rural hospitals were purposively sampled in 15 geographically diverse states with significant rural areas in 2013 to 2014. Questions were asked about the provision of maternity care services, the physicians who perform them, and qualifications required to obtain maternity care privileges. Analysis used descriptive statistics, with comparisons between the states, community rurality, and hospital size. The overall response rate was 51.2% (437/854). Among all identified hospitals, 44.9% provided maternity care services, which varied considerably by state (range, 17-83%; P maternity care, a mean of 271 babies were delivered per year, 27% by cesarean delivery. A mean of 7.0 FPs had privileges in these hospitals, of which 2.8 provided maternity care and 1.8 performed cesarean deliveries. The percentage of FPs who provide maternity care (mean, 48%; range, 10-69%; P maternity care who are FPs (mean, 63%; range, 10-88%; P maternity care services in US rural hospitals, including cesarean deliveries. Some family medicine residencies should continue to train their residents to provide these services to keep replenishing this valuable workforce. © Copyright 2017 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  12. Evaluating physician performance at individualizing care: a pilot study tracking contextual errors in medical decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiner, Saul J; Schwartz, Alan; Yudkowsky, Rachel; Schiff, Gordon D; Weaver, Frances M; Goldberg, Julie; Weiss, Kevin B

    2007-01-01

    Clinical decision making requires 2 distinct cognitive skills: the ability to classify patients' conditions into diagnostic and management categories that permit the application of research evidence and the ability to individualize or-more specifically-to contextualize care for patients whose circumstances and needs require variation from the standard approach to care. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a methodology for measuring physicians' performance at contextualizing care and compare it to their performance at planning biomedically appropriate care. First, the authors drafted 3 cases, each with 4 variations, 3 of which are embedded with biomedical and/or contextual information that is essential to planning care. Once the cases were validated as instruments for assessing physician performance, 54 internal medicine residents were then presented with opportunities to make these preidentified biomedical or contextual errors, and data were collected on information elicitation and error making. The case validation process was successful in that, in the final iteration, the physicians who received the contextual variant of cases proposed an alternate plan of care to those who received the baseline variant 100% of the time. The subsequent piloting of these validated cases unmasked previously unmeasured differences in physician performance at contextualizing care. The findings, which reflect the performance characteristics of the study population, are presented. This pilot study demonstrates a methodology for measuring physician performance at contextualizing care and illustrates the contribution of such information to an overall assessment of physician practice.

  13. Developing a decision support system for tobacco use counselling using primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theodore Marcy

    2008-07-01

    Conclusions A multi-method evaluation process utilising primary care physicians proved useful for developing a CDSS that was acceptable to physicians and patients, and feasible to use in their clinical environment.

  14. Dutch criteria of due care for physician-assisted dying in medical practice: a physician perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buiting, H. M.; Gevers, J. K. M.; Rietjens, J. A. C.; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D.; van der Maas, P. J.; van der Heide, A.; van Delden, J. J. M.

    2008-01-01

    Introduction: The Dutch Euthanasia Act (2002) states that euthanasia is not punishable if the attending physician acts in accordance with the statutory due care criteria. These criteria hold that: there should be a voluntary and well-considered request, the patient's suffering should be unbearable

  15. Non-verbal communication between primary care physicians and older patients: how does race matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stepanikova, Irena; Zhang, Qian; Wieland, Darryl; Eleazer, G Paul; Stewart, Thomas

    2012-05-01

    Non-verbal communication is an important aspect of the diagnostic and therapeutic process, especially with older patients. It is unknown how non-verbal communication varies with physician and patient race. To examine the joint influence of physician race and patient race on non-verbal communication displayed by primary care physicians during medical interviews with patients 65 years or older. Video-recordings of visits of 209 patients 65 years old or older to 30 primary care physicians at three clinics located in the Midwest and Southwest. Duration of physicians' open body position, eye contact, smile, and non-task touch, coded using an adaption of the Nonverbal Communication in Doctor-Elderly Patient Transactions form. African American physicians with African American patients used more open body position, smile, and touch, compared to the average across other dyads (adjusted mean difference for open body position = 16.55, p non-verbal communication with older patients. Its influence is best understood when physician race and patient race are considered jointly.

  16. Transition from specialist to primary diabetes care: A qualitative study of perspectives of primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liddy Clare

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The growing prevalence of diabetes and heightened awareness of the benefits of early and intensive disease management have increased service demands and expectations not only of primary care physicians but also of diabetes specialists. While research has addressed issues related to referral into specialist care, much less has been published about the transition from diabetes specialists back to primary care. Understanding the concerns of family physicians related to discharge of diabetes care from specialist centers can support the development of strategies that facilitate this transition and result in broader access to limited specialist services. This study was undertaken to explore primary care physician (PCP perspectives and concerns related to reassuming responsibility for diabetes care after referral to a specialized diabetes center. Methods Qualitative data were collected through three focus groups. Sessions were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were coded and sorted with themes identified using a constant comparison method. The study was undertaken through the regional academic referral center for adult diabetes care in Ottawa, Canada. Participants included 22 primary care physicians representing a variety of referral frequencies, practice types and settings. Results Participants described facilitators and barriers to successful transition of diabetes care at the provider, patient and systems level. Major facilitators included clear communication of a detailed, structured plan of care, ongoing access to specialist services for advice or re-referral, continuing education and mentoring for PCPs. Identified provider barriers were gaps in PCP knowledge and confidence related to diabetes treatment, excessive workload and competing time demands. Systems deterrents included reimbursement policies for health professionals and inadequate funding for diabetes medications and supplies. At the PCP-patient interface

  17. Improved knowledge of and difficulties in palliative care among physicians during 2008 and 2015 in Japan: Association with a nationwide palliative care education program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakazawa, Yoko; Yamamoto, Ryo; Kato, Masashi; Miyashita, Mitsunori; Kizawa, Yoshiyuki; Morita, Tatsuya

    2018-02-01

    Palliative care education for health care professionals is a key element in improving access to quality palliative care. The Palliative Care Emphasis Program on Symptom Management and Assessment for Continuous Medical Education (PEACE) was designed to provide educational opportunities for all physicians in Japan. As of 2015, 57,764 physicians had completed it. The objective of this study was to estimate the effects of the program. This study was an analysis of 2 nationwide observational studies from 2008 and 2015. We conducted 2 questionnaire surveys for representative samples of physicians. The measurements used were the Palliative Care Knowledge Test (range, 0-100) and the Palliative Care Difficulties Scale (range, 1-4). Comparisons were made with the unpaired Student t test and with a multivariate linear regression model using 2 cohorts and a propensity score-matched sample. This study analyzed a total of 48,487 physicians in 2008 and a total of 2720 physicians in 2015. Between 2008 and 2015, physicians' knowledge and difficulties significantly improved on the Palliative Care Knowledge Test with total scores of 68 and 78, respectively (P PEACE program had a higher knowledge score (74 vs 86; P PEACE program may have contributed to these improvements. Cancer 2018;124:626-35. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

  18. Physicians' perceptions of quality of care, professional autonomy, and job satisfaction in Canada, Norway, and the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyssen, Reidar; Palmer, Karen S; Solberg, Ingunn B; Voltmer, Edgar; Frank, Erica

    2013-12-15

    We lack national and cross-national studies of physicians' perceptions of quality of patient care, professional autonomy, and job satisfaction to inform clinicians and policymakers. This study aims to compare such perceptions in Canada, the United States (U.S.), and Norway. We analyzed data from large, nationwide, representative samples of physicians in Canada (n = 3,213), the U.S. (n = 6,628), and Norway (n = 657), examining demographics, job satisfaction, and professional autonomy. Among U.S. physicians, 79% strongly agreed/agreed they could provide high quality patient care vs. only 46% of Canadian and 59% of Norwegian physicians. U.S. physicians also perceived more clinical autonomy and time with their patients, with differences remaining significant even after controlling for age, gender, and clinical hours. Women reported less adequate time, clinical freedom, and ability to provide high-quality care. Country differences were the strongest predictors for the professional autonomy variables. In all three countries, physicians' perceptions of quality of care, clinical freedom, and time with patients influenced their overall job satisfaction. Fewer U.S. physicians reported their overall job satisfaction to be at-least-somewhat satisfied than did Norwegian and Canadian physicians. U.S. physicians perceived higher quality of patient care and greater professional autonomy, but somewhat lower job satisfaction than their colleagues in Norway and Canada. Differences in health care system financing and delivery might help explain this difference; Canada and Norway have more publicly-financed, not-for-profit health care delivery systems, vs. a more-privately-financed and profit-driven system in the U.S. None of these three highly-resourced countries, however, seem to have achieved an ideal health care system from the perspective of their physicians.

  19. Barriers for administering primary health care services to battered women: Perception of physician and nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eman H. Alsabhan

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Violence against women is an important public-health problem that draws attention of a wide spectrum of clinicians. However, multiple barriers undermine the efforts of primary health care workers to properly manage and deal with battered women. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to reveal barriers that might impede administering comprehensive health care to battered women and compare these barriers between nurses and physicians and identify factors affecting such barriers. Methods: A total of 1553 medical staff from 78 primary health care units agreed to share in this study, of these 565 were physicians and 988 were nurses. Results: Barriers related to the battered woman topped the list of ranks for both physicians (93.1 ± 17.4% and nurses (82.1 ± 29.3%. Institutional barriers (87.2 ± 21.5%, barriers related to the health staff (79.8 ± 20. 5%, and social barriers (77.5 ± 21.7% followed, respectively, in the rank list of physicians while for the list of nurses, social barriers (75.1 ± 30.1%, institutional barriers (74.3 ± 31.7% followed with barriers related to health staff (70.0 ± 30.0% at the bottom of the list. Only duration spent at work and degree of education of nurses were significantly affecting the total barrier score, while these factors had no significant association among physicians. Conclusion: Real barriers exist that might interfere with administering proper comprehensive health care at the primary health care units by both physicians and nurses. This necessitates design of specific programs to improve both the knowledge and skills of the medical staff to deal with violence among women. Also, available resources and infrastructure must be strengthened to face this problem and enable primary health care staff to care for battered women. Keywords: Battered women, Barriers, Physicians, Nurses, Primary health care

  20. Prescribing exercise for older adults: A needs assessment comparing primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dauenhauer, Jason A; Podgorski, Carol A; Karuza, Jurgis

    2006-01-01

    To inform the development of educational programming designed to teach providers appropriate methods of exercise prescription for older adults, the authors conducted a survey of 177 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners (39% response rate). The survey was designed to better understand the prevalence of exercise prescriptions, attitudes, barriers, and educational needs of primary care practitioners toward older adults. Forty-seven percent of primary care providers report not prescribing exercise for older adults; 85% of the sample report having no formal training in exercise prescription. Practitioner attitudes were positive toward exercise, but were not predictive of their exercise prescribing behavior, which indicates that education efforts aimed at changing attitudes as a way of increasing exercise-prescribing behaviors would not be sufficient. In order to facilitate and reinforce practice changes to increase exercise-prescribing behaviors of primary care providers, results suggest the need for specific skill training on how to write an exercise prescription and motivate older adults to follow these prescriptions.

  1. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide not meeting due care criteria in the Netherlands: a qualitative review of review committee judgements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, David Gibbes; Kim, Scott Y H

    2017-10-25

    ObjectivesTo assess how Dutch regional euthanasia review committees (RTE) apply the euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) due care criteria in cases where the criteria are judged not to have been met ('due care not met' (DCNM)) and to evaluate how the criteria function to set limits in Dutch EAS practice. A qualitative review using directed content analysis of DCNM cases in the Netherlands from 2012 to 2016 published on the RTE website (https://www.euthanasiecommissie.nl/) as of 31 January 2017. Of 33 DCNM cases identified (occurring 2012-2016), 32 cases (97%) were published online and included in the analysis. 22 cases (69%) violated only procedural criteria, relating to improper medication administration or inadequate physician consultation. 10 cases (31%) failed to meet substantive criteria, with the most common violation involving the no reasonable alternative (to EAS) criterion (seven cases). Most substantive cases involved controversial elements, such as EAS for psychiatric disorders or 'tired of life', in incapacitated patients or by physicians from advocacy organisations. Even in substantive criteria cases, the RTE's focus was procedural. The cases were more about unorthodox, unprofessional or overconfident physician behaviours and not whether patients should have received EAS. However, in some cases, physicians knowingly pushed the limits of EAS law. Physicians from euthanasia advocacy organisations were over-represented in substantive criteria cases. Trained EAS consultants tended to agree with or facilitate EAS in DCNM cases. Physicians and families had difficulty applying ambiguous advance directives of incapacitated patients. As a retrospective review of physician self-reported data, the Dutch RTEs do not focus on whether patients should have received EAS, but instead primarily gauge whether doctors conducted EAS in a thorough, professional manner. To what extent this constitutes enforcement of strict safeguards, especially when cases contain

  2. The management of health care service quality. A physician perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobocea, L; Gheorghe, I R; Spiridon, St; Gheorghe, C M; Purcarea, V L

    2016-01-01

    Applying marketing in health care services is presently an essential element for every manager or policy maker. In order to be successful, a health care organization has to identify an accurate measurement scale for defining service quality due to competitive pressure and cost values. The most widely employed scale in the services sector is SERVQUAL scale. In spite of being successfully adopted in fields such as brokerage and banking, experts concluded that the SERVQUAL scale should be modified depending on the specific context. Moreover, the SERVQUAL scale focused on the consumer's perspective regarding service quality. While service quality was measured with the help of SERVQUAL scale, other experts identified a structure-process-outcome design, which, they thought, would be more suitable for health care services. This approach highlights a different perspective on investigating the service quality, namely, the physician's perspective. Further, we believe that the Seven Prong Model for Improving Service Quality has been adopted in order to effectively measure the health care service in a Romanian context from a physician's perspective.

  3. Job satisfaction among primary health care physicians and nurses in Al-madinah Al-munawwara.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Juhani, Abdullah M; Kishk, Nahla A

    2006-01-01

    Job satisfaction is the affective orientation that an employee has towards his work. Greater physician satisfaction is associated with greater patient adherence and satisfaction. Nurses' job satisfaction, have great impact on the organizational success. Knowing parts of job dissatisfaction among physicians and nurses is important in forming strategies for retaining them in primary health care (PHC) centers. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the level of job satisfaction among PHC physicians and nurses in Al- Madina Al- Munawwara. Also, to explore the relationship of their personal and job characteristics with job satisfaction. A descriptive cross- sectional epidemiological approach was adopted. A self completion questionnaire was distributed to physicians and nurses at PHC centers. A multi-dimensional job scale adopted by Traynor and Wade (1993) was modified and used. The studied sample included 445 health care providers, 23.6% were physicians and 76.4% were nurses. Job dissatisfaction was highly encountered where 67.1% of the nurses & 52.4% of physicians were dissatisfied. Professional opportunities, patient care and financial reward were the most frequently encountered domains with which physicians were dissatisfied. The dissatisfying domains for majority of nurses were professional opportunities, workload and appreciation reward. Exploring the relation between demographic and job characteristics with job satisfaction revealed that older, male, non-Saudi, specialists physicians had insignificantly higher mean score of job satisfaction than their counterparts. While older, female, non-Saudi, senior nurses had significantly higher mean score than their counterparts. It is highly recommended to reduce workload for nurses and provision of better opportunities promotional for PHC physicians and nurses.

  4. Primary health care physicians' treatment of psychosocial problems: implications for social work.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gross, R.; Rabinowitz, J.; Feldman, D.; Boerma, W.

    1996-01-01

    This study explores the extent to which primary care physicians serve as gatekeepers for the treatment of psychosocial problems and the extent to which they have contact with social workers. We also attempted to identify physician variables related to gatekeeping and amount of contact with social

  5. Collecting Practice-level Data in a Changing Physician Office-based Ambulatory Care Environment: A Pilot Study Examining the Physician induction interview Component of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halley, Meghan C; Rendle, Katharine A; Gugerty, Brian; Lau, Denys T; Luft, Harold S; Gillespie, Katherine A

    2017-11-01

    Objective This report examines ways to improve National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data on practice and physician characteristics in multispecialty group practices. Methods From February to April 2013, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) conducted a pilot study to observe the collection of the NAMCS physician interview information component in a large multispecialty group practice. Nine physicians were randomly sampled using standard NAMCS recruitment procedures; eight were eligible and agreed to participate. Using standard protocols, three field representatives conducted NAMCS physician induction interviews (PIIs) while trained ethnographers observed and audio recorded the interviews. Transcripts and field notes were analyzed to identify recurrent issues in the data collection process. Results The majority of the NAMCS items appeared to have been easily answered by the physician respondents. Among the items that appeared to be difficult to answer, three themes emerged: (a) physician respondents demonstrated an inconsistent understanding of "location" in responding to questions; (b) lack of familiarity with administrative matters made certain questions difficult for physicians to answer; and (c) certain primary care‑oriented questions were not relevant to specialty care providers. Conclusions Some PII survey questions were challenging for physicians in a multispecialty practice setting. Improving the design and administration of NAMCS data collection is part of NCHS' continuous quality improvement process. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

  6. Using Behavioral Economics to Design Physician Incentives That Deliver High-Value Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emanuel, Ezekiel J; Ubel, Peter A; Kessler, Judd B; Meyer, Gregg; Muller, Ralph W; Navathe, Amol S; Patel, Pankaj; Pearl, Robert; Rosenthal, Meredith B; Sacks, Lee; Sen, Aditi P; Sherman, Paul; Volpp, Kevin G

    2016-01-19

    Behavioral economics provides insights about the development of effective incentives for physicians to deliver high-value care. It suggests that the structure and delivery of incentives can shape behavior, as can thoughtful design of the decision-making environment. This article discusses several principles of behavioral economics, including inertia, loss aversion, choice overload, and relative social ranking. Whereas these principles have been applied to motivate personal health decisions, retirement planning, and savings behavior, they have been largely ignored in the design of physician incentive programs. Applying these principles to physician incentives can improve their effectiveness through better alignment with performance goals. Anecdotal examples of successful incentive programs that apply behavioral economics principles are provided, even as the authors recognize that its application to the design of physician incentives is largely untested, and many outstanding questions exist. Application and rigorous evaluation of infrastructure changes and incentives are needed to design payment systems that incentivize high-quality, cost-conscious care.

  7. The effect of physician feedback and an action checklist on diabetes care measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schectman, Joel M; Schorling, John B; Nadkarni, Mohan M; Lyman, Jason A; Siadaty, Mir S; Voss, John D

    2004-01-01

    The objective was to evaluate whether physician feedback accompanied by an action checklist improved diabetes care process measures. Eighty-three physicians in an academic general medicine clinic were provided a single feedback report on the most recent date and result of diabetes care measures (glycosylated hemoglobin [A1c], urine microalbumin, serum creatinine, lipid levels, retinal examination) as well as recent diabetes medication refills with calculated dosing and adherence on 789 patients. An educational session regarding the feedback and adherence information was provided. The physicians were asked to complete a checklist accompanying the feedback on each of their patients, indicating requested actions with respect to follow-up, testing, and counseling. The physicians completed 82% of patient checklists, requesting actions consistent with patient needs on the basis of the feedback. Of the physicians, 93% felt the patient information and intervention format to be useful. The odds of urine microalbumin testing, serum creatinine, lipid profile, A1c, and retinal examination increased in the 6 months after the feedback. The increase was sustained at 1 year only for microalbumin and retinal exams. There was no significant change in refill adherence for the group overall after the feedback, although adherence did improve among patients of physicians attending the educational session. No significant change was noted in lipid or A1c levels during the study period. In conclusion, a simple physician feedback tool with action checklist can be both helpful and popular for improving rates of diabetes care guideline adherence. More complex interventions are likely required to improve diabetes outcomes.

  8. Case study of physician leaders in quality and patient safety, and the development of a physician leadership network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Chris; Yousefi, Vandad; Wallington, Tamara; Ginzburg, Amir

    2010-01-01

    There is increasing recognition of the need for physician leadership in quality and patient safety, and emerging evidence that physician leadership contributes to improved care. Hospitals are beginning to establish physician leader positions; however, there is little guidance on how to define these roles and the strategies physician leaders can use toward improving care. This case study examines the roles of four physician leaders, describes their contribution to the design and implementation of hospital quality and patient safety agendas and discusses the creation of a physician network to support these activities. The positions were established between July 2006 and April 2009. All are corporate roles with varying reporting and accountability structures. The physician leads are involved in strategic planning, identifying and leading quality and safety initiatives, physician engagement and culture change. All have significantly contributed to the implementation of hospital improvement activities and are seen as influential among their peers as resources and mentors for local project success. Despite their accomplishments, these physician leads have been challenged by ambiguous role descriptions and difficulty identifying effective improvement strategies. As such, an expanding physician network was created with the goal of sharing approaches and tools and creating new strategies. Physician leaders are an important factor in the improvement of safety and quality within hospitals. This case study provides a template for the creation of such positions and highlights the importance of networking as an effective strategy for improving local care and advancing professional development of physician leaders in quality and patient safety.

  9. Which journals do primary care physicians and specialists access from an online service?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKibbon, K Ann; Haynes, R Brian; McKinlay, R James; Lokker, Cynthia

    2007-07-01

    The study sought to determine which online journals primary care physicians and specialists not affiliated with an academic medical center access and how the accesses correlate with measures of journal quality and importance. Observational study of full-text accesses made during an eighteen-month digital library trial was performed. Access counts were correlated with six methods composed of nine measures for assessing journal importance: ISI impact factors; number of high-quality articles identified during hand-searches of key clinical journals; production data for ACP Journal Club, InfoPOEMs, and Evidence-Based Medicine; and mean clinician-provided clinical relevance and newsworthiness scores for individual journal titles. Full-text journals were accessed 2,322 times by 87 of 105 physicians. Participants accessed 136 of 348 available journal titles. Physicians often selected journals with relatively higher numbers of articles abstracted in ACP Journal Club. Accesses also showed significant correlations with 6 other measures of quality. Specialists' access patterns correlated with 3 measures, with weaker correlations than for primary care physicians. Primary care physicians, more so than specialists, chose full-text articles from clinical journals deemed important by several measures of value. Most journals accessed by both groups were of high quality as measured by this study's methods for assessing journal importance.

  10. Physician-Hospital Alignment in Orthopedic Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bushnell, Brandon D

    2015-09-01

    The concept of "alignment" between physicians and hospitals is a popular buzzword in the age of health care reform. Despite their often tumultuous histories, physicians and hospitals find themselves under increasing pressures to work together toward common goals. However, effective alignment is more than just simple cooperation between parties. The process of achieving alignment does not have simple, universal steps. Alignment will differ based on individual situational factors and the type of specialty involved. Ultimately, however, there are principles that underlie the concept of alignment and should be a part of any physician-hospital alignment efforts. In orthopedic surgery, alignment involves the clinical, administrative, financial, and even personal aspects of a surgeon's practice. It must be based on the principles of financial interest, clinical authority, administrative participation, transparency, focus on the patient, and mutual necessity. Alignment can take on various forms as well, with popular models consisting of shared governance and comanagement, gainsharing, bundled payments, accountable care organizations, and other methods. As regulatory and financial pressures continue to motivate physicians and hospitals to develop alignment relationships, new and innovative methods of alignment will also appear. Existing models will mature and evolve, with individual variability based on local factors. However, certain trends seem to be appearing as time progresses and alignment relationships deepen, including regional and national collaboration, population management, and changes in the legal system. This article explores the history, principles, and specific methods of physician-hospital alignment and its critical importance for the future of health care delivery. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

  11. Burnout among primary care physicians in Jos-Plateau, north ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Developing countries health systems are bedeviled with numerous challenges including resource scarcity, high workload, unfavourable working conditions, Physical and Psychosocial stress. The Aim of this study was to assess the burden of burnout among primary care physicians working in such challenging ...

  12. Physicians' experiences of caring for late-stage HIV patients in the post-HAART era: challenges and adaptations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karasz, Alison; Dyche, Larry; Selwyn, Peter

    2003-11-01

    As medical treatment for AIDS has become more complex, the need for good palliative and end-of-life care has also increased for patients with advanced disease. Such care is often inadequate, especially among low-income, ethnic minority patients. The current study investigated physicians' experiences with caring for dying HIV patients in an underserved, inner city community in the Bronx, NY. The goals of the study included: (1) to investigate the barriers to effective end-of-life care for HIV patients; and (2) to examine physicians' experiences of role hindrance and frustration in caring for dying patients in the era of HAART. Qualitative, open-ended interviews were conducted with 16 physicians. Physicians identified two core, prescriptive myths shaping their care for patients with HIV. The 'Good Doctor Myth' equates good medical care with the delivery of efficacious biomedical care. The role of the physician is defined as technical curer, while the patient's role is limited to consultation and compliance. The 'Good Death Myth' envisions an ideal death which is acknowledged, organized, and pain free: the role of the physician is defined as that of comforter and supporter in the dying process. Role expectations associated with these myths were often disappointed. First, late-stage patients refused to adhere to treatment and were thus dying "unnecessarily." Second, patients often refused to acknowledge, accept, or plan for the end of life and as a result died painful, chaotic deaths. These realities presented intense psychological and practical challenges for providers. Adaptive coping included both behavioral and cognitive strategies. Successful adaptation resulted in "positive engagement," experienced by participants as a continuing sense of fascination, gratification, and joy. Less successful adaptation could result in detachment or anger. Participants believed that engagement had a powerful impact on patient care. Working with dying HIV patients in the post

  13. Verbal Communication among Alzheimer’s Disease Patients, their Caregivers, and Primary Care Physicians during Primary Care Office Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Karen L.; Lingler, Jennifer H.; Schulz, Richard

    2009-01-01

    Objective Primary care visits of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) often involve communication among patients, family caregivers, and primary care physicians (PCPs). The objective of this study was to understand the nature of each individual’s verbal participation in these triadic interactions. Methods To define the verbal communication dynamics of AD care triads, we compared verbal participation (percent of total visit speech) by each participant in patient/caregiver/PCP triads. Twenty three triads were audio taped during a routine primary care visit. Rates of verbal participation were described and effects of patient cognitive status (MMSE score, verbal fluency) on verbal participation were assessed. Results PCP verbal participation was highest at 53% of total visit speech, followed by caregivers (31%) and patients (16%). Patient cognitive measures were related to patient and caregiver verbal participation, but not to PCP participation. Caregiver satisfaction with interpersonal treatment by PCP was positively related to caregiver’s own verbal participation. Conclusion Caregivers of AD patients and PCPs maintain active, coordinated verbal participation in primary care visits while patients participate less. Practice Implications Encouraging verbal participation by AD patients and their caregivers may increase the AD patient’s active role and caregiver satisfaction with primary care visits. PMID:19395224

  14. Physician self-referral for imaging and the cost of chronic care for Medicare beneficiaries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Danny R; Sunshine, Jonathan H; Bhargavan, Mythreyi; Forman, Howard

    2011-09-01

    As the cost of both chronic care and diagnostic imaging continue to rise, it is important to consider methods of cost containment in these areas. Therefore, it seems important to study the relationship between self-referral for imaging and the cost of care of chronic illnesses. Previous studies, mostly of acute illnesses, have found self-referral increases utilization and, thus, probably imaging costs. To evaluate the relationship between physician self-referral for imaging and the cost of episodes of chronic care. Using Medicare's 5% Research Identifiable Files for 2004 to 2007, episodes of care were constructed for 32 broad chronic conditions using the Symmetry Episode Treatment Grouper. Using multivariate regression, we evaluated the association between whether the treating physician self-referred for imaging and total episode cost, episode imaging cost, and episode nonimaging cost. Analyses were controlled for patient characteristics (eg, age and general health status), the condition's severity, and treating physician specialty. Self-referral in imaging was significantly (P nonimaging costs were much more often significantly higher (in 24 combinations) with self-referral than being lower (in 4 combinations). We find broad evidence that physician self-referral for imaging is associated with significantly and substantially higher chronic care costs. Unless self-referral has empirically demonstrable benefits, curbing self-referral may be an appropriate route to containing chronic care costs.

  15. Perceptions of substance use, treatment options and training needs among Iranian primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dolan Kate A

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In order to be optimally effective, continuing training programmes for health-care professionals need to be tailored so that they target specific knowledge deficits, both in terms of topic content and appropriate intervention strategies. A first step in designing tailored treatment programmes is to identify the characteristics of the relevant health-care professional group, their current levels of content and treatment knowledge, the estimated prevalence of drug and alcohol problems among their patients and their preferred options for receiving continuing education and training. This study reports the results of a survey of 53 primary care physicians working in Iran. The majority were male, had a mean age of 44 years and saw approximately 94 patients per week. In terms of their patients' drug use, primary care physicians thought most patients with a substance use problem were male, women were most likely to use tobacco (52%, opium (32% and marijuana/hashish and young people were most likely to use tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and heroin. Counselling and nicotine patches were the treatments most commonly provided. Although the majority (55% reported referring patients to other services, more than a third did not. Most primary care physicians reported being interested in attending further training on substance abuse issues. The implications of these data for ongoing education and training of primary care physicians in Iran are discussed.

  16. Does trust of patients in their physician predict loyalty to the health care insurer? The Israeli case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabay, Gillie

    2016-01-01

    This pioneer study tests the relationship between patients' trust in their physicians and patients' loyalty to their health care insurers. This is a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of patients from all health care insurers with identical health care plans. Regression analyses and Baron and Kenny's model were used to test the study model. Patient trust in the physician did not predict loyalty to the insurer. Loyalty to the physician did not mediate the relationship between trust in the physician and loyalty to the insurer. Satisfaction with the physician was the only predictor of loyalty to the insurer.

  17. Accounting for graduate medical education production of primary care physicians and general surgeons: timing of measurement matters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petterson, Stephen; Burke, Matthew; Phillips, Robert; Teevan, Bridget

    2011-05-01

    Legislation proposed in 2009 to expand GME set institutional primary care and general surgery production eligibility thresholds at 25% at entry into training. The authors measured institutions' production of primary care physicians and general surgeons on completion of first residency versus two to four years after graduation to inform debate and explore residency expansion and physician workforce implications. Production of primary care physicians and general surgeons was assessed by retrospective analysis of the 2009 American Medical Association Masterfile, which includes physicians' training institution, residency specialty, and year of completion for up to six training experiences. The authors measured production rates for each institution based on physicians completing their first residency during 2005-2007 in family or internal medicine, pediatrics, or general surgery. They then reassessed rates to account for those who completed additional training. They compared these rates with proposed expansion eligibility thresholds and current workforce needs. Of 116,004 physicians completing their first residency, 54,245 (46.8%) were in primary care and general surgery. Of 683 training institutions, 586 met the 25% threshold for expansion eligibility. At two to four years out, only 29,963 physicians (25.8%) remained in primary care or general surgery, and 135 institutions lost eligibility. A 35% threshold eliminated 314 institutions collectively training 93,774 residents (80.8%). Residency expansion thresholds that do not account for production at least two to four years after completion of first residency overestimate eligibility. The overall primary care production rate from GME will not sustain the current physician workforce composition. Copyright © by the Association of American medical Colleges.

  18. Process and Outcome Measures among COPD Patients with a Hospitalization Cared for by an Advance Practice Provider or Primary Care Physician.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amitesh Agarwal

    Full Text Available To examine the process and outcomes of care of COPD patients by Advanced Practice Providers (APPs and primary care physicians.We conducted a cross sectional retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with COPD who had at least one hospitalization in 2010. We examined the process measures of receipt of spirometry evaluation, influenza and pneumococcal vaccine, use of COPD medications, and referral to a pulmonary specialist visit. Outcome measures were emergency department (ER visit, number of hospitalizations and 30-day readmission in 2010.A total of 7,257 Medicare beneficiaries with COPD were included. Of these, 1,999 and 5,258 received primary care from APPs and primary care physicians, respectively. Patients in the APP group were more likely to be white, younger, male, residing in non-metropolitan areas and have fewer comorbidities. In terms of process of care measures, APPs were more likely to prescribe short acting bronchodilators (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.18, 95%Confidence Interval [CI] 1.05-1.32, oxygen therapy (aOR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.12-1.40 and consult a pulmonary specialist (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.23-1.56, but less likely to give influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations. Patients receiving care from APPs had lower rates of ER visits for COPD (aOR = 0.84, 95%CI 0.71-0.98 and had a higher follow-up rate with pulmonary specialist within 30 days of hospitalization for COPD (aOR = 1.25, 95%CI 1.07-1.48 than those cared for by physicians.Compared to patients cared for by physicians, patients cared for by APPs were more likely to receive short acting bronchodilator, oxygen therapy and been referred to pulmonologist, however they had lower rates of vaccination probably due to lower age group. Patients cared for by APPs were less like to visit an ER for COPD compared to patients care for by physicians, conversely there was no differences in hospitalization or readmission for COPD between MDs and APPs.

  19. Moral distress, autonomy and nurse-physician collaboration among intensive care unit nurses in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karanikola, Maria N K; Albarran, John W; Drigo, Elio; Giannakopoulou, Margarita; Kalafati, Maria; Mpouzika, Meropi; Tsiaousis, George Z; Papathanassoglou, Elizabeth D E

    2014-05-01

    To explore the level of moral distress and potential associations between moral distress indices and (1) nurse-physician collaboration, (2) autonomy, (3) professional satisfaction, (4) intention to resign, and (5) workload among Italian intensive care unit nurses. Poor nurse-physician collaboration and low autonomy may limit intensive care unit nurses' ability to act on their moral decisions. A cross-sectional correlational design with a sample of 566 Italian intensive care unit nurses. The intensity of moral distress was 57.9 ± 15.6 (mean, standard deviation) (scale range: 0-84) and the frequency of occurrence was 28.4 ± 12.3 (scale range: 0-84). The mean score of the severity of moral distress was 88.0 ± 44 (scale range: 0-336). The severity of moral distress was associated with (1) nurse-physician collaboration and dissatisfaction on care decisions (r = -0.215, P intention to resign (r = 0.244, P intention of nurses to resign (r = -0. 209, P intention to resign, whereas poor nurse-physician collaboration appears to be a pivotal factor accounting for nurses' moral distress. Enhancement of nurse-physician collaboration and nurses' participation in end-of-life decisions seems to be a managerial task that could lead to the alleviation of nurses' moral distress and their retention in the profession. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Intersections of Physician Autonomy, Religion, and Health Care When Working With LGBT+ Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prairie, Tara M; Wrye, Bethany; Murfree, Sarah

    2017-11-01

    The purpose of this study is to explore the ways that some health care providers perceive the intersectionality of their autonomy, religious faith, and their medical practice, specifically when it comes to providing care for the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) community. Physicians (n = 25) and medical residents (n = 17) located in the southeast completed a qualitative survey regarding their views of working with LGBT+ patients. Five main themes resulted from the analysis: adequate education, communication, discrimination, duty versus physician autonomy, and religious exemption. In this analysis, we focus specifically on duty versus physician autonomy and religious exemption since the other themes have been addressed in literature. The physicians and medical residents in this sample were divided among groups on the right to refuse treatment. Although there was not a question specific to religion, participants discussed religion in their responses to whether they believe in the right to refuse treatment. This division supports the need to decrease the current gap in knowledge regarding how religious views can affect physician treatment of LGBT+ patients and research effective ways to bridge the gap between physician autonomy and the duty to provide treatment.

  1. Impact of Burnout on Self-Reported Patient Care Among Emergency Physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dave W. Lu

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Burnout is a syndrome of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and sense of low personal accomplishment. Emergency physicians (EPs experience the highest levels of burnout among all physicians. Burnout is associated with greater rates of self-reported suboptimal care among surgeons and internists. The association between burnout and suboptimal care among EPs is unknown. The objective of the study was to evaluate burnout rates among attending and resident EPs and examine their relationship with self-reported patient care practices. Methods: In this cross-sectional study burnout was measured at two university-based emergency medicine residency programs with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. We also measured depression, quality of life (QOL and career satisfaction using validated questionnaires. Six items assessed suboptimal care and the frequency with which they were performed. Results: We included 77 out of 155 (49.7% responses. The EP burnout rate was 57.1%, with no difference between attending and resident physicians. Residents were more likely to screen positive for depression (47.8% vs 18.5%, p=0.012 and report lower QOL scores (6.7 vs 7.4 out of 10, p=0.036 than attendings. Attendings and residents reported similar rates of career satisfaction (85.2% vs 87.0%, p=0.744. Burnout was associated with a positive screen for depression (38.6% vs 12.1%, p=0.011 and lower career satisfaction (77.3% vs 97.0%, p=0.02. EPs with high burnout were significantly more likely to report performing all six acts of suboptimal care. Conclusion: A majority of EPs demonstrated high burnout. EP burnout was significantly associated with higher frequencies of self-reported suboptimal care. Future efforts to determine if provider burnout is associated with negative changes in actual patient care are necessary.

  2. A Website to Improve Asthma Care by Suggesting Patient Questions for Physicians: Qualitative Analysis of User Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sciamanna, Christopher N; Blanch, Danielle C; Mui, Sarah; Lawless, Heather; Manocchia, Michael; Rosen, Rochelle K; Pietropaoli, Anthony

    2007-01-01

    Background Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the United Sates, yet despite the existence of national guidelines, nearly three fourths of patients with asthma do not have adequate control and clinical adherence to guidelines is low. While there are many reasons for this, physician inertia with respect to treatment change is partly to blame. Research suggests that patients who ask for specific tests and treatments are more likely to receive them. Objectives This study investigated the impact and experience of using an interactive patient website designed to give patients individual feedback about their condition and to suggest tailored questions for patients to ask their physician. The website was designed to be used prior to a physician visit, to increase the likelihood that patients would receive recommended tests and treatments. Methods A total of 37 adult patients with asthma participated in semi-structured telephone interviews aimed at eliciting information about their experiences with the website. Transcripts were coded using qualitative data analysis techniques and software. Themes were developed from subsets of codes generated through the analysis. In addition, 26 physicians were surveyed regarding their impressions of the website. Results Opportunities exist for improving website feedback, although the majority of both patient and physician respondents held favorable opinions about the site. Two major themes emerged regarding patients’ experiences with the website. First, many patients who used the website had a positive shift in their attitudes regarding interactions with their physicians. Second, use of the website prompted patients to become more actively involved in their asthma care. No patient reported any negative experiences as a result of using the website. Physicians rated the website positively. Conclusions Patients perceived that the interactive website intervention improved communication and interaction with their

  3. Explaining the de-prioritization of primary prevention: Physicians' perceptions of their role in the delivery of primary care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuo Christina L

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background While physicians are key to primary preventive care, their delivery rate is sub-optimal. Assessment of physician beliefs is integral to understanding current behavior and the conceptualization of strategies to increase delivery. Methods A focus group with regional primary care physician (PCP Opinion Leaders was conducted as a formative step towards regional assessment of attitudes and barriers regarding preventive care delivery in primary care. Following the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, the focus group aim was to identify conceptual themes that characterize PCP beliefs and practices regarding preventive care. Seven male and five female PCPs (family medicine, internal medicine participated in the audiotaped discussion of their perceptions and behaviors in delivery of primary preventive care. The transcribed audiotape was qualitatively analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Results The PCPs' own perceived role in daily practice was a significant barrier to primary preventive care. The prevailing PCP model was the "one-stop-shop" physician who could provide anything from primary to tertiary care, but whose provision was dominated by the delivery of immediate diagnoses and treatments, namely secondary care. Conclusions The secondary-tertiary prevention PCP model sustained the expectation of immediacy of corrective action, cure, and satisfaction sought by patients and physicians alike, and, thereby, de-prioritized primary prevention in practice. Multiple barriers beyond the immediate control of PCP must be surmounted for the full integration of primary prevention in primary care practice. However, independent of other barriers, physician cognitive value of primary prevention in practice, a base mediator of physician behavior, will need to be increased to frame the likelihood of such integration.

  4. Determinants of nutrition guidance practices of primary-care physicians

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hiddink, G.J.

    1996-01-01


    The aim of the studies described in this thesis was to analyze nutrition guidance practices of primary-care physicians (PCPs), their nutritional attitudes and knowledge and their interest in the role of nutrition in health and disease. A second objective was to identify the determinants

  5. Association between education in EOL care and variability in EOL practice: a survey of ICU physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forte, Daniel Neves; Vincent, Jean Louis; Velasco, Irineu Tadeu; Park, Marcelo

    2012-03-01

    This study investigated the association between physician education in EOL and variability in EOL practice, as well as the differences between beliefs and practices regarding EOL in the ICU. Physicians from 11 ICUs at a university hospital completed a survey presenting a patient in a vegetative state with no family or advance directives. Questions addressed approaches to EOL care, as well physicians' personal, professional and EOL educational characteristics. The response rate was 89%, with 105 questionnaires analyzed. Mean age was 38 ± 8 years, with a mean of 14 ± 7 years since graduation. Physicians who did not apply do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders were less likely to have attended EOL classes than those who applied written DNR orders [0/7 vs. 31/47, OR = 0.549 (0.356-0.848), P = 0.001]. Physicians who involved nurses in the decision-making process were more likely to be ICU specialists [17/22 vs. 46/83, OR = 4.1959 (1.271-13.845), P = 0.013] than physicians who made such decisions among themselves or referred to ethical or judicial committees. Physicians who would apply "full code" had less often read about EOL [3/22 vs. 11/20, OR = 0.0939 (0.012-0.710), P = 0.012] and had less interest in discussing EOL [17/22 vs. 20/20, OR = 0.210 (0.122-0.361), P EOL is associated with variability in EOL decisions in the ICU. Moreover, actual practice may differ from what physicians believe is best for the patient.

  6. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: A white paper from the European Association for Palliative Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radbruch, Lukas; Leget, Carlo; Bahr, Patrick; Müller-Busch, Christof; Ellershaw, John; de Conno, Franco; Vanden Berghe, Paul

    2016-02-01

    In recognition of the ongoing discussion on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, the Board of Directors of the European Association for Palliative Care commissioned this white paper from the palliative care perspective. This white paper aims to provide an ethical framework for palliative care professionals on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. It also aims to provide an overview on the available evidence as well as a discourse of ethical principles related to these issues. Starting from a 2003 European Association for Palliative Care position paper, 21 statements were drafted and submitted to a five-round Delphi process A panel with 17 experts commented on the paper in round 1. Board members of national palliative care or hospice associations that are collective members of European Association for Palliative Care were invited to an online survey in rounds 2 and 3. The expert panel and the European Association for Palliative Care board members participated in rounds 4 and 5. This final version was adopted as an official position paper of the European Association for Palliative Care in April 2015. Main topics of the white paper are concepts and definitions of palliative care, its values and philosophy, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, key issues on the patient and the organizational level. The consensus process confirmed the 2003 European Association for Palliative Care white paper and its position on the relationship between palliative care and euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The European Association for Palliative Care feels that it is important to contribute to informed public debates on these issues. Complete consensus seems to be unachievable due to incompatible normative frameworks that clash. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. Physicians' professional performance: an occupational health psychology perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheepers, Renée A

    2017-12-01

    Physician work engagement is considered to benefit physicians' professional performance in clinical teaching practice. Following an occupational health psychology perspective, this PhD report presents research on how physicians' professional performance in both doctor and teacher roles can be facilitated by work engagement and how work engagement is facilitated by job resources and personality traits. First, we conducted a systematic review on the impact of physician work engagement and related constructs (e. g. job satisfaction) on physicians' performance in patient care. We additionally investigated physician work engagement and job resources in relation to patient care experience with physicians' performance at ten outpatient clinics covering two hospitals. In a following multicentre survey involving 61 residency training programs of 18 hospitals, we studied associations between physician work engagement and personality traits with resident evaluations of physicians' teaching performance. The findings showed that physician work engagement was associated with fewer reported medical errors and that job satisfaction was associated with better communication and patient satisfaction. Autonomy and learning opportunities were positively associated with physician work engagement. Work engagement was positively associated with teaching performance. In addition, physician work engagement was most likely supported by personality trait conscientiousness (e. g. responsibility). Given the reported associations of physician work engagement with aspects of their professional performance, hospitals could support physician work engagement in service of optimal performance in residency training and patient care. This could be facilitated by worker health surveillance, peer support or promoting job crafting at the individual or team level.

  8. Building a Physician Culture for Healthcare Transformation: A Hospital's Leadership Challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemker, Robert A; Solomon, Leslie A

    2016-01-01

    Engaging and integrating physicians has become the veritable "brass ring" for many hospital systems: many attempts and few actual wins. This is especially true in California's managed care environment and for public entities such as Palomar Health in Escondido, California. Our commitment to engage and integrate physicians continues to be a vital element of a larger cultural shift toward delivery of care that puts the patients' needs first. A key determinant of success has been the ability to align a diverse medical staff culture with administrative priorities. This alignment involves a carefully executed strategy and a structure to build a collective identity among diverse players. Palomar Health is in the third year of the journey. Some of the critical milestones have been the implementation of a physician leadership development process, creation of a physician onboarding process to codify the desired physician culture, delineation of roles and expectations for physician leadership, and formalization of dyad and triad partnerships between physicians and their clinical and administrative partners.

  9. Physicians and administrators can work together.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuller, G W; Beaupre, E M

    1979-10-01

    This article describes the working relationship between the administration and medical staff of the Mid-Maine Medical Center which is comprised of two separate modern hospitals. The authors advocate the philosophy that "a hospital which harnesses the medical staff's considerable talent and expertise through sound organizational input will be a stronger institution." They explain that patient care is becoming increasingly complex and that management decisions impact heavily on the care provided. In 1973, the Medical Center changed from its traditional organizational form of having a full-time medical director and an administrator report to the board of directors, to a modified corporate model designed to increase physician involvement. In the new organization, the vice president of finance and a part-time chief of staff (acting as vice president for medical affairs) report to the president (former medical director) who, in turn, is responsible to the board of trustees. The authors attribute the success of the reorganization to the CEO's willingness to delegate and share authority, not to the CEO's physician background. Planning at the institution involves a committee of six physicians, four administrators, and one full-time planner. A budgeting committee of three physicians and three administrators is responsible for the review of the budget as well as for making recommendations for the executive board for the expected volume of services. It is concluded that there is no perfect way to run a hospital, but the involvement of doctors in hospital decisions is necessary.

  10. Adherence of Primary Care Physicians to Evidence-Based Recommendations to Reduce Ovarian Cancer Mortality

    OpenAIRE

    Stewart, Sherri L.; Townsend, Julie S.; Puckett, Mary C.; Rim, Sun Hee

    2016-01-01

    Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer. Receipt of treatment from a gynecologic oncologist is an evidence-based recommendation to reduce mortality from the disease. We examined knowledge and application of this evidence-based recommendation in primary care physicians as part of CDC gynecologic cancer awareness campaign efforts and discussed results in the context of CDC National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP). We analyzed primary care physician responses to questions...

  11. Study of relation of continuing medical education to quality of family physicians' care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, E V; Bass, M J; Williams, J I; Borgiel, A E; MacDonald, P; Spasoff, R A

    1988-10-01

    A random sample of 120 physicians in Ontario was studied to assess quality of care in primary care and test an hypothesis that quality of care was related to continuing medical education (CME) activities. The quality-of-care scores were obtained by an in-office audit of a random selection of charts. The scores were global scores for charting, prevention, the use of 13 classes of drugs, and care of a two-year period for 182 different diagnoses. There were no relationships between global quality-of-care scores based on these randomly chosen charts and either the type or quantity of the physicians' CME activities. These activities were reading journals, attending rounds, attending scientific conferences, having informal consultations, using audio and video cassettes, and engaging in self-assessment. The implications of these findings are significant for future research in CME and for planners of present CME programs.

  12. Attitude of clinical faculty members in Shiraz Medical University towards private practice physicians' participation in ambulatory care education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khatereh Mahori

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Improvement of medical education is necessary for meeting health care demands. Participation of private practice physicians in ambulatory care training is an effective method for enhancing medical students' skills. Purpose This study was undertaken to determine clinical professors' views about participation of physicians with private office in ambulatory care training. Methods: Participants composed of 162 Shiraz Medical University faculty members from 12 disciplines. A questionnaire requesting faculty members' views on different aspects of ambulat01y care teaching and interaction of community-based organizations was distributed. Results: Of 120 (74.1% respondents, 64 (54.2% believed that clinical settings of medical university are appropriate for ambulatory care training. Private practice physicians believed more than academic physicians without private office that private offices have wider range of patients, more common cases, and better follow up chance; and is also a better setting for learning ambulatory care compared with medical university clinical centers. Overall, 32 (29.1% respondent’s found the participation of physicians with private practice on medical education positive. Key words medical education, ambulatory medicine, private practice

  13. Physician knowledge of and attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocke, Daniel J; Thomas, Steven; Puscas, Liana; Lee, Walter T

    2014-02-01

    To assess otolaryngology physician knowledge of and attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and compare the association of bias toward the PPACA with knowledge of the provisions of the PPACA. Cross-sectional survey. Nationwide assessment. Members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Otolaryngology physicians answered 10 true/false questions about major provisions of the PPACA. They also indicated their level of agreement with 9 statements about health care and the PPACA. Basic demographic information was collected. Email solicitation was sent to 9972 otolaryngologists and 647 responses were obtained (6.5% response rate). Overall correct response rate was 74%. Fewer than 60% of physicians correctly answered questions on whether small businesses receive tax credits for providing health insurance, the effect of the PPACA on Medicare benefits, and whether a government-run health insurance plan was created. Academic center practice setting, bias toward the PPACA, and Democratic Party affiliation were associated with significantly more correct responses. Overall physician knowledge of the PPACA is assessed as fair, although better than the general public in 2010. There are several areas where knowledge of physicians regarding the PPACA is poor, and this knowledge deficit is more pronounced within certain subgroups. These knowledge issues should be addressed by individual physicians and medical societies.

  14. Physician wages across specialties: informing the physician reimbursement debate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leigh, J Paul; Tancredi, Daniel; Jerant, Anthony; Kravitz, Richard L

    2010-10-25

    Disparities in remuneration between primary care and other physician specialties may impede health care reform by undermining the sustainability of a primary care workforce. Previous studies have compared annual incomes across specialties unadjusted for work hours. Wage (earnings-per-hour) comparisons could better inform the physician payment debate. In a cross-sectional analysis of data from 6381 physicians providing patient care in the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study (adjusted response rate, 53%), we compared wages across broad and narrow categories of physician specialties. Tobit and linear regressions were run. Four broad specialty categories (primary care, surgery, internal medicine and pediatric subspecialties, and other) and 41 specific specialties were analyzed together with demographic, geographic, and market variables. In adjusted analyses on broad categories, wages for surgery, internal medicine and pediatric subspecialties, and other specialties were 48%, 36%, and 45% higher, respectively, than for primary care specialties. In adjusted analyses for 41 specific specialties, wages were significantly lower for the following than for the reference group of general surgery (wage near median, $85.98): internal medicine and pediatrics combined (-$24.36), internal medicine (-$24.27), family medicine (-$23.70), and other pediatric subspecialties (-$23.44). Wage rankings were largely impervious to adjustment for control variables, including age, race, sex, and region. Wages varied substantially across physician specialties and were lowest for primary care specialties. The primary care wage gap was likely conservative owing to exclusion of radiologists, anesthesiologists, and pathologists. In light of low and declining medical student interest in primary care, these findings suggest the need for payment reform aimed at increasing incomes or reducing work hours for primary care physicians.

  15. Veterans’ Health Care: Improved Oversight of Community Care Physicians Credentials Needed

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    five of the most common types of care— obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, primary care, psychiatry, and surgery—across each of the four census...Bank for verifying malpractice history .16 The standards also call for documentation of credentials verification activities, such that there is...Health Net and TriWest verify licenses, education and training, and malpractice history for each PC3 physician, and conduct reverification at least

  16. Personal values of family physicians, practice satisfaction, and service to the underserved.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eliason, B C; Guse, C; Gottlieb, M S

    2000-03-01

    Personal values are defined as "desirable goals varying in importance that serve as guiding principles in people's lives," and have been shown to influence specialty choice and relate to practice satisfaction. We wished to examine further the relationship of personal values to practice satisfaction and also to a physician's willingness to care for the underserved. We also wished to study associations that might exist among personal values, practice satisfaction, and a variety of practice characteristics. We randomly surveyed a stratified probability sample of 1224 practicing family physicians about their personal values (using the Schwartz values questionnaire), practice satisfaction, practice location, breadth of practice, demographics, board certification status, teaching involvement, and the payor mix of the practice. Family physicians rated the benevolence (motivation to help those close to you) value type highest, and the ratings of the benevolence value type were positively associated with practice satisfaction (correlation coefficient = 0.14, P = .002). Those involved in teaching medical trainees were more satisfied than those who were not involved (P = .009). Some value-type ratings were found to be positively associated with caring for the underserved. Those whose practices consisted of more than 40% underserved (underserved defined as Medicare, Medicaid, and indigent populations) rated the tradition (motivation to maintain customs of traditional culture and religion) value type significantly higher (P = .02). Those whose practices consisted of more than 30% indigent care rated the universalism (motivation to enhance and protect the well-being of all people) value type significantly higher (P = .03). Family physicians who viewed benevolence as a guiding principle in their lives reported a higher level of professional satisfaction. Likewise, physicians involved in the teaching of medical trainees were more satisfied with their profession. Family physicians

  17. Use of tobacco and alcohol by Swiss primary care physicians: a cross-sectional survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Künzi Beat

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Health behaviours among doctors has been suggested to be an important marker of how harmful lifestyle behaviours are perceived. In several countries, decrease in smoking among physicians was spectacular, indicating that the hazard was well known. Historical data have shown that because of their higher socio-economical status physicians take up smoking earlier. When the dangers of smoking become better known, physicians began to give up smoking at a higher rate than the general population. For alcohol consumption, the situation is quite different: prevalence is still very high among physicians and the dangers are not so well perceived. To study the situation in Switzerland, data of a national survey were analysed to determine the prevalence of smoking and alcohol drinking among primary care physicians. Methods 2'756 randomly selected practitioners were surveyed to assess subjective mental and physical health and their determinants, including smoking and drinking behaviours. Physicians were categorised as never smokers, current smokers and former smokers, as well as non drinkers, drinkers (AUDIT-C Results 1'784 physicians (65% responded (men 84%, mean age 51 years. Twelve percent were current smokers and 22% former smokers. Sixty six percent were drinkers and 30% at risk drinkers. Only 4% were never smokers and non drinkers. Forty eight percent of current smokers were also at risk drinkers and 16% of at risk drinkers were also current smokers. Smoking and at risk drinking were more frequent among men, middle aged physicians and physicians living alone. When compared to a random sample of the Swiss population, primary care physicians were two to three times less likely to be active smokers (12% vs. 30%, but were more likely to be drinkers (96% vs. 78%, and twice more likely to be at risk drinkers (30% vs. 15%. Conclusion The prevalence of current smokers among Swiss primary care physicians was much lower than in the general

  18. [Social change in the physician's role and medical practice caused by managed care in Switzerland].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, P C; Denz, M D

    2000-03-01

    Switzerland is the first European country where health maintenance organizations (HMOs) characterised by capitation (per capita lumpsum) and gatekeeping were implemented according to the HMO staff model known in the USA. The development of managed health care in Switzerland relies on the belief that adequate economic incentives and competition result in cost reduction and high quality health care. Whether this is true or not--in any case the deregulation of legally accepted forms of health insurance and managed care result in profound changes in the Swiss health care system. Observations are made by using expert interviews and analysis of documents. The implementation of managed care induces socio-cultural changes of the medical profession which are as profound as the induced economic changes. We discuss conflicts of interests among physicians using four main dimensions of conflict: (1) control, (2) monopolization, (3) valuation, and (4) specialization. In the HMOs we observe pronounced conflicts of the physicians' role. The changes of the physicians' role in HMOs is on the one hand the result of new duties. On the other hand it expresses strategies of coping with the role conflict between the main clinical duties and the new obligation to control cost and to monitor treatment via gatekeeping. In HMOs the teamwork of doctors and the quality control of care promotes the satisfaction of physicians with their work, however, it can also have dysfunctional effects.

  19. Preventing dehydration-related hospitalizations: a mixed-methods study of parents, inpatient attendings, and primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanley, Leticia; Mittal, Vineeta; Flores, Glenn

    2013-07-01

    The goal of this study was to identify the proportion of dehydration-related ambulatory care-sensitive condition hospitalizations, the reasons why these hospitalizations were preventable, and factors associated with preventability. A cross-sectional survey of primary care providers (PCPs), inpatient attending physicians, and parents was conducted in a consecutive series of children with ambulatory care-sensitive conditions admitted to an urban hospital over 14 months. Eighty-five children were diagnosed with dehydration. Their mean age was 1.6 years; most had public (74%) or no (17%) insurance, and were nonwhite (91%). The proportion of hospitalizations assessed as preventable varied from 12% for agreement among all 3 sources to 45% for any source. Parents identified inadequate prevention (50%), poor self-education (34%), and poor quality of care (38%) as key factors. PCPs identified parents providing insufficient home rehydration (33%), not visiting the clinic (25%), and not calling earlier (16%) as reasons. Inpatient attending physicians cited home rehydration (40%), delays in seeking care (40%), and lacking a PCP (20%) as contributors. Physicians (PCPs and inpatient attending physicians) were more likely than parents to describe the admission as inappropriate (75% vs 67% vs 0%; P dehydration-related hospitalizations may be preventable. Inadequate parental education by physicians, insufficient home rehydration, deferring clinic visits, insurance and cost barriers, inappropriate admissions, poor quality of care, and parental dissatisfaction with PCPs are the reasons that these hospitalizations might have been prevented.

  20. Physician satisfaction with a critical care clinical information system using a multimethod evaluation of usability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Darren; Kushniruk, Andre; Borycki, Elizabeth; Zuege, Danny J

    2018-04-01

    Physician satisfaction with electronic medical records has often been poor. Usability has frequently been identified as a source for decreased satisfaction. While surveys can identify many issues, and are logistically easier to administer, they may miss issues identified using other methods This study sought to understand the level of physician satisfaction and usability issues associated with a critical care clinical information system (eCritical Alberta) implemented throughout the province of Alberta, Canada. All critical care attending physicians using the system were invited to participate in an online survey. Questions included components of the User Acceptance of Information Technology and Usability Questionnaire as well as free text feedback on system components. Physicians were also invited to participate in a think aloud test using simulated scenarios. The transcribed think aloud text and questionnaire were subjected to textual analysis. 82% of all eligible physicians completed the on-line survey (n = 61). Eight physicians were invited and seven completed the think aloud test. Overall satisfaction with the system was moderate. Usability was identified as a significant factor contributing to satisfaction. The major usability factors identified were system response time and layout. The think aloud component identified additional factors beyond those identified in the on-line survey. This study found a modestly high level of physician satisfaction with a province-wide clinical critical care information system. Usability continues to be a significant factor in physician satisfaction. Using multiple methods of evaluation can capture the benefits of a large sample size and deeper understanding of the issues. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Physician perspectives and compliance with patient advance directives: the role external factors play on physician decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkle, Christopher M; Mueller, Paul S; Swetz, Keith M; Hook, C Christopher; Keegan, Mark T

    2012-11-21

    Following passage of the Patient Self Determination Act in 1990, health care institutions that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding are required to inform patients of their right to make their health care preferences known through execution of a living will and/or to appoint a surrogate-decision maker. We evaluated the impact of external factors and perceived patient preferences on physicians' decisions to honor or forgo previously established advance directives (ADs). In addition, physician views regarding legal risk, patients' ability to comprehend complexities involved with their care, and impact of medical costs related to end-of-life care decisions were explored. Attendees of two Mayo Clinic continuing medical education courses were surveyed. Three scenarios based in part on previously court-litigated matters assessed impact of external factors and perceived patient preferences on physician compliance with patient-articulated wishes regarding resuscitation. General questions measured respondents' perception of legal risk, concerns over patient knowledge of idiosyncrasies involved with their care, and impact medical costs may have on compliance with patient preferences. Responses indicating strength of agreement or disagreement with statements were treated as ordinal data and analyzed using the Cochran Armitage trend test. Three hundred eighty-eight of 951 surveys were completed (41% response rate). Eighty percent reported they were likely to honor a patient's AD despite its 5 year age. Fewer than half (41%) would honor the AD of a patient in ventricular fibrillation who had expressed a desire to "pass away in peace." Few (17%) would forgo an AD following a family's request for continued resuscitative treatment. A majority (52%) considered risk of liability to be lower when maintaining someone alive against their wishes than mistakenly failing to provide resuscitative efforts. A large percentage (74%) disagreed that patients could not appreciate complexities

  2. Patient Care Physician Supply and Requirements: Testing COGME Recommendations. Council on Graduate Medical Education, Eighth Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Council on Graduate Medical Education.

    This report reassesses recommendations made by the Council on Graduate Medical Education in earlier reports which had, beginning in 1992, addressed the problems of physician oversupply. In this report physician supply and requirements are examined in the context of a health care system increasingly dominated by managed care. Patterns of physician…

  3. [Shortage of physicians in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine - Causes, consequences and solutions].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papenfuß, Tim; Roch, Carmen

    2012-05-01

    74% of all hospitals had vacant positions in 2011, also departments of anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine. More than 50% of these departments work with locums. There are couple of reasons for the shortage of physicians. The consequences in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine can result in qualitative and financial loss. To solve the shortage of physicians one has to solve the reasons. Main reasons are increasing feminization of medical profession and part-time-work, work-life-balance and a poor specialised education. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York.

  4. How can the practice nurse be more involved in the care of the chronically ill? The perspectives of GPs, patients and practice nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heiderhoff Marc

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Background A well established "midlevel" of patient care, such as nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants, exits in many countries like the US, Canada, and Australia. In Germany, however there is only one kind of profession assisting the physician in practices, the practice nurse. Little is known about the present involvement of practice nurses in patients' care in Germany and about the attitudes of GPs, assistants and patients concerning an increased involvement. The aim of our study was to get qualitative information on the extent to which practice nurses are currently involved in the treatment of patients and about possibilities of increased involvement as well as on barriers of increased involvement. Methods We performed qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 20 GPs, 20 practice nurses and 20 patients in the Heidelberg area. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and content-analysed with ATLAS.ti. Results Practice nurses are only marginally involved in the treatment of patients. GPs as well as patients were very sceptical about increased involvement in care. Patients were sceptical about nurses' professional background and feared a worsening of the patient doctor relationship. GPs also complained about the nurses' deficient education concerning medical knowledge. They feared a lack of time as well as a missing reimbursement for the efforts of an increased involvement. Practice nurses were mostly willing to be more involved, regarding it as an appreciation of their role. Important barriers were lack of time, overload with administrative work, and a lack of professional knowledge. Conclusion Practice nurses were only little involved in patient care. GPs were more sceptical than patients regarding an increased involvement. One possible area, accepted by all interviewed groups, was patient education as for instance dietary counselling. New treatment approaches as the chronic care model will require a team approach

  5. Chronic Pain, Patient-Physician Engagement, and Family Communication Associated With Drug-Using HIV Patients' Discussing Advanced Care Planning With Their Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Eric D; Mitchell, Mary M; Smith, Tom; Hutton, Nancy; Keruly, Jeanne; Knowlton, Amy R

    2017-10-01

    In the era of effective antiretroviral therapy, persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are living longer, transforming HIV into a serious chronic illness, warranting patient-provider discussion about advanced care planning (ACP). Evidence is needed to inform physicians on how to approach ACP for these patients. Chronic pain is common in PLWHA, particularly in those who have substance use disorders; although it is known that this population is at risk for poorer patient-physician engagement, the effects on ACP are unknown. To further characterize factors associated with successful ACP in PLWHA, we examined associations between patient-physician relationship, chronic pain, family communication and problem-solving skills, and rates of patients discussing ACP with their physicians. Data were from the Affirm Care study (N = 325), which examined social and environmental factors associated with health outcomes among PLWHA and their informal caregivers. In multivariate analysis, higher odds of patient reports of discussing ACP with their physicians were associated with their higher rating of their relationship with their physician (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.73; P family arguments about end-of-life medical decisions (AOR 2.43; P family members about problems (AOR 1.33; P family communication and family problem-solving skills. The findings also suggest that PLWHA with chronic pain and prior family discord over end-of-life medical decisions may be primed for ACP. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Physicians' perceptions of capacity building for managing chronic disease in seniors using integrated interprofessional care models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Linda; Heckman, George; McKelvie, Robert; Jong, Philip; D'Elia, Teresa; Hillier, Loretta M

    2015-03-01

    To explore the barriers to and facilitators of adapting and expanding a primary care memory clinic model to integrate care of additional complex chronic geriatric conditions (heart failure, falls, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and frailty) into care processes with the goal of improving outcomes for seniors. Mixed-methods study using quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews) methods. Ontario. Family physicians currently working in primary care memory clinic teams and supporting geriatric specialists. Family physicians currently working in memory clinic teams (n = 29) and supporting geriatric specialists(n = 9) were recruited as survey participants. Interviews were conducted with memory clinic lead physicians (n = 16).Statistical analysis was done to assess differences between family physician ratings and geriatric specialist ratings related to the capacity for managing complex chronic geriatric conditions, the role of interprofessional collaboration within primary care, and funding and staffing to support geriatric care. Results from both study methods were compared to identify common findings. Results indicate overall support for expanding the memory clinic model to integrate care for other complex conditions. However, the current primary care structure is challenged to support optimal management of patients with multiple comorbidities, particularly as related to limited funding and staffing resources. Structured training, interprofessional teams, and an active role of geriatric specialists within primary care were identified as important facilitators. The memory clinic model, as applied to other complex chronic geriatric conditions, has the potential to build capacity for high-quality primary care, improve health outcomes,promote efficient use of health care resources, and reduce healthcare costs.

  7. Michigan's fee-for-value physician incentive program reduces spending and improves quality in primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemak, Christy Harris; Nahra, Tammie A; Cohen, Genna R; Erb, Natalie D; Paustian, Michael L; Share, David; Hirth, Richard A

    2015-04-01

    As policy makers and others seek to reduce health care cost growth while improving health care quality, one approach gaining momentum is fee-for-value reimbursement. This payment strategy maintains the traditional fee-for-service arrangement but includes quality and spending incentives. We examined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's Physician Group Incentive Program, which uses a fee-for-value approach focused on primary care physicians. We analyzed the program's impact on quality and spending from 2008 to 2011 for over three million beneficiaries in over 11,000 physician practices. Participation in the incentive program was associated with approximately 1.1 percent lower total spending for adults (5.1 percent lower for children) and the same or improved performance on eleven of fourteen quality measures over time. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence about the potential effectiveness of models that align payment with cost and quality performance, and they demonstrate that it is possible to transform reimbursement within a fee-for-service framework to encourage and incentivize physicians to provide high-quality care, while also reducing costs. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  8. Unethical business practices in U.S. health care alarm physician leaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, David O

    2005-01-01

    Learn the results of ACPE's recent survey on ethical business practices and find out why physician executives are very concerned about the impact unethical behaviors appear to be having on health care.

  9. Selective mutism: are primary care physicians missing the silence?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Richard H; Freedy, Alicia S; Sheridan, Michael J

    2006-01-01

    To survey parents of children with selective mutism (SM) in regard to (1) the role of the primary care physician in the diagnosis of SM; (2) the social and school consequences of SM; and (3) their opinion of the effectiveness of different treatment modalities, a 39-item written survey was mailed to 27 parents with at least one child diagnosed with SM on the basis of diagnostic and statistical manual IV-text revision (DSM IV-TR) criteria. Twenty-seven parents (100%), with a total of 33 children with SM, completed the survey. There were 24 girls and 9 boys. The mean age when parents had strong concerns about symptoms of SM was 3.8 years, but diagnosis did not occur until nearly a year later. Twenty-three (69.7%) of the children with SM were never diagnosed accurately or referred by their primary care physicians. SM caused important school/social problems for 17 (51.5%) of the children. Speech therapy was provided for 36.4% of children and was thought to have been helpful for 30% of them. Behavior modification was the treatment for 45.5% of children and perceived to be helpful for 66.7% of them. Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor pharmacotherapy was prescribed for 17 (51.5%) of the children and believed to be effective for 11 (65%) of them. Primary care physicians in this study rarely diagnosed accurately or referred children with SM in a timely fashion, even though symptoms of the condition were generally very apparent and parents had expressed concern. Behavioral modification, pharmacotherapy with SSRIs, and early intervention are viable treatment options. Early diagnosis is key to preventing long-term effects of this condition.

  10. [Evolution of burnout and associated factors in primary care physicians].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matía Cubillo, Angel Carlos; Cordero Guevara, José; Mediavilla Bravo, José Javier; Pereda Riguera, Maria José; González Castro, Maria Luisa; González Sanz, Ana

    2012-09-01

    To analyse the course of burnout and develop an explanatory model. Prospective cohort dynamics. SITE: All primary health care centres in Burgos. All physicians except medical emergencies, paediatrics and residents. Anonymous self-report questionnaire: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and related variables. An analysis was performed using the Student-t, X(2) test and logistic regression. The response rate was 47.76% in 2007, which was lower than that of 2005. There were significant differences between 2005 and 2007, for increases in the percentage of physicians who smoked, postgraduate training, residency, and those who believe that coordination with nursing and specialist care and institutional communication is appropriate. There was an increase in the prevalence of burnout by almost one point compared with 2005, a decrease in maximum burnout and emotional exhaustion (EC), and an increase in depersonalisation (DP) and personal accomplishment (RP). The incidence density of burnout was 1/113. 5 primary care physicians per year. The existence of burnout is associated with the use of chronic medication and inadequate coordination between nursing and EC, and also with the high workload. The increase in the prevalence found is consistent with the idea of burnout as a dynamic development and the theoretical model described. Stable and quality employment is one way to indirectly mitigate (by encouraging internal communication) professional burnout. In the multivariate analysis, the most critical variable in the onset of burnout is the inadequate coordination with nursing. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

  11. Cutting out the middleman: physicians can contract directly with employers--a viable alternative to adversarial managed care agreements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lester, Howard

    2002-01-01

    HMOs, PPOs, and other managed care "middlemen" control the means by which most physicians do business with employers. As physicians face dwindling reimbursements, greater practice restrictions, and increased pressure to sign adversarial middleman contracts, interest in direct contracting has grown. This article introduces direct contracting as an important alternative to commercial managed care agreements; cites the key advantages and process of direct contracting; and offers practical recommendations for helping physician practices successfully negotiate direct physician/employer agreements.

  12. Drug utilization research in primary health care as exemplified by physicians' quality assessment groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Ferber, L; Luciano, A; Köster, I; Krappweis, J

    1992-11-01

    Drugs in primary health care are often prescribed for nonrational reasons. Drug utilization research investigates the prescription of drugs with an eye to medical, social and economic causes and consequences of the prescribed drug's utilization. The results of this research show distinct differences in drug utilization in different age groups and between men and women. Indication and dosage appear irrational from a textbook point of view. This indicates nonpharmacological causes of drug utilization. To advice successfully changes for the better quality assessment groups of primary health care physicians get information about their established behavior by analysis of their prescriptions. The discussion and the comparisons in the group allow them to recognize their irrational prescribing and the social, psychological and economic reasons behind it. Guidelines for treatment are worked out which take into account the primary health care physician's situation. After a year with 6 meetings of the quality assessment groups the education process is evaluated by another drug utilization analysis on the basis of the physicians prescription. The evaluation shows a remarkable improvement of quality and cost effectiveness of the drug therapy of the participating physicians.

  13. Family physician perceptions of working with LGBTQ patients: physician training needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beagan, Brenda; Fredericks, Erin; Bryson, Mary

    2015-01-01

    Medical students and physicians report feeling under-prepared for working with patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). Understanding physician perceptions of this area of practice may aid in developing improved education. In-depth interviews with 24 general practice physicians in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada, were used to explore whether, when and how the gender identity and sexual orientation of LGBTQ women were relevant to good care. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted using ATLAS.ti data analysis software. Three major themes emerged: 1) Some physicians perceived that sexual/gender identity makes little or no difference; treating every patient as an individual while avoiding labels optimises care for everyone. 2) Some physicians perceived sexual/gender identity matters primarily for the provision of holistic care, and in order to address the effects of discrimination. 3) Some physicians perceived that sexual/gender identity both matters and does not matter, as they strove to balance the implications of social group membership with recognition of individual differences. Physicians may be ignoring important aspects of social group memberships that affect health and health care. The authors hold that individual and socio-cultural differences are both important to the provision of quality health care. Distinct from stereotypes, generalisations about social group differences can provide valuable starting points, raising useful lines of inquiry. Emphasizing this distinction in medical education may help change physician approaches to the care of LGBTQ women.

  14. Family physician perceptions of working with LGBTQ patients: physician training needs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brenda Beagan

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Medical students and physicians report feeling under-prepared for working with patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ. Understanding physician perceptions of this area of practice may aid in developing improved education. Method: In-depth interviews with 24 general practice physicians in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada, were used to explore whether, when and how the gender identity and sexual orientation of LGBTQ women were relevant to good care. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted using ATLAS.ti data analysis software. Results: Three major themes emerged: 1 Some physicians perceived that sexual/gender identity makes little or no difference; treating every patient as an individual while avoiding labels optimises care for everyone. 2 Some physicians perceived sexual/gender identity matters primarily for the provision of holistic care, and in order to address the effects of discrimination. 3 Some physicians perceived that sexual/gender identity both matters and does not matter, as they strove to balance the implications of social group membership with recognition of individual differences. Conclusions: Physicians may be ignoring important aspects of social group memberships that affect health and health care. The authors hold that individual and socio-cultural differences are both important to the provision of quality health care. Distinct from stereotypes, generalisations about social group differences can provide valuable starting points, raising useful lines of inquiry. Emphasizing this distinction in medical education may help change physician approaches to the care of LGBTQ women.

  15. A report card on the physician work force: Israeli health care market--past experience and future prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toker, Asaf; Shvarts, Shifra; Glick, Shimon; Reuveni, Haim

    2010-09-01

    The worldwide shortage of physicians is due not only to the lack of physicians, but also to complex social and economic factors that vary from country to country. To describe the results of physician workforce planning in a system with unintended policy, such as Israel, based on past experience and predicted future trends, between 1995 and 2020. A descriptive study of past (1995-2009) and future (through 2020) physician workforce trends in Israel. An actuarial equation was developed to project physician supply until 2020. In Israel a physician shortage is expected in the very near future. This finding is the result of global as well as local changes affecting the supply of physicians: change in immigration pattern, gender effect, population growth, and transparency of data on demand for physicians. These are universal factors affecting manpower planning in most industrial countries all over the world. We describe a health care market with an unintended physician workforce policy. Sharing decision makers' experience in similar health care systems will enable the development of better indices to analyze, by comparison, effective physician manpower planning processes, worldwide.

  16. One positive impact of health care reform to physicians: the computer-based patient record.

    Science.gov (United States)

    England, S P

    1993-11-01

    The health care industry is an information-dependent business that will require a new generation of health information systems if successful health care reform is to occur. We critically need integrated clinical management information systems to support the physician and related clinicians at the direct care level, which in turn will have linkages with secondary users of health information such as health payors, regulators, and researchers. The economic dependence of health care industry on the CPR cannot be underestimated, says Jeffrey Ritter. He sees the U.S. health industry as about to enter a bold new age where our records are electronic, our computers are interconnected, and our money is nothing but pulses running across the telephone lines. Hence the United States is now in an age of electronic commerce. Clinical systems reform must begin with the community-based patient chart, which is located in the physician's office, the hospital, and other related health care provider offices. A community-based CPR and CPR system that integrates all providers within a managed care network is the most logical step since all health information begins with the creation of a patient record. Once a community-based CPR system is in place, the physician and his or her clinical associates will have a common patient record upon which all direct providers have access to input and record patient information. Once a community-level CPR system is in place with a community provider network, each physician will have available health information and data processing capability that will finally provide real savings in professional time and effort. Lost patient charts will no longer be a problem. Data input and storage of health information would occur electronically via transcripted text, voice, and document imaging. All electronic clinical information, voice, and graphics could be recalled at any time and transmitted to any terminal location within the health provider network. Hence

  17. Accessibility, Availability, and Potential Benefits of Psycho-Oncology Services: The Perspective of Community-Based Physicians Providing Cancer Survivorship Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann-Schlegel, Verena; Hartmann, Mechthild; Sklenarova, Halina; Herzog, Wolfgang; Haun, Markus W

    2017-06-01

    As persons of trust, community-based physicians providing survivorship care (e.g., general practitioners [GPs]) often serve as the primary contacts for cancer survivors disclosing distress. From the perspective of physicians providing survivorship care for cancer patients, this study explores (a) the accessibility, availability, and potential benefits of psycho-oncology services; (b) whether physicians themselves provide psychosocial support; and (c) predictors for impeded referrals of survivors to services. In a cross-sectional survey, all GPs and community-based specialists in a defined region were interviewed. In addition to descriptive analyses, categorical data were investigated by applying chi-square tests. Predictors for impeded referrals were explored through logistic regression. Of 683 responding physicians, the vast majority stated that survivors benefit from psycho-oncology services (96.8%), but the physicians also articulated that insufficient coverage of psycho-oncology services (90.9%) was often accompanied by impeded referrals (77.7%). A substantial proportion (14.9%) of physicians did not offer any psychosocial support. The odds of physicians in rural areas reporting impeded referrals were 1.91 times greater than the odds of physicians in large urban areas making a similar report (95% confidence interval [1.07, 3.40]). Most community-based physicians providing survivorship care regard psycho-oncology services as highly beneficial. However, a large number of physicians report tremendous difficulty referring patients. Focusing on those physicians not providing any psychosocial support, health policy approaches should specifically (a) raise awareness of the role of physicians as persons of trust for survivors, (b) highlight the effectiveness of psycho-oncology services, and (c) encourage a proactive attitude toward the assessment of unmet needs and the initiation of comprehensive care. Community-based physicians providing survivorship care for cancer

  18. Primary care physicians' attitudes and beliefs towards chronic low back pain: an Asian study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regina W S Sit

    Full Text Available Chronic low back pain is a serious global health problem. There is substantial evidence that physicians' attitudes towards and beliefs about chronic low back pain can influence their subsequent management of the condition.(1 to evaluate the attitudes and beliefs towards chronic low back pain among primary care physicians in Asia; (2 to study the cultural differences and other factors that are associated with these attitudes and beliefs.A cross sectional online survey was sent to primary care physicians who are members of the Hong Kong College of Family Physician (HKCFP. The Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapist (PABS-PT was used as the questionnaire to determine the biomedical and biopsychosocial orientation of the participants.The mean Biomedical (BM score was 34.8+/-6.1; the mean biopsychosocial (BPS score was 35.6 (+/- 4.8. Both scores were higher than those of European doctors. Family medicine specialists had a lower biomedical score than General practitioners. Physicians working in the public sector tended to have low BM and low BPS scores; whereas physicians working in private practice tended to have high BM and high BPS scores.The lack of concordance in the pain explanatory models used by private and public sector may have a detrimental effect on patients who are under the care of both parties. The uncertain treatment orientation may have a negative influence on patients' attitudes and beliefs, thus contributing to the tension and, perhaps, even ailing mental state of a person with chronic LBP.

  19. Training primary care physicians in community eye health. Experiences from India.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gupta Sanjeev

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the impact of training on primary-care physicians in community eye health through a series of workshops. 865 trainees completed three evaluation formats anonymously. The questions tested knowledge on magnitude of blindness, the most common causes of blindness, and district level functioning of the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB. Knowledge of the trainers significantly improved immediately after the course (chi 2 300.16; p < 0.00001. This was independent of the timing of workshops and number of trainees per batch. Presentation, content and relevance to job responsibilities were most appreciated. There is immense value addition from training primary-care physicians in community eye health. Despite a long series of training sessions, trainer fatigue was minimal; therefore, such capsules can be replicated with great success.

  20. Overweight and Obesity and the Demand for Primary Physician Care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Datta Gupta, Nabanita; Greve, Jane

    -60 years drawn from the National Health Interview (NHI) survey 2000 and merged to Danish register data, we compare differences in the impact of being overweight and obese relative to being normal weight on the demand for primary physician care. Estimated bodyweight effects vary across latent classes...

  1. Iranian Physicians' Perspectives Regarding Nurse-Physician Professional Communication: Implications for Nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esmaeilpour-Bandboni, Mohammad; Vaismoradi, Mojtaba; Salsali, Mahvash; Snelgrove, Sherrill; Sheldon, Lisa Kennedy

    2017-08-01

    Nurse-physician professional communication affects the effectiveness and performance of the health care team and the quality of care delivered to the patient. This study aimed to explore the perspectives and experiences of physicians on nurse-physician professional communication in an urban area of Iran. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 physicians selected using a purposive sampling method. Physicians from different medical specialties were chosen from 4 teaching hospitals in an urban area of Iran. The data were analyzed with content analysis and themes developed. Three themes developed during data analysis: "seeking the formal methods of communication to ensure patient care," "nurses' professional attributes for professional communication," and "patients' health conditions as the mediators of professional communication." Nurses need to be informed of the perspectives and experiences of physicians on professional communication. Our findings can improve nurses' understandings of professional communication that could inform the development of educational and training programs for nurses and physicians. There is a need to incorporate communication courses during degree education and design interprofessional training regarding communication in clinical settings to improve teamwork and patient care. Open discussions between nurses and physicians, training sessions about how to improve their knowledge about barriers to and facilitators of effective professional communication, and key terms and phrases commonly used in patient care are suggested.

  2. Cutting out the middlemen: physicians as providers, direct contractors, and payers. Interview by Donna Vavala.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murtagh, D S

    1995-07-01

    While many physicians and physician groups are forging alliances with other groups, with hospitals, and with other elements of the health care delivery system, an Ohio group decided that the loss of autonomy involved in these approaches was not acceptable. Instead, the group became the core of a new entity aimed at restoring physician control over the provision of and payment for health care services. In an interview with the principal of the new organization, Physician Executive learned the basis for the venture.

  3. Adherence of Primary Care Physicians to Evidence-Based Recommendations to Reduce Ovarian Cancer Mortality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Sherri L.; Townsend, Julie S.; Puckett, Mary C.; Rim, Sun Hee

    2017-01-01

    Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer. Receipt of treatment from a gynecologic oncologist is an evidence-based recommendation to reduce mortality from the disease. We examined knowledge and application of this evidence-based recommendation in primary care physicians as part of CDC gynecologic cancer awareness campaign efforts and discussed results in the context of CDC National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP). We analyzed primary care physician responses to questions about how often they refer patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer to gynecologic oncologists, and reasons for lack of referral. We also analyzed these physicians’ knowledge of tests to help determine whether a gynecologic oncologist is needed for a planned surgery. The survey response rate was 52.2%. A total of 84% of primary care physicians (87% of family/general practitioners, 81% of internists and obstetrician/gynecologists) said they always referred patients to gynecologic oncologists for treatment. Common reasons for not always referring were patient preference or lack of gynecologic oncologists in the practice area. A total of 23% of primary care physicians had heard of the OVA1 test, which helps to determine whether gynecologic oncologist referral is needed. Although referral rates reported here are high, it is not clear whether ovarian cancer patients are actually seeing gynecologic oncologists for care. The NCCCP is undertaking several efforts to assist with this, including education of the recommendation among women and providers and assistance with treatment summaries and patient navigation toward appropriate treatment. Expansion of these efforts to all populations may help improve adherence to recommendations and reduce ovarian cancer mortality. PMID:26978124

  4. Integrating Doulas Into First-Trimester Abortion Care: Physician, Clinic Staff, and Doula Experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chor, Julie; Lyman, Phoebe; Ruth, Jean; Patel, Ashlesha; Gilliam, Melissa

    2018-01-01

    Balancing the need to provide individual support for patients and the need for an efficient clinic can be challenging in the abortion setting. This study explores physician, staff, and specially trained abortion doula perspectives on doula support, one approach to patient support. We conducted separate focus groups with physicians, staff members, and doulas from a high-volume, first-trimester aspiration abortion clinic with a newly established volunteer abortion doula program. Focus groups explored 1) abortion doula training, 2) program implementation, 3) program benefits, and 4) opportunities for improvement. Interviews were transcribed and computer-assisted content analysis was performed; salient findings are presented. Five physicians, 5 staff members, and 4 abortion doulas participated in separate focus group discussions. Doulas drew on both their prior personal skills and experiences in addition to their abortion doula training to provide women with support at the time of abortion. Having doulas in the clinic to assist with women's emotional needs allowed physicians and staff to focus on technical aspects of the procedure. In turn, both physicians and staff believed that introducing doulas resulted in more patient-centered care. Although staff did not experience challenges to integrating doulas, physicians and doulas experienced initial challenges in incorporating doula support into the clinical flow. Staff and doulas reported exchanging skills and techniques that they subsequently used in their interactions with patients. Physicians, clinic staff, and doulas perceive abortion doula support as an approach to provide more patient-centered care in a high-volume aspiration abortion clinic. © 2018 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

  5. Antibiotic resistance rates and physician antibiotic prescription patterns of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in southern Chinese primary care

    OpenAIRE

    Wong, Carmen Ka Man; Kung, Kenny; Au-Doung, Philip Lung Wai; Ip, Margaret; Lee, Nelson; Fung, Alice; Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan

    2017-01-01

    Uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) are common in primary care. Whilst primary care physicians are called to be antimicrobial stewards, there is limited primary care antibiotic resistance surveillance and physician antibiotic prescription data available in southern Chinese primary care. The study aimed to investigate the antibiotic resistance rate and antibiotic prescription patterns in female patients with uncomplicated UTI. Factors associated with antibiotic resistance and prescrip...

  6. Impact of non-physician health professionals' BMI on obesity care and beliefs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bleich, Sara N; Bandara, Sachini; Bennett, Wendy L; Cooper, Lisa A; Gudzune, Kimberly A

    2014-12-01

    Examine the impact of non-physician health professional body mass index (BMI) on obesity care, self-efficacy, and perceptions of patient trust in weight loss advice. A national cross-sectional Internet-based survey of 500 US non-physician health professionals specializing in nutrition, nursing, behavioral/mental health, exercise, and pharmacy collected between January 20 and February 5, 2014 was analyzed. Normal-BMI professionals were more likely than overweight/obese professionals to report success in helping patients achieve clinically significant weight loss (52% vs. 29%, P = 0.01). No differences by health professional BMI about the appropriate patient body weight for weight-related care (initiate weight loss discussions and success in helping patients lose weight), confidence in ability to help patients lose weight, or in perceived patient trust in their advice were observed. Most health professionals (71%) do not feel successful in helping patients lose weight until they are morbidly obese, regardless of BMI. Normal-BMI non-physician health professionals report being more successful than overweight and obese health professionals at helping obese patients lose weight. More research is needed to understand how to improve self-efficacy for delivering obesity care, particularly among overweight and class I obese patients. © 2014 The Obesity Society.

  7. The effect of reimbursement on medical decision making: do physicians alter treatment in response to a managed care incentive?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melichar, Lori

    2009-07-01

    The empirical literature that explores whether physicians respond to financial incentives has not definitively answered the question of whether physicians alter their treatment behavior at the margin. Previous research has not been able to distinguish that part of a physician response that uniformly alters treatment of all patients under a physician's care from that which affects some, but not all of a physician's patients. To explore physicians' marginal responses to financial incentives while accounting for the selection of physicians into different financial arrangements where others could not, I use data from a survey of physician visits to isolate the effect that capitation, a form of reimbursement wherein physicians receive zero marginal revenue for a range of physician provided services, has on the care provided by a physician. Fixed effects regression results reveal that physicians spend less time with their capitated patients than with their non-capitated patients.

  8. Box-ticking and Olympic high jumping - Physicians' perceptions and acceptance of national physician validation systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sehlbach, Carolin; Govaerts, Marjan J B; Mitchell, Sharon; Rohde, Gernot G U; Smeenk, Frank W J M; Driessen, Erik W

    2018-05-24

    National physician validation systems aim to ensure lifelong learning through periodic appraisals of physicians' competence. Their effectiveness is determined by physicians' acceptance of and commitment to the system. This study, therefore, sought to explore physicians' perceptions and self-reported acceptance of validation across three different physician validation systems in Europe. Using a constructivist grounded-theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 32 respiratory specialists from three countries with markedly different validation systems: Germany, which has a mandatory, credit-based system oriented to continuing professional development; Denmark, with mandatory annual dialogs and ensuing, non-compulsory activities; and the UK, with a mandatory, portfolio-based revalidation system. We analyzed interview data with a view to identifying factors influencing physicians' perceptions and acceptance. Factors that influenced acceptance were the assessment's authenticity and alignment of its requirements with clinical practice, physicians' beliefs about learning, perceived autonomy, and organizational support. Users' acceptance levels determine any system's effectiveness. To support lifelong learning effectively, national physician validation systems must be carefully designed and integrated into daily practice. Involving physicians in their design may render systems more authentic and improve alignment between individual ambitions and the systems' goals, thereby promoting acceptance.

  9. Differences in cardiovascular disease risk factor management in primary care by sex of physician and patient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabenkin, Hava; Eaton, Charles B; Roberts, Mary B; Parker, Donna R; McMurray, Jerome H; Borkan, Jeffrey

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors based upon the sex of the patient and physician and their interaction in primary care practice. We evaluated CVD risk factor management in 4,195 patients cared for by 39 male and 16 female primary care physicians in 30 practices in southeastern New England. Many of the sex-based differences in CVD risk factor management on crude analysis are lost once adjusted for confounding factors found at the level of the patient, physician, and practice. In multilevel adjusted analyses, styles of CVD risk factor management differed by the sex of the physician, with more female physicians documenting diet and weight loss counseling for hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 2.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-4.40) and obesity (OR = 2.14; 95% CI, 1.30-3.51) and more physical activity counseling for obesity (OR = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.30-3.18) and diabetes (OR = 6.55; 95% CI, 2.01-21.33). Diabetes management differed by the sex of the patient, with fewer women receiving glucose-lowering medications (OR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.25-0.94), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy (OR = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.22-0.72), and aspirin prophylaxis (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.15-0.58). Quality of care as measured by patients meeting CVD risk factors treatment goals was similar regardless of the sex of the patient or physician. Selected differences were found in the style of CVD risk factor management by sex of physician and patient.

  10. Burnout of Physicians Working in Primary Health Care Centers under Ministry of Health Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bawakid, Khalid; Abdulrashid, Ola; Mandoura, Najlaa; Shah, Hassan Bin Usman; Ibrahim, Adel; Akkad, Noura Mohammad; Mufti, Fauad

    2017-11-25

    Introduction The levels of physicians' job satisfaction and burnout directly affect their professionalism, punctuality, absenteeism, and ultimately, patients' care. Despite its crucial importance, little is known about professional burnout of the physicians in Saudi Arabia. The objectives of this research are two-fold: (1) To assess the prevalence of burnout in physicians working in primary health care centers under Ministry of Health; and (2) to find the modifiable factors which can decrease the burnout ratio. Methodology Through a cross-sectional study design, a representative sample of the physicians working in primary health care centers (PHCCs) Jeddah (n=246) was randomly selected. The overall burnout level was assessed using the validated abbreviated Maslach burnout inventory (aMBI) questionnaire. It measures the overall burnout prevalence based on three main domains i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Independent sample T-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate regression analysis were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22, IBM, Armonk, NY). Results Overall, moderate to high burnout was prevalent in 25.2% of the physicians. Emotional exhaustion was noted in 69.5%. Multivariate regression analysis showed that patient pressure/violence (p burnout. The patient's pressure/violence was the only significant independent predictor of overall burnout. Conclusion Emotional exhaustion is the most prominent feature of overall burnout in the physicians of primary health care centers. The main reasons include patient's pressure/violence, unorganized patient flow, less cooperative colleague doctors, fewer support services at the PHCCs, more paperwork, and less cooperative colleagues. Addressing these issues could lead to a decrease in physician's burnout.

  11. Managing the negatives of experience in physician teams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoff, Timothy

    2010-01-01

    Experience is a key shaper of thought and action in the health care workplace and a fundamental component of management and professional policies dealing with improving quality of care. Physicians rely on experience to structure social interaction, to determine authority relations, and to resist organizational encroachments on their work and autonomy. However, an overreliance on experience within physician teams may paradoxically undermine learning, participation, and entrepreneurship, affecting organizational performance. Approximately 100 hours of direct observation of normal workdays for physician teams (n = 17 physicians) in two different work settings in a single academic medical center located in the Northeastern part of the United States. Qualitative data were collected from physician teams in the medical intensive care unit and trauma/general surgery settings. Data were transcribed and computer analyzed through an interactive process of open coding, theoretical sampling, and pattern recognition that proceeded longitudinally. Three particular experience-based schemas were identified that physician teams used to structure social relations and perform work. These schemas involved using experience as a commodity, trump card, and liberator. Each of these schemas consisted of strongly held norms, beliefs, and values that produced team dynamics with the potential for undermining learning, participation, and entrepreneurship in the group. Organizations may move to mitigate the negative impact of an overreliance on experience among physicians by promoting bureaucratic forms of control that enable physicians to engage learning, participation, and entrepreneurship in their work while not usurping existing and difficult-to-change cultural drivers of team behavior.

  12. User involvement in care work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dybbroe, Betina; Kamp, Annette

    In recent years user involvement has become a paradigm for transforming the health and social care sector. This development–also labelled empowerment, co-creation, partnership, patient-centeredness - is seen as a means to reform organizations in ways that enhance quality, economic cost effectiven...... forms of professionalism, and imply tensions in health and social care work.......In recent years user involvement has become a paradigm for transforming the health and social care sector. This development–also labelled empowerment, co-creation, partnership, patient-centeredness - is seen as a means to reform organizations in ways that enhance quality, economic cost...... addressed the way this paradigm affects the users, in specific sectors. However user involvement also affects working life. It may imply change and redistribution of tasks and identities between users and professionals, and may also transform the relations of care. In this paper we explore the possible...

  13. How family physicians address diagnosis and management of depression in palliative care patients.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Warmenhoven, F.C.; Rijswijk, H.C.A.M. van; Hoogstraten, E. van; Spaendonck, K.P.M. van; Lucassen, P.L.B.J.; Prins, J.B.; Vissers, K.; Weel, C. van

    2012-01-01

    PURPOSE Depression is highly prevalent in palliative care patients. In clinical practice, there is concern about both insufficient and excessive diagnosis and treatment of depression. In the Netherlands, family physicians have a central role in delivering palliative care. We explored variation in

  14. Physician Self-Audit: A Scoping Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagliardi, Anna R.; Brouwers, Melissa C.; Finelli, Antonio; Campbell, Craig E.; Marlow, Bernard A.; Silver, Ivan L.

    2011-01-01

    Introduction: Self-audit involves self-collection of personal performance data, reflection on gaps between performance and standards, and development and implementation of learning or quality improvement plans by individual care providers. It appears to stimulate learning and quality improvement, but few physicians engage in self-audit. The…

  15. Non-physician providers of obstetric care in Mexico: Perspectives of physicians, obstetric nurses and professional midwives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DeMaria Lisa M

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In Mexico 87% of births are attended by physicians. However, the decline in the national maternal mortality rate has been slower than expected. The Mexican Ministry of Health’s 2009 strategy to reduce maternal mortality gives a role to two non-physician models that meet criteria for skilled attendants: obstetric nurses and professional midwives. This study compares and contrasts these two provider types with the medical model, analyzing perspectives on their respective training, scope of practice, and also their perception and/or experiences with integration into the public system as skilled birth attendants. Methodology This paper synthesizes qualitative research that was obtained as a component of the quantitative and qualitative study that evaluated three models of obstetric care: professional midwives (PM, obstetric nurses (ON and general physicians (GP. A total of 27 individual interviews using a semi-structured guide were carried out with PMs, ONs, GPs and specialists. Interviews were transcribed following the principles of grounded theory, codes and categories were created as they emerged from the data. We analyzed data in ATLAS.ti. Results All provider types interviewed expressed confidence in their professional training and acknowledge that both professional midwives and obstetric nurses have the necessary skills and knowledge to care for women during normal pregnancy and childbirth. The three types of providers recognize limits to their practice, namely in the area of managing complications. We found differences in how each type of practitioner perceived the concept and process of birth and their role in this process. The barriers to incorporation as a model to attend birth faced by PMs and ONs are at the individual, hospital and system level. GPs question their ability and training to handle deliveries, in particular those that become complicated, and the professional midwifery model particularly as it relates to

  16. Estimating a reasonable patient panel size for primary care physicians with team-based task delegation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altschuler, Justin; Margolius, David; Bodenheimer, Thomas; Grumbach, Kevin

    2012-01-01

    PURPOSE Primary care faces the dilemma of excessive patient panel sizes in an environment of a primary care physician shortage. We aimed to estimate primary care panel sizes under different models of task delegation to nonphysician members of the primary care team. METHODS We used published estimates of the time it takes for a primary care physician to provide preventive, chronic, and acute care for a panel of 2,500 patients, and modeled how panel sizes would change if portions of preventive and chronic care services were delegated to nonphysician team members. RESULTS Using 3 assumptions about the degree of task delegation that could be achieved (77%, 60%, and 50% of preventive care, and 47%, 30%, and 25% of chronic care), we estimated that a primary care team could reasonably care for a panel of 1,947, 1,523, or 1,387 patients. CONCLUSIONS If portions of preventive and chronic care services are delegated to nonphysician team members, primary care practices can provide recommended preventive and chronic care with panel sizes that are achievable with the available primary care workforce.

  17. Unhealthy Pressure: How Physician Pay Demands Put the Squeeze on Provincial Health-Care Budgets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugh M. Grant

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In the 11 years since the Romanow Commission warned that the income of physicians was threatening to become a significant driver of Canadian health-care costs, doctors in this country proceeded to chalk up some of their most rapid gains in earnings since the implementation of medicare. Since 2000, the gap between what the average physician makes, and what the average fully employed Canadian worker earns, has diverged like never before. In the last decade, the average doctor went from earning three-and-a-half times the average Canadian worker’s salary, to earning nearly four-and-a-half times as much, a more than 25 per cent relative increase. In constant dollars, today’s average Canadian physician is earning about 30 per cent more than he or she was just a decade ago. All of this has occurred while physicians have actually provided slightly fewer services to patients. Since the implementation of medicare, the payment of doctors has been rather a matter of politics, as provinces became the ultimate paymasters for health-care personnel. The natural result was an ongoing competition between provinces and physicians for public support, each with its own claim to being the guardian of public health care. In the last two decades, however, doctors have succeeded in outmaneuvering governments, marshaling greater public support for higher pay for their work, even as provinces have been more often viewed as underfunding basic health care needs. There are signs that this may have finally gone too far: Ontario was recently able to freeze remuneration for doctors in a negotiated contract deal and Alberta shortly after imposed a unilateral settlement on its doctors after breaking off negotiations. Stories about “millionaire doctors” are now proliferating in the mainstream media and, as provinces across the countries struggle with deficits, the public’s sympathy appears to be shifting. There were periods, during the ’70s and ’90s, when governments

  18. Continuing medical education, continuing professional development, and knowledge translation: improving care of older patients by practicing physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, David C; Johnston, Bree; Dunn, Kathel; Sullivan, Gail M; Brett, Belle; Matzko, Marilyn; Levine, Sharon A

    2006-10-01

    Many community-based internists and family physicians lack familiarity with geriatrics knowledge and best practices, but they face overwhelming fiscal and time barriers to expanding their skills and improving their behavior in the care of older people. Traditional lecture-and-slide-show continuing medical education (CME) programs have been shown to be relatively ineffective in changing this target group's practice. The challenge for geriatrics educators, then, is to devise CME programs that are highly accessible to practicing physicians, that will have an immediate and significant effect on practitioners' behavior, and that are financially viable. Studies of CME have shown that the most effective programs for knowledge translation in these circumstances involve what is known as active-mode learning, which relies on interactive, targeted, and multifaceted techniques. A systematic literature review, supplemented by structured interviews, was performed to inventory active-mode learning techniques for geriatrics knowledge and skills in the United States. Thirteen published articles met the criteria, and leaders of 28 active-mode CME programs were interviewed. This systematic review indicates that there is a substantial experience in geriatrics training for community-based physicians, much of which is unpublished and incompletely evaluated. It appears that the most effective methods to change behaviors involved multiple educational efforts such as written materials or toolkits combined with feedback and strong communication channels between instructors and learners.

  19. Time-trend of melanoma screening practice by primary care physicians: A meta-regression analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Valachis, Antonis; Mauri, Davide; Karampoiki, Vassiliki; Polyzos, Nikolaos P; Cortinovis, Ivan; Koukourakis, Georgios; Zacharias, Georgios; Xilomenos, Apostolos; Tsappi, Maria; Casazza, Giovanni

    2009-01-01

    Objective To assess whether the proportion of primary care physicians implementing full body skin examination (FBSE) to screen for melanoma changed over time. Methods Meta-regression analyses of available data. Data Sources: MEDLINE, ISI, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Results Fifteen studies surveying 10,336 physicians were included in the analyses. Overall, 15%?82% of them reported to perform FBSE to screen for melanoma. The proportion of physicians using FBSE screening ten...

  20. A clinical study of COPD severity assessment by primary care physicians and their patients compared with spirometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mapel, Douglas W; Dalal, Anand A; Johnson, Phaedra; Becker, Laura; Hunter, Alyssa Goolsby

    2015-06-01

    Primary care physicians often do not use spirometry to confirm the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This project was designed to see how well physicians' impressions about their patients' chronic obstructive pulmonary disease severity correlate with the severity of airflow obstruction measured by spirometry and to assess whether spirometry results subsequently changed the physicians' opinions about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease severity and treatment. We performed a multicenter, cross-sectional, observational study conducted in 83 primary care clinics from across the United States. A total of 899 patients with a clinical diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease completed a questionnaire and spirometry testing. Physicians completed a questionnaire and case report forms. Concordance among physician ratings, patient ratings, and spirometry results was evaluated. Physicians' chronic obstructive pulmonary disease severity ratings before spirometry were accurate for only 30% of patients with evaluable spirometry results, and disease severity in 41% of patients was underestimated. Physicians also underestimated severity compared with patients' self-assessment among 42% of those with evaluable results. After spirometry, physicians changed their opinions on the severity for 30% of patients and recommended treatment changes for 37%. Only 75% of patients performed at least 1 high-quality spirometry test; however, the physicians' opinions and treatment decisions were similar regardless of suboptimal test results. Without performing spirometry, physicians are likely to underestimate their patients' chronic obstructive pulmonary disease severity or inadequately characterize their patients' lung disease. Spirometry changed the physicians' clinical impressions and treatments for approximately one third of these patients; thus, spirometry is a valuable tool for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease management in primary care. Copyright © 2015

  1. Attitudes towards euthanasia among Greek intensive care unit physicians and nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kranidiotis, Georgios; Ropa, Julia; Mprianas, John; Kyprianou, Theodoros; Nanas, Serafim

    2015-01-01

    To investigate the attitudes of Greek intensive care unit (ICU) medical and nursing staff towards euthanasia. ICU physicians and nurses deal with end-of-life dilemmas on a daily basis. Therefore, the exploration of their stances on euthanasia is worthwhile. This was a descriptive quantitative study conducted in three ICUs in Athens. The convenience sample included 39 physicians and 107 nurses. Of respondents, 52% defined euthanasia inaccurately, as withholding or withdrawal of treatment, while 15% ranked limitation of life-support among the several forms of euthanasia, together with active shortening of the dying process and physician - assisted suicide. Only one third of participants defined euthanasia correctly. While 59% of doctors and 64% of nurses support the legalization of active euthanasia, just 28% and 26% of them, respectively, agree with it ethically. Confusion prevails among Greek ICU physicians and nurses regarding the definition of euthanasia. The majority of staff disagrees with active euthanasia, but upholds its legalization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Nursing Home Physicians' Assessments of Barriers and Strategies for End-of-Life Care in Norway and The Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fosse, Anette; Zuidema, Sytse; Boersma, Froukje; Malterud, Kirsti; Schaufel, Margrethe Aase; Ruths, Sabine

    2017-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: Working conditions in nursing homes (NHs) may hamper teamwork in providing quality end-of-life (EOL) care, especially the participation of NH physicians. Dutch NH physicians are specialists or trainees in elderly care medicine with NHs as the main workplace, whereas in Norway, family

  3. Physician and staff turnover in community primary care practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruhe, Mary; Gotler, Robin S; Goodwin, Meredith A; Stange, Kurt C

    2004-01-01

    The effect of a rapidly changing healthcare system on personnel turnover in community family practices has not been analyzed. We describe physician and staff turnover and examine its association with practice characteristics and patient outcomes. A cross-sectional evaluation of length of employment of 150 physicians and 762 staff in 77 community family practices in northeast Ohio was conducted. Research nurses collected data using practice genograms, key informant interviews, staff lists, practice environment checklists, medical record reviews, and patient questionnaires. The association of physician and staff turnover with practice characteristics, patient satisfaction, and preventive service data was tested. During a 2-year period, practices averaged a 53% turnover rate of staff. The mean length of duration of work at the current practice location was 9.1 years for physicians and 4.1 years for staff. Longevity varied by position, with a mean of 3.4 years for business employees, 4.0 years for clinical employees, and 7.8 years for office managers. Network-affiliated practices experienced higher turnover than did independent practices. Physician longevity was associated with a practice focus on managing chronic illness, keeping on schedule, and responding to insurers' requests. No association was found between turnover and patient satisfaction or preventive service delivery rates. Personnel turnover is pervasive in community primary care practices and is associated with employee role, practice network affiliation, and practice focus. The potentially disruptive effect of personnel turnover on practice functioning, finances, and longitudinal relationships with patients deserves further study despite the reassuring lack of association with patient satisfaction and preventive service delivery rates.

  4. Ethical issues at the interface of clinical care and research practice in pediatric oncology: a narrative review of parents' and physicians' experiences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    de Vries Martine C

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Pediatric oncology has a strong research culture. Most pediatric oncologists are investigators, involved in clinical care as well as research. As a result, a remarkable proportion of children with cancer enrolls in a trial during treatment. This paper discusses the ethical consequences of the unprecedented integration of research and care in pediatric oncology from the perspective of parents and physicians. Methodology An empirical ethical approach, combining (1 a narrative review of (primarily qualitative studies on parents' and physicians' experiences of the pediatric oncology research practice, and (2 comparison of these experiences with existing theoretical ethical concepts about (pediatric research. The use of empirical evidence enriches these concepts by taking into account the peculiarities that ethical challenges pose in practice. Results Analysis of the 22 studies reviewed revealed that the integration of research and care has consequences for the informed consent process, the promotion of the child's best interests, and the role of the physician (doctor vs. scientist. True consent to research is difficult to achieve due to the complexity of research protocols, emotional stress and parents' dependency on their child's physician. Parents' role is to promote their child's best interests, also when they are asked to consider enrolling their child in a trial. Parents are almost never in equipoise on trial participation, which leaves them with the agonizing situation of wanting to do what is best for their child, while being fearful of making the wrong decision. Furthermore, a therapeutic misconception endangers correct assessment of participation, making parents inaccurately attribute therapeutic intent to research procedures. Physicians prefer the perspective of a therapist over a researcher. Consequently they may truly believe that in the research setting they promote the child's best interests, which maintains the

  5. Point-of-care ultrasound education for non-physician clinicians in a resource-limited emergency department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stolz, Lori A; Muruganandan, Krithika M; Bisanzo, Mark C; Sebikali, Mugisha J; Dreifuss, Bradley A; Hammerstedt, Heather S; Nelson, Sara W; Nayabale, Irene; Adhikari, Srikar; Shah, Sachita P

    2015-08-01

    To describe the outcomes and curriculum components of an educational programme to train non-physician clinicians working in a rural, Ugandan emergency department in the use of POC ultrasound. The use of point-of-care ultrasound was taught to emergency care providers through lectures, bedsides teaching and hands-on practical sessions. Lectures were tailored to care providers' knowledge base and available therapeutic means. Every ultrasound examination performed by these providers was recorded over 4.5 years. Findings of these examinations were categorised as positive, negative, indeterminate or procedural. Other radiologic studies ordered over this same time period were also recorded. A total of 22,639 patients were evaluated in the emergency department by emergency care providers, and 2185 point-of-care ultrasound examinations were performed on 1886 patients. Most commonly used were the focused assessment with sonography in trauma examination (53.3%) and echocardiography (16.4%). Point-of-care ultrasound studies were performed more frequently than radiology department-performed studies. Positive findings were documented in 46% of all examinations. We describe a novel curriculum for point-of-care ultrasound education of non-physician emergency practitioners in a resource-limited setting. These non-physician clinicians integrated ultrasound into clinical practice and utilised this imaging modality more frequently than traditional radiology department imaging with a large proportion of positive findings. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. A conceptual model of physician work intensity: guidance for evaluating policies and practices to improve health care delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horner, Ronnie D; Matthews, Gerald; Yi, Michael S

    2012-08-01

    Physician work intensity, although a major factor in determining the payment for medical services, may potentially affect patient health outcomes including quality of care and patient safety, and has implications for the redesign of medical practice to improve health care delivery. However, to date, there has been minimal research regarding the relationship between physician work intensity and either patient outcomes or the organization and management of medical practices. A theoretical model on physician work intensity will provide useful guidance to such inquiries. To describe an initial conceptual model to facilitate further investigations of physician work intensity. A conceptual model of physician work intensity is described using as its theoretical base human performance science relating to work intensity. For each of the theoretical components, we present relevant empirical evidence derived from a review of the current literature. The proposed model specifies that the level of work intensity experienced by a physician is a consequence of the physician performing the set of tasks (ie, demands) relating to a medical service. It is conceptualized that each medical service has an inherent level of intensity that is experienced by a physician as a function of factors relating to the physician, patient, and medical practice environment. The proposed conceptual model provides guidance to researchers as to the factors to consider in studies of how physician work intensity impacts patient health outcomes and how work intensity may be affected by proposed policies and approaches to health care delivery.

  7. Eliciting views on antibiotic prescribing and resistance among hospital and outpatient care physicians in Berlin, Germany: results of a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velasco, Edward; Ziegelmann, Antina; Eckmanns, Tim; Krause, Gérard

    2012-01-01

    To better understand physicians' views on factors of influence for the prescribing of antibiotics and on antibiotic resistance in the Berlin region, Germany. Qualitative study with focus groups. Outpatient care and hospital care practice in the Berlin region, Germany. 7 General practitioners, two urologists, one paediatrician from outpatient care and eight internists, two paediatricians, two ear, nose and throat specialists and two urologists from hospital care. Physicians showed differential interest in topics related to antibiotic prescribing and antibiotic resistance. Outpatient care physicians were interested in topics around their own prescribing, such as being able to diagnose and prescribe precisely, and topics about patient demand and non-compliance. Hospital care physicians were interested in hygiene challenges, limited consult time and multi-resistant pathogens. Physicians considered the development of resistance to be more in the domain of clinical treatment than that of the patient. Major challenges related to antibiotic resistance for this group of physicians are access to and clarity of treatment recommendations, implementation of hygienic measures, as well as increased outsourcing of laboratory services. Results raise questions about whether meeting physicians' expectations should be a focus when developing intervention that aims to influence antibiotic resistance in this and other areas of Germany.

  8. US primary care physicians' opinions about conscientious refusal: a national vignette experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brauer, Simon G; Yoon, John D; Curlin, Farr A

    2016-02-01

    Previous research has found that physicians are divided on whether they are obligated to provide a treatment to which they object and whether they should refer patients in such cases. The present study compares several possible scenarios in which a physician objects to a treatment that a patient requests, in order to better characterise physicians' beliefs about what responses are appropriate. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1504 US primary care physicians using an experimentally manipulated vignette in which a patient requests a clinical intervention to which the patient's physician objects. We used multivariate logistic regression models to determine how vignette and respondent characteristics affected respondent's judgements. Among eligible respondents, the response rate was 63% (896/1427). When faced with an objection to providing treatment, referring the patient was the action judged most appropriate (57% indicated it was appropriate), while few physicians thought it appropriate to provide treatment despite one's objection (15%). The most religious physicians were more likely than the least religious physicians to support refusing to accommodate the patient's request (38% vs 22%, OR=1.75; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.86). This study indicates that US physicians believe it is inappropriate to provide an intervention that violates one's personal or professional standards. Referring seems to be physicians' preferred way of responding to requests for interventions to which physicians object. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  9. The productivity of physician assistants and nurse practitioners and health work force policy in the era of managed health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffler, R M; Waitzman, N J; Hillman, J M

    1996-01-01

    Managed care is spreading rapidly in the United States and creating incentives for physician practices to find the most efficient combination of health professionals to deliver care to an enrolled population. Given these trends, it is appropriate to reexamine the roles of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in the health care workforce. This paper briefly reviews the literature on PA and NP productivity, managed care plans' use of PAs and NPs, and the potential impact of PAs and NPs on the size and composition of the future physician workforce. In general, the literature supports the idea that PAs and NPs could have a major impact on the future health care workforce. Studies show significant opportunities for increased physician substitution and even conservative assumptions about physician task delegation imply a large increase in the number of PAs and NPs that can be effectively deployed. However, the current literature has certain limitations that make it difficult to quantify the future impact of PAs and NPs. Among these limitations is the fact that virtually all formal productivity studies were conducted in fee-for-service settings during the 1970s, rather than managed care settings. In addition, the vast majority of PA and NP productivity studies have viewed PAs and NPs as physician substitutes rather than as members of interdisciplinary health care teams, which may become the dominant health care delivery model over the next 10-20 years.

  10. Physician self-referral and physician-owned specialty facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casalino, Lawrence P

    2008-06-01

    Physician self-referral ranges from suggesting a follow-up appointment, to sending a patient to a facility in which the doctor has an ownership interest or financial relationship. Physician referral to facilities in which the physicians have an ownership interest is becoming increasingly common and not always medically appropriate. This Synthesis reviews the evidence on physician self-referral arrangements, their effect on costs and utilization, and their effect on general hospitals. Key findings include: the rise in self-referral is sparked by financial, regulatory and clinical incentives, including patient convenience and doctors trying to preserve their income in the changing health care landscape. Strong evidence suggests self-referral leads to increased usage of health care services; but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether this increased usage reflects doctors meeting an unmet need or ordering clinically inappropriate care. The more significant a physician's financial interest in a facility, the more likely the doctor is to refer patients there. Arrangements through which doctors receive fees for patient referrals to third-party centers, such as "pay-per-click," time-share, and leasing arrangements, do not seem to offer benefits beyond increasing physician income. So far, the profit margins of general hospitals have not been harmed by the rise in doctor-owned facilities.

  11. Physicians' perceptions about the quality of primary health care services in transitional Albania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kellici, Neritan; Dibra, Arvin; Mihani, Joana; Kellici, Suela; Burazeri, Genc

    AIM: To date, the available information regarding the quality of primary health care services in Albania is scarce. The aim of our study was to assess the quality of primary health care services in Albania based on physicians' perceptions towards the quality of the services provided to the general

  12. Effects of a physician-led home care team on terminal care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmer, J G; Groth-Juncker, A; McCusker, J

    1984-04-01

    Inconsistent results in studies of cost-effectiveness of home health care have led to the need for identification of target populations for whom cost-savings can be anticipated if expanded home care programs are introduced. This analysis of results of a randomized controlled study of efficacy of a physician/geriatric nurse practitioner/social worker home care team identifies such a potential target population. The team provides round-the-clock on-call medical services in the home when needed, in addition to usual nursing and other home care services, to home-bound chronically or terminally ill elderly patients. Overall health services utilization and estimated costs were not substantially different for the patients who did not die while in the study; however, for those who did die, team patients had considerably lower rates of hospitalization and overall cost than controls, and more frequently died at home. Of 21 team and 12 control patients who died but had at least two weeks of utilization experience in the study, team patients had about half the number of hospital days compared with controls during the terminal two weeks, and although they had more home care services, had only 69 per cent of the estimated total health care costs of the controls. Satisfaction with care received was significantly greater among the total group of team patients, and especially among their family caretakers, than among controls. This model is effective in providing appropriate medical care for seriously ill and terminal patients, and in enabling them to die at home if they so wish, while at the same time reducing costs of care during the terminal period.

  13. Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Medicaid Beneficiaries: The Role of Physician Payment and Managed Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabik, Lindsay M; Dahman, Bassam; Vichare, Anushree; Bradley, Cathy J

    2018-05-01

    Medicaid-insured women have low rates of cancer screening. There are multiple policy levers that may influence access to preventive services such as screening, including physician payment and managed care. We examine the relationship between each of these factors and breast and cervical cancer screening among nonelderly nondisabled adult Medicaid enrollees. We combine individual-level data on Medicaid enrollment, demographics, and use of screening services from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract files with data on states' Medicaid-to-Medicare fee ratios and estimate their impact on screening services. Higher physician fees are associated with greater screening for comprehensive managed care enrollees; for enrollees in fee-for-service Medicaid, the findings are mixed. Patient participation in primary care case management is a significant moderator of the relationship between physician fees and the rate of screening, as interactions between enrollee primary care case management status and the Medicaid fee ratio are consistently positive across models of screening.

  14. Barriers to optimal care between physicians and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning adolescent patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kitts, Robert Li

    2010-01-01

    The objective of this article was to identify barriers to optimal care between physicians and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) adolescents. To this end, 464 anonymous, self-administered surveys were distributed in 2003 to residents and attending physicians in pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and family practice at Upstate Medical University. The survey included questions pertaining to practice, knowledge, and attitude pertaining to lesbian, gay, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents. One hundred eight four surveys were returned. The majority of physicians would not regularly discuss sexual orientation, sexual attraction, or gender identity while taking a sexual history from a sexually active adolescent. As well, the majority of physicians would not ask patients about sexual orientation if an adolescent presented with depression, suicidal thoughts, or had attempted suicide. If an adolescent stated that he or she was not sexually active, 41% of physicians reported that they would not ask additional sexual health-related questions. Only 57% agreed to an association between being a LGBTQ adolescent and suicide. The majority of physicians did not believe that they had all the skills they needed to address issues of sexual orientation with adolescents, and that sexual orientation should be addressed more often with these patients and in the course of training. This study concludes that barriers in providing optimal care for LGBTQ adolescents can be found with regard to practice, knowledge, and attitude regardless of medical field and other demographics collected. Opportunities exist to enhance care for LGBTQ adolescents.

  15. Do specialist self-referral insurance policies improve access to HIV-experienced physicians as a regular source of care?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heslin, Kevin C; Andersen, Ronald M; Ettner, Susan L; Kominski, Gerald F; Belin, Thomas R; Morgenstern, Hal; Cunningham, William E

    2005-10-01

    Health insurance policies that require prior authorization for specialty care may be detrimental to persons with HIV, according to evidence that having a regular physician with HIV expertise leads to improved patient outcomes. The objective of this study is to determine whether HIV patients who can self-refer to specialists are more likely to have physicians who mainly treat HIV. The authors analyze cross-sectional survey data from the HIV Costs and Services Utilization Study. At baseline, 67 percent of patients had insurance that permitted self-referral. In multivariate analyses, being able to self-refer was associated with an 8-12 percent increased likelihood of having a physician at a regular source of care that mainly treats patients with HIV. Patients who can self-refer are more likely to have HIV-experienced physicians than are patients who need prior authorization. Insurance policies allowing self-referral to specialists may result in HIV patients seeing physicians with clinical expertise relevant to HIV care.

  16. Treating a physician patient with psychosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freedman, Jacob L; Crow, Fredrick F; Gutheil, Thomas G; Sanchez, Luis T; Suzuki, Joji

    2012-06-01

    The authors present a case of a psychotic female patient who is a former graduate of a locally prestigious medical school and has subsequently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The patient entered treatment in an outpatient clinic following discharge from her 11th hospitalization. This hospitalization was initiated after the patient's physician friend had called the police and notified them that the patient was significantly disorganized to warrant further evaluation. Treatment was characterized by significant transference and counter-transference reactions amongst her clinicians - both treatment-promoting and treatment-interfering - based on her status as a physician. The problem of insight was a significant hurdle in the treatment of the patient as her medical knowledge of mental illness was substantially greater than her insight into her own mental illness. Throughout treatment, a number of medical-legal and ethical issues arose. Initially, the question was raised as to the legality of the actions by the patient's friend-having made a clinical assessment without having a clinical role in the patient's care. As the patient's clinical status improved and she sought to re-enter the medical field as a resident, new medical legal issues surfaced. What were the roles of the patient's treaters in maintaining confidentiality and simultaneously ensuring the safety of patients that the psychotic physician might care for? This case highlights the universality of psychiatric vulnerability. Insight in psychosis as well as the transference and counter-transference issues involved in caring for a psychotic physician are discussed. Additionally, a thorough medical-legal discussion addresses the various complexities of caring for a psychotic physician. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Attitudes of intensive care and emergency physicians in Australia with regard to the organ donation process: A qualitative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macvean, Emily; Yuen, Eva Yn; Tooley, Gregory; Gardiner, Heather M; Knight, Tess

    2018-04-01

    Specialized hospital physicians have direct capacity to impact Australia's sub-optimal organ donation rates because of their responsibility to identify and facilitate donation opportunities. Australian physicians' attitudes toward this responsibility are examined. A total of 12 intensive care unit and three emergency department physicians were interviewed using a constructionist grounded theory and situational analysis approach. A major theme emerged, related to physicians' conflicts of interest in maintaining patients'/next-of-kin's best interests and a sense of duty-of-care in this context. Two sub-themes related to this main theme were identified as follows: (1) discussions about organ donation and who is best to carry these out and (2) determining whether organ donation is part of end-of-life care; including the avoidance of non-therapeutic ventilation; and some reluctance to follow clinical triggers in the emergency department. Overall, participants indicated strong support for organ donation but would not consider it part of end-of-life care, representing a major obstacle to the support of potential donation opportunities. Findings have implications for physician education and training. Continued efforts are needed to integrate the potential for organ donation into end-of-life care within intensive care units and emergency departments.

  18. Physician Approaches to Conflict with Families Surrounding End-of-Life Decision-making in the Intensive Care Unit. A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehter, Hashim M; McCannon, Jessica B; Clark, Jack A; Wiener, Renda Soylemez

    2018-02-01

    Families of critically ill patients are often asked to make difficult decisions to pursue, withhold, or withdraw aggressive care or resuscitative measures, exercising "substituted judgment" from the imagined standpoint of the patient. Conflict may arise between intensive care unit (ICU) physicians and family members regarding the optimal course of care. To characterize how ICU physicians approach and manage conflict with surrogates regarding end-of-life decision-making. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 critical care physicians from four academically affiliated hospitals. Interview transcripts were analyzed using methods of grounded theory. Physicians described strategies for engaging families to resolve conflict about end-of-life decision-making and tending to families' emotional health. Physicians commonly began by gauging family receptiveness to recommendations from the healthcare team. When faced with resistance to recommendations for less aggressive care, approaches ranged from deference to family wishes to various persuasive strategies designed to change families' minds, and some of those strategies may be counterproductive or harmful. The likelihood of deferring to family in the event of conflict was associated with the perceived sincerity of the family's "substituted judgment" and the ability to control patient pain and suffering. Physicians reported concern for the family's emotional needs and made efforts to alleviate the burden on families by assuming decision-making responsibility and expressing nonabandonment and commitment to the patient. Physicians were attentive to repairing damage to their relationship with the family in the aftermath of conflict. Finally, physicians described their own emotional responses to conflict, ranging from frustration and anxiety to satisfaction with successful resolution of conflict. Critical care physicians described a complex and multilayered approach to physician-family conflict. The reported strategies

  19. Patient care information systems and physicians: the transition from technology icon to health care instrument.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bria, W F

    1993-11-01

    We have discussed several important transitions now occurring in PCIS that promise to improve the utility and availability of these systems for the average physician. Charles Babbage developed the first computers as "thinking machines" so that we may extend our ability to grapple with more and more complex problems. If current trends continue, we will finally witness the evolution of patient care computing from information icons of the few to clinical instruments improving the quality of medical decision making and care for all patients.

  20. Gastroesophageal reflux disease: A clinical overview for primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandit, Sudha; Boktor, Moheb; Alexander, Jonathan S; Becker, Felix; Morris, James

    2018-03-01

    GERD is among the most common outpatient disease processes encountered by clinicians on a daily basis. This review provides insights about how to approach GERD in terms of disease management and treatment. Review articles were searched using PUBMED and MEDLINE using criteria that included English language articles published in the last 5 years concerning studies carried out only in humans. The key words used in the searches were GERD, PPI, and erosive esophagitis. Recommendations from the American College of Gastroenterology are also included in this manuscript. The search resulted in ∼260 articles. The manuscript brings together and presents the results of recent recommendations from professional societies and recently published review articles on GERD. GERD is one of the most common diagnoses made by gastroenterologists and primary care physicians. It is important to recognize the typical and atypical presentations of GERD. This paper helps primary care physicians understand the disease's pathophysiology, and when, how, and with what to treat GERD before referring patients to gastroenterologists or surgeons. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Using intranet-based order sets to standardize clinical care and prepare for computerized physician order entry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heffner, John E; Brower, Kathleen; Ellis, Rosemary; Brown, Shirley

    2004-07-01

    The high cost of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and physician resistance to standardized care have delayed implementation. An intranet-based order set system can provide some of CPOE's benefits and offer opportunities to acculturate physicians toward standardized care. INTRANET CLINICIAN ORDER FORMS (COF): The COF system at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) allows caregivers to enter and print orders through the intranet at points of care and to access decision support resources. Work on COF began in March 2000 with transfer of 25 MUSC paper-based order set forms to an intranet site. Physician groups developed additional order sets, which number more than 200. Web traffic increased progressively during a 24-month period, peaking at more than 6,400 hits per month to COF. Decision support tools improved compliance with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services core indicators. Clinicians demonstrated a willingness to develop and use order sets and decision support tools posted on the COF site. COF provides a low-cost method for preparing caregivers and institutions to adopt CPOE and standardization of care. The educational resources, relevant links to external resources, and communication alerts will all link to CPOE, thereby providing a head start in CPOE implementation.

  2. Health care professionals' and students' attitude toward collaboration between pharmacists and physicians in Croatia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seselja-Perisin, Ana; Mestrovic, Arijana; Klinar, Ivana; Modun, Darko

    2016-02-01

    As traditional roles of pharmacists and physicians seem nowadays insufficient to ensure patient safety and therapy effectiveness, interprofessional collaboration has been suggested to improve health outcomes. To assess and compare the attitudes of physicians and pharmacists, as well as medical and pharmacy students in Croatia, toward interprofessional collaboration in primary health care. The study included 513 pharmacists and physicians, and 365 students of pharmacy and medicine from Croatia. The validated questionnaire, Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician–Pharmacist Collaboration, was translated in Croatian and completed, anonymously and voluntarily, by all participants. Results Pharmacists showed a more positive attitude toward collaboration than physicians (53.8 ± 4.8 vs. 50.7 ± 5.0). Pharmacy students expressed the most positive attitude (56.2 ± 4.9), while medical students showed the remarkably lowest attitude toward collaboration (44.6 ± 6.2). Pharmacists and physicians in Croatia expressed a relatively positive attitude toward their collaboration, comparable with their colleges in the USA. On the other hand, medical students expressed a 21 % less positive attitude than pharmacy students which could have an effect on interprofessional collaboration in the future when those students start working as health care professionals. Future studies, focusing on the promotion of this collaboration, on both under-graduated and post-graduated level, are warranted.

  3. Impact of physician specialty on quality care for patients hospitalized with decompensated cirrhosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Lim

    Full Text Available Decompensated cirrhosis is a common precipitant for hospitalization, and there is limited information concerning factors that influence the delivery of quality care in cirrhotic inpatients. We sought to determine the relation between physician specialty and inpatient quality care for decompensated cirrhosis.We reviewed 247 hospital admissions for decompensated cirrhosis, managed by hospitalists or intensivists, between 2009 and 2013. The primary outcome was quality care delivery, defined as adherence to all evidence-based specialty society practice guidelines pertaining to each specific complication of cirrhosis. Secondary outcomes included new complications, length-of-stay, and in-hospital death.Overall, 147 admissions (59.5% received quality care. Quality care was given more commonly by intensivists, compared with hospitalists (71.7% vs. 53.1%, P = .006, and specifically for gastrointestinal bleeding (72% vs. 45.8%, P = .03 and hepatic encephalopathy (100% vs. 63%, P = .005. Involvement of gastroenterology consultation was also more common in admissions in which quality care was administered (68.7% vs. 54.0%, P = .023. Timely diagnostic paracentesis was associated with reduced new complications in admissions for refractory ascites (9.5% vs. 46.6%, P = .02, and reduced length-of-stay in admissions for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (5 days vs. 13 days, P = .02.Adherence to quality indicators for decompensated cirrhosis is suboptimal among hospitalized patients. Although quality care adherence appears to be higher among cirrhotic patients managed by intensivists than by hospitalists, opportunities for improvement exist in both groups. Rational and cost-effective strategies should be sought to achieve this end.

  4. Characteristics of physicians and patients who join team-based primary care practices: evidence from Quebec's Family Medicine Groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle, Natalie; Strumpf, Erin; Fiset-Laniel, Julie; Tousignant, Pierre; Roy, Yves

    2014-06-01

    New models of delivering primary care are being implemented in various countries. In Quebec, Family Medicine Groups (FMGs) are a team-based approach to enhance access to, and coordination of, care. We examined whether physicians' and patients' characteristics predicted their participation in this new model of primary care. Using provincial administrative data, we created a population cohort of Quebec's vulnerable patients. We collected data before the advent of FMGs on patients' demographic characteristics, chronic illnesses and health service use, and their physicians' demographics, and practice characteristics. Multivariate regression was used to identify key predictors of joining a FMG among both patients and physicians. Patients who eventually enrolled in a FMG were more likely to be female, reside outside of an urban region, have a lower SES status, have diabetes and congestive heart failure, visit the emergency department for ambulatory sensitive conditions and be hospitalized for any cause. They were also less likely to have hypertension, visit an ambulatory clinic and have a usual provider of care. Physicians who joined a FMG were less likely to be located in urban locations, had fewer years in medical practice, saw more patients in hospital, and had patients with lower morbidity. Physicians' practice characteristics and patients' health status and health care service use were important predictors of joining a FMG. To avoid basing policy decisions on tenuous evidence, policymakers and researchers should account for differential selection into team-based primary health care models. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  5. Trends and quality of care in outpatient visits to generalist and specialist physicians delivering primary care in the United States, 1997-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Samuel T; Mafi, John N; Landon, Bruce E

    2014-06-01

    Although many specialists serve as primary care physicians (PCPs), the type of patients they serve, the range of services they provide, and the quality of care they deliver is uncertain. To describe trends in patient, physician, and visit characteristics, and compare visit-based quality for visits to generalists and specialists self-identified as PCPs. Cross-sectional study and time trend analysis. Nationally representative sample of visits to office-based physicians from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 1997-2010. Proportions of primary care visits to generalist and specialists, patient characteristics, principal diagnoses, and quality. Among 84,041 visits to self-identified PCPs representing an estimated 4.0 billion visits, 91.5 % were to generalists, 5.9 % were to medical specialists and 2.6 % were to obstetrician/gynecologists. The proportion of PCP visits to generalists increased from 88.4 % in 1997 to 92.4 % in 2010, but decreased for medical specialists from 8.0 % to 4.8 %, p = 0.04). The proportion of medical specialist visits in which the physician self-identified as the patient's PCP decreased from 30.6 % in 1997 to 9.8 % in 2010 (p specialist PCPs take care of older patients (mean age 61 years), and dedicate most of their visits to chronic disease management (51.0 %), while generalist PCPs see younger patients (mean age 55.4 years) most commonly for new problems (40.5 %). Obstetrician/gynecologists self-identified as PCPs see younger patients (mean age 38.3 p specialists. Medical specialists are less frequently serving as PCPs for their patients over time. Generalist, medical specialist, and obstetrician/gynecologist PCPs serve different primary care roles for different populations. Delivery redesign efforts must account for the evolving role of generalist and specialist PCPs in the delivery of primary care.

  6. The Road to Rural Primary Care: A Narrative Review of Factors That Help Develop, Recruit, and Retain Rural Primary Care Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parlier, Anna Beth; Galvin, Shelley L; Thach, Sarah; Kruidenier, David; Fagan, Ernest Blake

    2018-01-01

    To examine the literature documenting successes in recruiting and retaining rural primary care physicians. The authors conducted a narrative review of literature on individual, educational, and professional characteristics and experiences that lead to recruitment and retention of rural primary care physicians. In May 2016, they searched MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science, Google Scholar, the Grey Literature Report, and reference lists of included studies for literature published in or after 1990 in the United States, Canada, or Australia. The authors identified 83 articles meeting inclusion criteria. They synthesized results and developed a theoretical model that proposes how the findings interact and influence rural recruitment and retention. The authors' proposed theoretical model suggests factors interact across multiple dimensions to facilitate the development of a rural physician identity. Rural upbringing, personal attributes, positive rural exposure, preparation for rural life and medicine, partner receptivity to rural living, financial incentives, integration into rural communities, and good work-life balance influence recruitment and retention. However, attending medical schools and/or residencies with a rural emphasis and participating in rural training may reflect, rather than produce, intention for rural practice. Many factors enhance rural physician identity development and influence whether physicians enter, remain in, and thrive in rural practice. To help trainees and young physicians develop the professional identity of a rural physician, multifactorial medical training approaches aimed at encouraging long-term rural practice should focus on rural-specific clinical and nonclinical competencies while providing trainees with positive rural experiences.

  7. Consumerism in action: how patients and physicians negotiate payment in health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Hyeyoung

    2013-03-01

    Drawing from the medical sociology literature on the patient-doctor relationship and microeconomic sociological scholarship about the role of money in personal relationships, I examined patient-physician interactions within a clinic that offered eye health and cosmetic facial services in the United States. Relying on ethnographic observations conducted in 2008, I evaluated how financial pressures shape the patient-physician relationship during the clinical encounter. To gain a financial advantage, patients attempted to reshape the relationship toward a socially intimate one, where favor and gift exchanges are more common. To ensure the rendering of services, the physician in turn allied herself with the patient, demonstrating how external parties are the barriers to affordable care. This allied relationship was tested when conflicts emerged, primarily because of the role of financial intermediaries in the clinical encounter. These conflicts resulted in the disintegration of the personal relationship, with patient and physician pitted against one another.

  8. The relationship between physician humility, physician-patient communication, and patient health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruberton, Peter M; Huynh, Ho P; Miller, Tricia A; Kruse, Elliott; Chancellor, Joseph; Lyubomirsky, Sonja

    2016-07-01

    Cultural portrayals of physicians suggest an unclear and even contradictory role for humility in the physician-patient relationship. Despite the social importance of humility, however, little empirical research has linked humility in physicians with patient outcomes or the characteristics of the doctor-patient visit. The present study investigated the relationship between physician humility, physician-patient communication, and patients' perceptions of their health during a planned medical visit. Primary care physician-patient interactions (297 patients across 100 physicians) were rated for the physician's humility and the effectiveness of the physician-patient communication. Additionally, patients reported their overall health and physicians and patients reported their satisfaction with the interaction. Within-physician fluctuations in physician humility and self-reported patient health positively predicted one another, and mean-level differences in physician humility predicted effective physician-patient communication, even when controlling for the patient's and physician's satisfaction with the visit and the physician's frustration with the patient. The results suggest that humble, rather than paternalistic or arrogant, physicians are most effective at working with their patients. Interventions to improve physician humility may promote better communication between health care providers and patients, and, in turn, better patient outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. [Perceptions on electronic prescribing by primary care physicians in madrid healthcare service].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villímar Rodríguez, A I; Gangoso Fermoso, A B; Calvo Pita, C; Ariza Cardiel, G

    To investigate the opinion of Primary Care physicians regarding electronic prescribing. Descriptive study by means of a questionnaire sent to 527 primary care physicians. June 2014. The questionnaire included closed questions about interest shown, satisfaction, benefits, weaknesses, and barriers, and one open question about difficulties, all of them referred to electronic prescribing. Satisfaction was measured using 1-10 scale, and benefits, weaknesses, and barriers were evaluated by a 5-ítems Likert scale. Interest was measured using both methods. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail for on line response through Google Drive® tool. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The response rate was 47% (248/527). Interest shown was 8.7 (95% CI; 8.5-8.9) and satisfaction was 7.9 (95% CI; 7.8-8). The great majority 87.9% (95% CI; 83.8-92%) of respondents used electronic prescribing where possible. Most reported benefits were: 73.4% (95% CI; 67.8-78.9%) of respondents considered that electronic prescribing facilitated medication review, and 59.3% (95% CI; 53.1-65.4) of them felt that it reduced bureaucratic burden. Among the observed weaknesses, they highlighted the following: 87.9% (95% CI; 83.8-92%) of respondents believed specialist care physicians should also be able to use electronic prescribing. Concerning to barriers: 30.2% (95% CI; 24.5-36%) of respondents think that entering a patient into the electronic prescribing system takes too much time, and 4% (95% CI; 1.6-6.5%) of them perceived the application as difficult to use. Physicians showed a notable interest in using electronic prescribing and high satisfaction with the application performance. Copyright © 2016 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  10. Training Physicians toward a Dignifying Approach in Adolescents' Health Care: A Promising Simulation-Based Medical Education Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardoff, Daniel; Gefen, Assaf; Sagi, Doron; Ziv, Amitai

    2016-08-01

    Human dignity has a pivotal role within the health care system. There is little experience using simulation-based medical education (SBME) programs that focus on human dignity issues in doctor-patient relationships. To describe and assess a SBME program aimed at improving physicians' competence in a dignifying approach when encountering adolescents and their parents. A total of 97 physicians participated in 8 one-day SMBE workshops that included 7 scenarios of typical adolescent health care dilemmas. These issues could be resolved if the physician used an appropriate dignifying approach toward the patient and the parents. Debriefing discussions were based on video recordings of the scenarios. The effect of the workshops on participants' approach to adolescent health care was assessed by a feedback questionnaire and on 5-point Likert score questionnaires administered before the workshop and 3 months after. All participants completed both the pre-workshop and the feedback questionnaires and 41 (42%) completed the post-workshop questionnaire 3 months later. Practice and competence topics received significantly higher scores in post-workshop questionnaires (P simulation-based workshop may improve physicians' communication skills and sense of competence in addressing adolescents' health care issues which require a dignifying approach toward both the adolescent patients and their parents. This dignity-focused methodology may be expanded to improve communication skills of physicians from various disciplines.

  11. Physician-related barriers to communication and patient- and family-centred decision-making towards the end of life in intensive care: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visser, Mieke; Deliens, Luc; Houttekier, Dirk

    2014-11-18

    Although many terminally ill people are admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) at the end of life, their care is often inadequate because of poor communication by physicians and lack of patient- and family-centred care. The aim of this systematic literature review was to describe physician-related barriers to adequate communication within the team and with patients and families, as well as barriers to patient- and family-centred decision-making, towards the end of life in the ICU. We base our discussion and evaluation on the quality indicators for end-of-life care in the ICU developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Critical Care End-of-Life Peer Workgroup. Four electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO) were searched, using controlled vocabulary and free text words, for potentially relevant records published between 2003 and 2013 in English or Dutch. Studies were included if the authors reported on physician-related and physician-reported barriers to adequate communication and decision-making. Barriers were categorized as being related to physicians' knowledge, physicians' attitudes or physicians' practice. Study quality was assessed using design-specific tools. Evidence for barriers was graded according to the quantity and quality of studies in which the barriers were reported. Of 2,191 potentially relevant records, 36 studies were withheld for data synthesis. We determined 90 barriers, of which 46 were related to physicians' attitudes, 24 to physicians' knowledge and 20 to physicians' practice. Stronger evidence was found for physicians' lack of communication training and skills, their attitudes towards death in the ICU, their focus on clinical parameters and their lack of confidence in their own judgment of their patient's true condition. We conclude that many physician-related barriers hinder adequate communication and shared decision-making in ICUs. Better physician education and palliative care guidelines are needed to enhance

  12. The effect of physician staffing model on patient outcomes in a medical progressive care unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, E J; Damaghi, N; Shakespeare, W G; Sherman, M S

    2016-04-01

    Although evidence supports the impact of intensivist physician staffing in improving intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes, the optimal coverage for progressive care units (PCU) is unknown. We sought to determine how physician staffing models influence outcomes for intermediate care patients. We conducted a retrospective observational comparison of patients admitted to the medical PCU of an academic hospital during 12-month periods of high-intensity and low-intensity staffing. A total of 318 PCU patients were eligible for inclusion (143 high-intensity and 175 low-intensity). We found that low-intensity patients were more often stepped up from the emergency department and floor, whereas high-intensity patients were ICU transfers (61% vs 42%, P = .001). However, Mortality Probability Model scoring was similar between the 2 groups. In adjusted analysis, there was no association between intensity of staffing and hospital mortality (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-1.99; P = .69) or PCU mortality (odds ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.38-2.45; P = .69). There was also no difference in subsequent ICU admission rates or in PCU length of stay. We found no evidence that high-intensity intensivist physician staffing improves outcomes for intermediate care patients. In a strained critical care system, our study raises questions about the role of the intensivist in the graded care options between intensive and conventional ward care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Continuous Palliative Sedation for Existential Distress? A Survey of Canadian Palliative Care Physicians' Views.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voeuk, Anna; Nekolaichuk, Cheryl; Fainsinger, Robin; Huot, Ann

    2017-01-01

    Palliative sedation can be used for refractory symptoms during end-of-life care. However, continuous palliative sedation (CPS) for existential distress remains controversial due to difficulty determining when this distress is refractory. The aim was to determine the opinions and practices of Canadian palliative care physicians regarding CPS for existential distress. A survey focusing on experience and views regarding CPS for existential distress was sent to 322 members of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. Eighty-one surveys returned (accessible target, 314), resulting in a response rate of 26%. One third (31%) of the respondents reported providing CPS for existential distress. On a 5-point Likert-type scale, 40% of participants disagreed, while 43% agreed that CPS could be used for existential distress alone. Differing opinions exist regarding this complex and potentially controversial issue, necessitating the education of health-care professionals and increased awareness within the general public.

  14. Physician Order Entry Clerical Support Improves Physician Satisfaction and Productivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Contratto, Erin; Romp, Katherine; Estrada, Carlos A; Agne, April; Willett, Lisa L

    2017-05-01

    To examine the impact of clerical support personnel for physician order entry on physician satisfaction, productivity, timeliness with electronic health record (EHR) documentation, and physician attitudes. All seven part-time physicians at an academic general internal medicine practice were included in this quasi-experimental (single group, pre- and postintervention) mixed-methods study. One full-time clerical support staff member was trained and hired to enter physician orders in the EHR and conduct previsit planning. Physician satisfaction, productivity, timeliness with EHR documentation, and physician attitudes toward the intervention were measured. Four months after the intervention, physicians reported improvements in overall quality of life (good quality, 71%-100%), personal balance (43%-71%), and burnout (weekly, 43%-14%; callousness, 14%-0%). Matched for quarter, productivity increased: work relative value unit (wRVU) per session increased by 20.5% (before, April-June 2014; after, April-June 2015; range -9.2% to 27.5%). Physicians reported feeling more supported, more focused on patient care, and less stressed and fatigued after the intervention. This study supports the use of physician order entry clerical personnel as a simple, cost-effective intervention to improve the work lives of primary care physicians.

  15. Utilization of health services and prescription patterns among lupus patients followed by primary care physicians and rheumatologists in Puerto Rico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molina, María J; Mayor, Angel M; Franco, Alejandro E; Morell, Carlos A; López, Miguel A; Vilá, Luis M

    2008-01-01

    To examine the utilization of health services and prescription patterns among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) followed by primary care physicians and rheumatologists in Puerto Rico. The insurance claims submitted by physicians to a health insurance company of Puerto Rico in 2003 were examined. The diagnosis of lupus was determined by using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, code for SLE (710.0). Of 552,733 insured people, 665 SLE patients were seen by rheumatologists, and 92 were followed by primary care physicians. Demographic features, selected co-morbidities, healthcare utilization parameters, and prescription patterns were examined. Fisher exact test, chi2 test, and analysis of variances were used to evaluate differences between the study groups. SLE patients followed by rheumatologists had osteopenia/osteoporosis diagnosed more frequently than did patients followed by primary care physicians. The frequency of high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, coronary artery disease, and renal disease was similar for both groups. Rheumatologists were more likely to order erythrocyte sedimentation rate, anti-dsDNA antibodies, and serum complements. No differences were observed for office or emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and utilization of routine laboratory tests. Rheumatologists prescribed hydroxychloroquine more frequently than did primary care physicians. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, glucocorticoids, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, and methotrexate was similar for both groups. Overall, the utilization of health services and prescription patterns among SLE patients followed by primary care physicians and rheumatologists in Puerto Rico are similar. However, rheumatologists ordered SLE biomarkers of disease activity and prescribed hydroxychloroquine more frequently than did primary care physicians.

  16. Personal care services provided to children with special health care needs (CSHCN) and their subsequent use of physician services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Thomas R; Elliott, Timothy R; McMaughan, Darcy M; Patnaik, Ashweeta; Naiser, Emily; Dyer, James A; Fournier, Constance J; Hawes, Catherine; Phillips, Charles D

    2013-10-01

    Medicaid Personal Care Services (PCS) help families meet children's needs for assistance with functional tasks. However, PCS may have other effects on a child's well-being, but research has not yet established the existence of such effects. To investigate the relationship between the number of PCS hours a child receives with subsequent visits to physicians for evaluation and management (E&M) services. Assessment data for 2058 CSHCN receiving PCS were collected in 2008 and 2009. Assessment data were matched with Medicaid claims data for the period of 1 year after the assessment. Zero-inflated negative binomial and generalized linear multivariate regression models were used in the analyses. These models included patient demographics, health status, household resources, and use of other medical services. For every 10 additional PCS hours authorized for a child, the odds of having an E&M physician visit in the next year were reduced by 25%. However, the number of PCS hours did not have a significant effect on the number of visits by those children who did have a subsequent E&M visit. A variety of demographic and health status measures also affect physician use. Medicaid PCS for CSHCN may be associated with reduced physician usage because of benefits realized by continuity of care, the early identification of potential health threats, or family and patient education. PCS services may contribute to a child's well-being by providing continuous relationships with the care team that promote good chronic disease management, education, and support for the family. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Inflows of foreign-born physicians and their access to employment and work experiences in health care in Finland: qualitative and quantitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuusio, Hannamaria; Lämsä, Riikka; Aalto, Anna-Mari; Manderbacka, Kristiina; Keskimäki, Ilmo; Elovainio, Marko

    2014-08-07

    In many developed countries, including Finland, health care authorities customarily consider the international mobility of physicians as a means for addressing the shortage of general practitioners (GPs). This study i) examined, based on register information, the numbers of foreign-born physicians migrating to Finland and their employment sector, ii) examined, based on qualitative interviews, the foreign-born GPs' experiences of accessing employment and work in primary care in Finland, and iii) compared experiences based on a survey of the psychosocial work environment among foreign-born physicians working in different health sectors (primary care, hospitals and private sectors). Three different data sets were used: registers, theme interviews among foreign-born GPs (n = 12), and a survey for all (n = 1,292; response rate 42%) foreign-born physicians living in Finland. Methods used in the analyses were qualitative content analysis, analysis of covariance, and logistic regression analysis. The number of foreign-born physicians has increased dramatically in Finland since the year 2000. In 2000, a total of 980 foreign-born physicians held a Finnish licence and lived in Finland, accounting for less than 4% of the total number of practising physicians. In 2009, their proportion of all physicians was 8%, and a total of 1,750 foreign-born practising physicians held a Finnish licence and lived in Finland. Non-EU/EEA physicians experienced the difficult licensing process as the main obstacle to accessing work as a physician. Most licensed foreign-born physicians worked in specialist care. Half of the foreign-born GPs could be classified as having an 'active' job profile (high job demands and high levels of job control combined) according to Karasek's demand-control model. In qualitative interviews, work in the Finnish primary health centres was described as multifaceted and challenging, but also stressful. Primary care may not be able in the long run to attract a sufficient

  18. Giving patients responsibility or fostering mutual response-ability: family physicians' constructions of effective chronic illness management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thille, Patricia H; Russell, Grant M

    2010-10-01

    Current visions of family medicine and models of chronic illness management integrate evidence-based medicine with collaborative, patient-centered care, despite critiques that these constructs conflict with each other. With this potential conflict in mind, we applied a critical discursive psychology methodology to present discursive patterns articulated by 13 family physicians in Ontario, Canada, regarding care of patients living with multiple chronic illnesses. Physicians constructed competing versions of the terms "effective chronic illness management" and "patient involvement." One construction integrated individual responsibility for health with primacy of "evidence," resulting in a conceptualization consistent with paternalistic care. The second constructed effective care as involving active partnership of physician and patient, implying a need to foster the ability of both practitioners and patients to respond to complex challenges as they arose. The former pattern is inconsistent with visions of family medicine and chronic illness management, whereas the latter embodies it.

  19. State variation in primary care physician supply: implications for health reform Medicaid expansions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunningham, Peter J

    2011-03-01

    Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Medicaid enrollment is expected to grow by 16 million people by 2019, an increase of more than 25 percent. Given the unwillingness of many primary care physicians (PCPs) to treat new Medicaid patients, policy makers and others are concerned about adequate primary care capacity to meet the increased demand. States with the smallest number of PCPs per capita overall--gen­erally in the South and Mountain West--potentially will see the largest per­centage increases in Medicaid enrollment, according to a new national study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). In contrast, states with the largest number of PCPs per capita--primarily in the Northeast--will see more modest increases in Medicaid enrollment. Moreover, geograph­ic differences in PCP acceptance of new Medicaid patients reflect differences in overall PCP supply, not geographic differences in PCPs' willingness to treat Medicaid patients. The law also increases Medicaid reimbursement rates for certain services provided by primary care physicians to 100 percent of Medicare rates in 2013 and 2014. However, the reimbursement increases are likely to have the greatest impact in states that already have a large number of PCPs accepting Medicaid patients. In fact, the percent increase of PCPs accepting Medicaid patients in these states is likely to exceed the percent increase of new Medicaid enrollees. The reimbursement increases will have much less impact in states with a relatively small number of PCPs accepting Medicaid patients now because many of these states already reimburse primary care at rates close to or exceeding 100 percent of Medicare. As a result, growth in Medicaid enrollment in these states will greatly outpace growth in the num­ber of primary care physicians willing to treat new Medicaid patients.

  20. Who needs a gatekeeper? Patients' views of the role of the primary care physician.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, R; Tabenkin, H; Brammli-Greenberg, S

    2000-06-01

    The primary care physician serving as a 'gatekeeper' can make judicious decisions about the appropriate use of medical services, and thereby contribute to containing costs while improving the quality of care. However, in Israel, sick funds competing for members have not adopted this model for fear of endangering their competitive stance. The purpose of this study was to examine, for the first time, the stated preferences and actual behaviour of a national sample of members of the four Israeli sick funds regarding self-referral to specialists, and to identify the characteristics of patients who prefer the gatekeeper model. Data were derived from a national telephone survey carried out in 1997. A random representative sample of 1084 of all adult sick fund members were interviewed, with a response rate of 81%. Bivariate analysis was conducted using over all chi-square tests, and multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression models. A third of all respondents prefer self-referral to a specialist, 40% prefer their family physician to act as gatekeeper and 19% prefer the physician to co-ordinate care but to refer themselves to a specialist. Independent variables predicting preference for the gatekeeper model are: living in the periphery, sick fund membership, low level of education, being male, fair or poor health status, having a permanent family physician and being satisfied with the professional level of the family physician. A significant correlation was found between practising self-referral and preference for self-referral. CONCLUSIONS.: The findings indicate the importance of surveying patients' attitudes as an input in policy formulation. The study identified specific population groups which prefer the gatekeeper model, and explored the advantages of a flexible model of gatekeeping.

  1. Ethical decision making in intensive care units: a burnout risk factor? Results from a multicentre study conducted with physicians and nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teixeira, Carla; Ribeiro, Orquídea; Fonseca, António M; Carvalho, Ana Sofia

    2014-02-01

    Ethical decision making in intensive care is a demanding task. The need to proceed to ethical decision is considered to be a stress factor that may lead to burnout. The aim of this study is to explore the ethical problems that may increase burnout levels among physicians and nurses working in Portuguese intensive care units (ICUs). A quantitative, multicentre, correlational study was conducted among 300 professionals. The most crucial ethical decisions made by professionals working in ICU were related to communication, withholding or withdrawing treatments and terminal sedation. A positive relation was found between ethical decision making and burnout in nurses, namely, between burnout and the need to withdraw treatments (p=0.032), to withhold treatments (p=0.002) and to proceed to terminal sedation (p=0.005). This did not apply to physicians. Emotional exhaustion was the burnout subdimension most affected by the ethical decision. The nurses' lack of involvement in ethical decision making was identified as a risk factor. Nevertheless, in comparison with nurses (6%), it was the physicians (34%) who more keenly felt the need to proceed to ethical decisions in ICU. Ethical problems were reported at different levels by physicians and nurses. The type of ethical decisions made by nurses working in Portuguese ICUs had an impact on burnout levels. This did not apply to physicians. This study highlights the need for education in the field of ethics in ICUs and the need to foster inter-disciplinary discussion so as to encourage ethical team deliberation in order to prevent burnout.

  2. Physician workload in primary care: what is the optimal size of practices? A cross-sectional study.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wensing, M.J.P.; Hombergh, P. van den; Akkermans, R.P.; Doremalen, J.H.M. van; Grol, R.P.T.M.

    2006-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of practice size and scope of services on average physician workload in primary care practices in The Netherlands, and to examine the associations between average physician workload, average assistant volume and organisational practice characteristics. METHODS:

  3. Shared Decision Making and Effective Physician-Patient Communication: The Quintessence of Patient-Centered Care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huy Ming Lim

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM 2001 landmark report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, identified patient-centeredness as one of the fundamental attributes of quality health care, alongside safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. The IOM defined patient-centeredness as “providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” This concept of patient-centered care represents a paradigm shift from the traditional disease-oriented and physician-centered care, grounding health care in the subjective experience of illness and the needs and preferences of individual patients rather than the evaluation and treatment of diseases which emphasizes on leveraging clinical expertise and evidence derived from population-based studies. Regrettably, despite the ubiquitous talk about patient-centered care in modern health care, shared decision-making and effective physician-patient communication—the two cruxes of patient-centered care—are yet to become the norms. Strategies to promote and enhance shared decision-making and effective communication between clinicians and patients should be rigorously implemented to establish a health care system that truly values patients as individuals and turn the rhetoric of patient-centered care into reality.

  4. Lifetime earnings for physicians across specialties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leigh, J Paul; Tancredi, Daniel; Jerant, Anthony; Romano, Patrick S; Kravitz, Richard L

    2012-12-01

    Earlier studies estimated annual income differences across specialties, but lifetime income may be more relevant given physicians' long-term commitments to specialties. Annual income and work hours data were collected from 6381 physicians in the nationally representative 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study. Data regarding years of residency were collected from AMA FREIDA. Present value models were constructed assuming 3% discount rates. Estimates were adjusted for demographic and market covariates. Sensitivity analyses included 4 alternative models involving work hours, retirement, exogenous variables, and 1% discount rate. Estimates were generated for 4 broad specialty categories (Primary Care, Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatric Subspecialties, and Other), and for 41 specific specialties. The estimates of lifetime earnings for the broad categories of Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatric Subspecialties, and Other specialties were $1,587,722, $1,099,655, and $761,402 more than for Primary Care. For the 41 specific specialties, the top 3 (with family medicine as reference) were neurological surgery ($2,880,601), medical oncology ($2,772,665), and radiation oncology ($2,659,657). The estimates from models with varying rates of retirement and including only exogenous variables were similar to those in the preferred model. The 1% discount model generated estimates that were roughly 150% larger than the 3% model. There was considerable variation in the lifetime earnings across physician specialties. After accounting for varying residency years and discounting future earnings, primary care specialties earned roughly $1-3 million less than other specialties. Earnings' differences across specialties may undermine health reform efforts to control costs and ensure adequate numbers of primary care physicians.

  5. Nurse-physician communication in the long-term care setting: perceived barriers and impact on patient safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tjia, Jennifer; Mazor, Kathleen M; Field, Terry; Meterko, Vanessa; Spenard, Ann; Gurwitz, Jerry H

    2009-09-01

    Clear and complete communication between health care providers is a prerequisite for safe patient management and is a major priority of the Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals. The goal of this study was to describe nurses' perceptions of nurse-physician communication in the long-term care (LTC) setting. Mixed-method study including a self-administered questionnaire and qualitative semistructured telephone interviews of licensed nurses from 26 LTC facilities in Connecticut. The questionnaire measured perceived openness to communication, mutual understanding, language comprehension, frustration, professional respect, nurse preparedness, time burden, and logistical barriers. Qualitative interviews focused on identifying barriers to effective nurse-physician communication that may not have previously been considered and eliciting nurses' recommendations for overcoming those barriers. Three hundred seventy-five nurses completed the questionnaire, and 21 nurses completed qualitative interviews. Nurses identified several barriers to effective nurse-physician communication: lack of physician openness to communication, logistic challenges, lack of professionalism, and language barriers. Feeling hurried by the physician was the most frequent barrier (28%), followed by finding a quiet place to call (25%), and difficulty reaching the physician (21%). In qualitative interviews, there was consensus that nurses needed to be brief and prepared with relevant clinical information when communicating with physicians and that physicians needed to be more open to listening. A combination of nurse and physician behaviors contributes to ineffective communication in the LTC setting. These findings have important implications for patient safety and support the development of structured communication interventions to improve quality of nurse-physician communication.

  6. Difficulties faced by family physicians in primary health care centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mumenah, Sahar H; Al-Raddadi, Rajaa M

    2015-01-01

    The aim was to determine the difficulties faced by family physicians, and compare how satisfied those working with the Ministry of Health (MOH) are with their counterparts who work at some selected non-MOH hospitals. An analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH and RC), and 40 MOH primary health care centers across Jeddah. A structured multi-item questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and information on the difficulties family physicians face. The physicians' level of satisfaction and how it was affected by the difficulties was assessed. Women constituted 71.9% of the sample. Problems with transportation formed one of the main difficulties encountered by physicians. Compared to non-MOH physician, a significantly higher proportion of MOH physicians reported unavailability of radiology technicians (P = 0.011) and radiologists (P building maintenance (P < 0.001). Family physicians with the MOH were less satisfied with their jobs compared with non-MOH physicians (P = 0.032). MOH family physicians encountered difficulties relating to staff, services, and infrastructure, which consequently affected their level of satisfaction.

  7. Palliative care professionals' willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zenz, Julia; Tryba, Michael; Zenz, Michael

    2015-11-14

    Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) are highly debated upon particularly in the light of medical advancement and an aging society. Little is known about the professionals' willingness to perform these practices particularly among those engaged in the field of palliative care and pain management. Thus a study was performed among those professionals. An anonymous questionnaire was handed out to all participants of a palliative care congress and a pain symposium in 2013. The questionnaire consisted of 8 questions regarding end of life decisions. Proposed patient vignettes were used. A total of 470 eligible questionnaires were returned, 198 by physicians, 272 by nurses. The response rate was 64 %. The majority of professionals were reluctant to perform euthanasia or PAS: 5.3 % of the respondents would be willing to perform euthanasia on a patient with a terminal illness if asked to do so. The reluctance grew in case of a patient with a non-terminal illness. The respondents were more willing to perform PAS than euthanasia. Nurses were more reluctant to take action as opposed to the physicians. The majority of the respondents would attempt to treat the patient's symptoms first before considering life-ending measures. As regards any decision making process the majority would consult with a colleague. This is the first German study to ask about the willingness of professionals to take action as regards euthanasia and PAS without biased phrasing. As opposed to the general acceptance that is respectively high, the actual willingness to perform life-ending measures is low. The German debate on physician assisted suicide and its possible legalization should also incorporate clarifications regarding the responsibility who should eventually perform these acts.

  8. A personal letter to an aspiring physician or nurse (or other caring professional).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savett, Laurence A

    2014-01-01

    In a letter to an aspiring physician or nurse, the author describes some of the important dimensions and timeless values of a fulfilling career in health care, the importance of the professional-patient relationship, ways to make an informed career choice, the guidance provided by sound values, and his response to some of the myths about health care careers.

  9. Implementation of an integrated primary care cardiometabolic risk prevention and management network in Montréal: does greater coordination of care with primary care physicians have an impact on health outcomes?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvie Provost

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Chronic disease management requires substantial services integration. A cardiometabolic risk management program inspired by the Chronic Care Model was implemented in Montréal for patients with diabetes or hypertension. One of this study's objectives was to assess the impact of care coordination between the interdisciplinary teams and physicians on patient participation in the program, lifestyle improvements and disease control. Methods: We obtained data on health outcomes from a register of clinical data, questionnaires completed by patients upon entry into the program and at the 12-month mark, and we drew information on the program's characteristics from the implementation analysis. We conducted multiple regression analyses, controlling for patient sociodemographic and health characteristics to measure the association between interdisciplinary team coordination with primary care physicians and various health outcomes. Results: A total of 1689 patients took part in the study (60.1% participation rate. Approximately 40% of patients withdrew from the program during the first year. At the 12-month follow-up (n = 992, we observed a significant increase in the proportion of patients achieving the various clinical targets. The perception by the interdisciplinary team of greater care coordination with primary care physicians was associated with increased participation in the program and the achievement of better clinical results. Conclusion: Greater coordination of patient services between interdisciplinary teams and primary care physicians translates into benefits for patients.

  10. Implementation of an integrated primary care cardiometabolic risk prevention and management network in Montréal: does greater coordination of care with primary care physicians have an impact on health outcomes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Provost, Sylvie; Pineault, Raynald; Grimard, Dominique; Pérez, José; Fournier, Michel; Lévesque, Yves; Desforges, Johanne; Tousignant, Pierre; Borgès Da Silva, Roxane

    2017-04-01

    Chronic disease management requires substantial services integration. A cardiometabolic risk management program inspired by the Chronic Care Model was implemented in Montréal for patients with diabetes or hypertension. One of this study's objectives was to assess the impact of care coordination between the interdisciplinary teams and physicians on patient participation in the program, lifestyle improvements and disease control. We obtained data on health outcomes from a register of clinical data, questionnaires completed by patients upon entry into the program and at the 12-month mark, and we drew information on the program's characteristics from the implementation analysis. We conducted multiple regression analyses, controlling for patient sociodemographic and health characteristics, to measure the association between interdisciplinary team coordination with primary care physicians and various health outcomes. A total of 1689 patients took part in the study (60.1% participation rate). Approximately 40% of patients withdrew from the program during the first year. At the 12-month follow-up (n = 992), we observed a significant increase in the proportion of patients achieving the various clinical targets. The perception by the interdisciplinary team of greater care coordination with primary care physicians was associated with increased participation in the program and the achievement of better clinical results. Greater coordination of patient services between interdisciplinary teams and primary care physicians translates into benefits for patients.

  11. Impact of physician-less pediatric critical care transport: Making a decision on team composition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawaguchi, Atsushi; Nielsen, Charlene C; Saunders, L Duncan; Yasui, Yutaka; de Caen, Allan

    2018-06-01

    To explore the impact of a physician non-accompanying pediatric critical care transport program, and to identify factors associated with the selection of specific transport team compositions. Children transported to a Canadian academic children's hospital were included. Two eras (Physician-accompanying Transport (PT)-era: 2000-07 when physicians commonly accompanied the transport team; and Physician-Less Transport (PLT)-era: 2010-15 when a physician non-accompanying team was increasingly used) were compared with respect to transport and PICU outcomes. Transport and patient characteristics for the PLT-era cohort were examined to identify factors associated with the selection of a physician accompanying team, with multivariable logistic regression with triage physicians as random effects. In the PLT-era (N=1177), compared to the PT-era (N=1490) the probability of PICU admission was significantly lower, and patient outcomes including mortality were not significantly different. Associations were noted between the selection of a physician non-accompanying team and specific transport characteristics. There was appreciable variability among the triage physicians for the selection of a physician non-accompanying team. No significant differences were observed with increasing use of a physician non-accompanying team. Selection of transport team compositions was influenced by clinical and system factors, but appreciable variation still remained among triage physicians. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. A Model for Physician Leadership Development and Succession Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubinsky, Isser; Feerasta, Nadia; Lash, Rick

    2015-01-01

    Although the presence of physicians in formal leadership positions has often been limited to roles of department chiefs, MAC chairs, etc., a growing number of organizations are recruiting physicians to other leadership positions (e.g., VP, CEO) where their involvement is being genuinely sought and valued. While physicians have traditionally risen to leadership positions based on clinical excellence or on a rotational basis, truly effective physician leadership that includes competencies such as strategic planning, budgeting, mentoring, network development, etc., is essential to support organizational goals, improve performance and overall efficiency as well as ensuring the quality of care. In this context, the authors have developed a physician leader development and succession planning matrix and supporting toolkit to assist hospitals in identifying and nurturing the next generation of physician leaders.

  13. Investigating performance of rural family physicians in Fars province working as part of Family Physician Program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mansour Kashfi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background & Objective: Health family physician program is a complete system which eliminates the bewilderment of people and increases the satisfaction with health services as its most important results in medical care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of family physicians and their strengths and weaknesses. Material & Methods: In this study, 52 family physicians were chosen via Random Stratified Sampling to participate in the study. A questionnaire titled “Performance of Family Physicians” with 5 domains of management, performance, contract guidelines, community involvement and results was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS-19 via t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and non-parametric tests. Results: Among the 52 studied family physicians, 56.9% were female and 43.1% were male. The lowest and the highest scores were obtained for the community involvement and results, respectively. Based on the results of this study, there were significant relationships among most of the domains. However, there was no significant correlation between the gender and different domains. Conclusion: In order to solve the problems of family physician program and improve the quality of services, more researches should be carried out soon to determine the types and causes of referring to the family physicians. Accordingly, appropriate interventions should be implemented to reduce the burden of visits and improve the quality of health services by guiding the society towards the prevention measures.

  14. U.K. physicians' attitudes toward active voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickinson, George E; Lancaster, Carol J; Clark, David; Ahmedzai, Sam H; Noble, William

    2002-01-01

    A comparison of the views of geriatric medicine physicians and intensive care physicians in the United Kingdom on the topics of active voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide revealed rather different attitudes. Eighty percent of geriatricians, but only 52% of intensive care physicians, considered active voluntary euthanasia as never justified ethically. Gender and age did not play a major part in attitudinal differences of the respondents. If the variability of attitudes of these two medical specialties are anywhere near illustrative of other physicians in the United Kingdom, it would be difficult to formulate and implement laws and policies concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide. In addition, ample safeguards would be required to receive support from physicians regarding legalization.

  15. Physician Compare

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Physician Compare, which meets Affordable Care Act of 2010 requirements, helps you search for and select physicians and other healthcare professionals enrolled in...

  16. Michigan Pharmacists Transforming Care and Quality: Developing a Statewide Collaborative of Physician Organizations and Pharmacists to Improve Quality of Care and Reduce Costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choe, Hae Mi; Lin, Alexandra Tungol; Kobernik, Kathleen; Cohen, Marc; Wesolowicz, Laurie; Qureshi, Nabeel; Leyden, Tom; Share, David A; Darland, Rozanne; Spahlinger, David A

    2018-04-01

    Inappropriate drug use, increasing complexity of drug regimens, continued pressure to control costs, and focus on shared accountability for clinical measures drive the need to leverage the medication expertise of pharmacists in direct patient care. A statewide strategy based on the collaboration of pharmacists and physicians regarding patient care was developed to improve disease state management and medication-related outcomes. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) partnered with Michigan Medicine to develop and implement a statewide provider-payer program called Michigan Pharmacists Transforming Care and Quality (MPTCQ), which integrates pharmacists within physician practices throughout the state of Michigan. As the MPTCQ Coordinating Center, Michigan Medicine established an infrastructure integrating clinical pharmacists into direct patient care within patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices and provides direction and guidance for quality and process improvement across physician organizations (POs) and their affiliated physician practices. The primary goal of MPTCQ is to improve patient care and outcomes related to Medicare star ratings and HEDIS measures through integration of clinical pharmacists into direct patient care. The short-term goal is to adopt and modify Michigan Medicine's integrated pharmacist practice model at participating POs, with the long-term goal of developing a sustainable model of pharmacist integration at each PO to improve patient care and outcomes. Initially, pharmacists are delivering disease management (diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia) and comprehensive medication review services with future plans to expand clinical services. In 2015, 10 POs participated in year 1 of the program. In collaboration with the MPTCQ Coordinating Center, each PO identified 1 "pharmacist transformation champion" (PTC). The PTC implemented the integrated pharmacist model at 2 or 3 practice sites with at least 2 practicing physicians per

  17. The top five research priorities in physician-provided pre-hospital critical care: a consensus report from a European research collaboration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lockey David

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Physician-manned emergency medical teams supplement other emergency medical services in some countries. These teams are often selectively deployed to patients who are considered likely to require critical care treatment in the pre-hospital phase. The evidence base for guidelines for pre-hospital triage and immediate medical care is often poor. We used a recognised consensus methodology to define key priority areas for research within the subfield of physician-provided pre-hospital critical care. Methods A European expert panel participated in a consensus process based upon a four-stage modified nominal group technique that included a consensus meeting. Results The expert panel concluded that the five most important areas for further research in the field of physician-based pre-hospital critical care were the following: Appropriate staffing and training in pre-hospital critical care and the effect on outcomes, advanced airway management in pre-hospital care, definition of time windows for key critical interventions which are indicated in the pre-hospital phase of care, the role of pre-hospital ultrasound and dispatch criteria for pre-hospital critical care services. Conclusion A modified nominal group technique was successfully used by a European expert group to reach consensus on the most important research priorities in physician-provided pre-hospital critical care.

  18. Prescription opioid use and misuse: piloting an educational strategy for rural primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastava, Anita; Kahan, Meldon; Jiwa, Ashifa

    2012-04-01

    To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a multifaceted educational intervention to improve the opioid prescribing practices of rural family physicians in a remote First Nations community. Prospective cohort study. Sioux Lookout, Ont. Family physicians. Eighteen family physicians participated in a 1-year study of a series of educational interventions on safe opioid prescribing. Interventions included a main workshop with a lecture and interactive case discussions, an online chat room, video case conferencing, and consultant support. Responses to questionnaires at baseline and after 1 year on knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to opioid prescribing. The main workshop was feasible and was well received by primary care physicians in remote communities. At 1 year, physicians were less concerned about getting patients addicted to opioids and more comfortable with opioid dosing. Multifaceted education and consultant support might play an important role in improving family physician comfort with opioid prescribing, and could improve the treatment of chronic pain while minimizing the risk of addiction.

  19. Using the theory of reasoned action to model retention in rural primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feeley, Thomas Hugh

    2003-01-01

    Much research attention has focused on medical students', residents', and physicians' decisions to join a rural practice, but far fewer studies have examined retention of rural primary care physicians. The current review uses Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to organize the literature on the predictors and correlates of retention of rural practicing physicians. TRA suggests turnover behavior is directly predicted by one's turnover intentions, which are, in turn, predicted by one's attitudes about rural practice and perceptions of salient others' (eg, spouse's) attitudes about rural practice and rural living. Narrative literature review of scholarship in predicting and understanding predictors and correlates of rural physician retention. The TRA model provides a useful conceptual model to organize the literature on rural physician retention. Physicians' subjective norms regarding rural practice are an important source of influence in the decision to remain or leave one's position, and this relation should be more fully examined in future research.

  20. Knowledge, Perceptions, and Communication about Colorectal Cancer Screening among Chinese American Primary Care Physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenchi Liang D.D.S., Ph.D.

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective To assess Chinese American primary care physicians’ knowledge, attitude, and barriers to recommending colorectal cancer (CRC screening to their Chinese American patients. Methods Chinese American primary care physicians serving Chinese American patients in two metropolitan areas were invited to complete a mailed survey on CRC screening knowledge, attitudes toward shared decision making and CRC screening, and CRC screening recommendation patterns. Results About half of the 56 respondents did not know CRC incidence and mortality figures for Chinese Americans. Those aged 50 and younger, graduating from U.S. medical schools, or working in non-private settings had higher knowledge scores ( p < 0.01. Physicians graduating from U.S. medical schools had more favorable attitudes toward shared decision making ( p < 0.01. Lack of health insurance, inconsistent guidelines, and insufficient time were the most frequently cited barriers to recommending CRC screening. Conclusions Most Chinese American physicians had knowledge, attitude, and communication barriers to making optimal CRC screening recommendations.

  1. [Opinion of primary care physicians from Ourense on various features of the pharmaceutical prescription].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz Grávalos, G J; Palmeiro Fernández, G; Núnñez Masid, E; Casado Górriz, I

    2001-01-01

    To learn the opinion of the primary care Physicians of Ourense (Spain) with respect to certain aspects of their prescription of medicines, such as their awareness of the price of drugs, the induced prescribing perceived, their relationship with the pharmaceutical industry and their opinions concerning possible measures for reducing the expenditure on medicines. In this transversal descriptive study, all of the primary care physicians in the province of Ourense (243) were surveyed by means of a previously-approved questionnaire sent to them by post. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics of the physicians, the influence of cost when prescribing medicines, their estimate of the price of 15 drugs routinely prescribed and their opinion on different aspects relating to induced prescription, the pharmaceutical industry and different strategies in order to curtail the expenditure on medicines. In order to analyze the results, the chi 2 and Student's t tests and an analysis of the variance were used, together with the Spearman correlation coefficient with alpha = 0.05. The level of participation of the physicians surveyed was 42.8% (104). The average daily duration of visits by pharmaceutical company representatives was 13.6 minutes, with new specialities being the topic of greatest interest. Close to 27% admitted to having participated in clinical testing sponsored by the industry. 23% considered the price to be a priority when prescribing. Induced prescription accounted for 39.7% of the total. The majority of physicians chose co-payment as the means for reducing expenditure on medicines. In the estimate of prices, the overall percentage of error was 45.7%, underestimating the more expensive medicines and overestimating the less expensive. There is a significant lack of awareness of the price of drugs among the primary care physicians. Most of the physicians do not feel that the price of a drug should be a priority when prescribing medicines. There is a

  2. Physician-assisted suicide and/or euthanasia: Pragmatic implications for palliative care [corrected].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Peter; Hudson, Rosalie; Philip, Jennifer; Boughey, Mark; Kelly, Brian; Hertogh, Cees

    2015-10-01

    Despite the availability of palliative care in many countries, legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) continues to be debated-particularly around ethical and legal issues--and the surrounding controversy shows no signs of abating. Responding to EAS requests is considered one of the most difficult healthcare responsibilities. In the present paper, we highlight some of the less frequently discussed practical implications for palliative care provision if EAS were to be legalized. Our aim was not to take an explicit anti-EAS stance or expand on findings from systematic reviews or philosophical and ethico-legal treatises, but rather to offer clinical perspectives and the potential pragmatic implications of legalized EAS for palliative care provision, patients and families, healthcare professionals, and the broader community. We provide insights from our multidisciplinary clinical experience, coupled with those from various jurisdictions where EAS is, or has been, legalized. We believe that these issues, many of which are encountered at the bedside, must be considered in detail so that the pragmatic implications of EAS can be comprehensively considered. Increased resources and effort must be directed toward training, research, community engagement, and ensuring adequate resourcing for palliative care before further consideration is given to allocating resources for legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

  3. Benefits of High-Intensity Intensive Care Unit Physician Staffing under the Affordable Care Act

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sachin Logani

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama, with its value-based purchasing program, is designed to link payment to quality processes and outcomes. Treatment of critically ill patients represents nearly 1% of the gross domestic product and 25% of a typical hospital budget. Data suggest that high-intensity staffing patterns in the intensive care unit (ICU are associated with cost savings and improved outcomes. We evaluate the literature investigating the cost-effectiveness and clinical outcomes of high-intensity ICU physician staffing as recommended by The Leapfrog Group (a consortium of companies that purchase health care for their employees and identify ways to overcome barriers to nationwide implementation of these standards. Hospitals that have implemented the Leapfrog initiative have demonstrated reductions in mortality and length of stay and increased cost savings. High-intensity staffing models appear to be an immediate cost-effective way for hospitals to meet the challenges of health care reform.

  4. Oncologists' perspectives on post-cancer treatment communication and care coordination with primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klabunde, C N; Haggstrom, D; Kahn, K L; Gray, S W; Kim, B; Liu, B; Eisenstein, J; Keating, N L

    2017-07-01

    Post-treatment cancer care is often fragmented and of suboptimal quality. We explored factors that may affect cancer survivors' post-treatment care coordination, including oncologists' use of electronic technologies such as e-mail and integrated electronic health records (EHRs) to communicate with primary care physicians (PCPs). We used data from a survey (357 respondents; participation rate 52.9%) conducted in 2012-2013 among medical oncologists caring for patients in a large US study of cancer care delivery and outcomes. Oncologists reported their frequency and mode of communication with PCPs, and role in providing post-treatment care. Seventy-five per cent said that they directly communicated with PCPs about post-treatment status and care recommendations for all/most patients. Among those directly communicating with PCPs, 70% always/usually used written correspondence, while 36% always/usually used integrated EHRs; telephone and e-mail were less used. Eighty per cent reported co-managing with PCPs at least one post-treatment general medical care need. In multivariate-adjusted analyses, neither communication mode nor intensity were associated with co-managing survivors' care. Oncologists' reliance on written correspondence to communicate with PCPs may be a barrier to care coordination. We discuss new research directions for enhancing communication and care coordination between oncologists and PCPs, and to better meet the needs of cancer survivors post-treatment. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. The Effect of Physician Delegation to Other Health Care Providers on the Quality of Care for Geriatric Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lichtenstein, Brian J.; Reuben, David B.; Karlamangla, Arun S.; Han, Weijuan; Roth, Carol P.; Wenger, Neil S.

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVES to examine the effects of delegation on quality of care that patients receive for three common geriatric conditions: dementia, falls, and incontinence. DESIGN pooled analysis of 8 the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) projects from 1998 to 2010. SETTING 15 ambulatory practice sites across the United States PARTICIPANTS 4,776 patients age ≥ 65 years, of mixed demographic backgrounds who participated in ACOVE studies. INTERVENTION multivariate analysis of prior ACOVE observation and intervention studies was conducted, with in addition to two retrospectively defined variables: “intent to delegate” and “maximum delegation” for each ACOVE quality indicator (QI). MEASUREMENTS The primary outcome for the study was QI pass probability, by level of delegation, for 47 ACOVE quality indicators. RESULTS A total of 4,776 patients were evaluated, with 16,204 QIs included for analysis. Across all studies, QI pass probabilities were 0.36 for physician-performed tasks; 0.55 for nurse practitioner (NP), physician assistant (PA), and registered nurse (RN)-performed tasks; and 0.61 for medical assistant (MA), or licensed vocational nurse (LVN)-performed tasks. In multiply adjusted models, the independent pass-probability effect of delegation to NPs, PAs, or RNs was 1.37 (p = 0.055) CONCLUSIONS Delegation to non-physician providers is associated with higher quality of care for geriatric conditions in community practices and supports the value of interdisciplinary team management for common outpatient conditions among older adults. PMID:26480977

  6. Service Users' Involvement and Engagement in Interprofessional Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaini, B K

    2016-01-01

    Interprofessional care is joint working between health care professionals by pooling their skills, knowledge and expertise, to make joint decisions and learn from each other for the benefits of service users and healthcare professionals. Service users involvement is considered as one of the important aspects of planning, management and decision making process in the delivery of health care to service users. Service users' involvement is not the same as public involvement and partnership arrangements in health care. The active involvement and engagement of service users in health care positively contributes to improve quality of care, to promote better health and to shape the future of health services. Service users are always at the centre of health care professionals' values, work ethics and roles. Moreover, service users centred interprofessional team collaboration is very important to deliver effective health services.

  7. Communication and Decision-Making About End-of-Life Care in the Intensive Care Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Laura Anne; Manias, Elizabeth; Nicholson, Patricia

    2017-07-01

    Clinicians in the intensive care unit commonly face decisions involving withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining therapy, which present many clinical and ethical challenges. Communication and shared decision-making are key aspects relating to the transition from active treatment to end-of-life care. To explore the experiences and perspectives of nurses and physicians when initiating end-of-life care in the intensive care unit. The study was conducted in a 24-bed intensive care unit in Melbourne, Australia. An interpretative, qualitative inquiry was used, with focus groups as the data collection method. Intensive care nurses and physicians were recruited to participate in a discipline-specific focus group. Focus group discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and subjected to thematic data analysis. Five focus groups were conducted; 17 nurses and 11 physicians participated. The key aspects discussed included communication and shared decision-making. Themes related to communication included the timing of end-of-life care discussions and conducting difficult conversations. Implementation and multidisciplinary acceptance of end-of-life care plans and collaborative decisions involving patients and families were themes related to shared decision-making. Effective communication and decision-making practices regarding initiating end-of-life care in the intensive care unit are important. Multidisciplinary implementation and acceptance of end-of-life care plans in the intensive care unit need improvement. Clear organizational processes that support the introduction of nurse and physician end-of-life care leaders are essential to optimize outcomes for patients, family members, and clinicians. ©2017 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

  8. Nurses' involvement in the care of patients requesting euthanasia: a review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Bal, Nele; Gastmans, Chris; Dierckx de Casterlè, Bernadette

    2008-04-01

    The aim of this paper is to thoroughly examine the involvement and experiences of nurses in the care of mentally competent, adult patients requesting euthanasia (i.e. administration of lethal drugs by someone other than the person concerned with the explicit intention of ending a patient's life, at the latter's explicit request) by means of a literature review. A keyword search was used to identify relevant journal articles and books published between 1990 and 2007. Manual searches of review article bibliographies were also conducted as well as searches of archives and collections of key journals. The electronic databases Medline, Cinahl, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Invert were searched using a combination of keywords and carefully constructed inclusion criteria. Forty-two publications of empirical research were identified and included in the present study after critical appraisal. The included publications represented 35 separated studies (20 quantitative, 11 qualitative and 4 mixed-method publications) and 28 different research samples. Analysis of these studies revealed that nurses across diverse geographic and clinical settings play a major role in caring for and showing a personal interest in patients requesting euthanasia. The nurses' feelings about euthanasia and their involvement are extremely complex. Descriptions of personal conflict, moral uncertainty, frustration, fear, secrecy,and guilt appear to reflect a complex array of personal and professional values as well as social, religious, and legal rules. Nurses can make a significant contribution to the quality of care by assisting and counseling patients and their families, physicians, and their nursing colleagues in a professional manner, even in countries where euthanasia is not legal. However, research on nurses' involvement in euthanasia has methodological and terminological problems,leading to our recommendation for more carefully designed qualitative studies

  9. Use of humour in primary care: different perceptions among patients and physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granek-Catarivas, M; Goldstein-Ferber, S; Azuri, Y; Vinker, S; Kahan, E

    2005-02-01

    (1) To explore the frequency with which humorous behaviour and statements occur in family medicine practice in Israel, and (2) to quantitatively assess the correlation between the subjective perceptions of humour in medical encounters between patients and physicians. In a cross sectional study, two populations (doctors and patients) were surveyed with paired structured questionnaires completed immediately after primary care practice visits. Two hundred and fifty consecutive encounters from 15 practices were sampled. The physician questionnaire was self administered, and patient questionnaire was administered by a trained research assistant. A mean of 16.7 questionnaires was completed per physician (range 6-20). The physicians reported having used some humour in only 95 encounters (38%), whereas almost 60% of patients agreed with the statement, "The doctor used some humour during the visit". At the same time, for specific encounters, the agreement between patients' perception and physicians' perceptions on the use of humour, although not completely by chance (p = 0.04), is low (kappa = 0.115). Patient characteristics (age, education, gender, family status, mother tongue, self perceived heath status, stress, mood, and expectations) were not related to the degree of agreement between the patients' and physicians' perceptions. Humour was used in a large proportion of encounters, independently of patient characteristics. Patients seem to be more sensitised to humour than physicians, probably because of their high stress level during medical encounters. Cultural differences may also play a part. Physicians should be made aware of this magnifying effect, and the issue should be discussed in medical schools.

  10. Perspectives on the value of advanced medical imaging: a national survey of primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Christine M; Kramer, Erich; Colamonico, Jennifer; Duszak, Richard

    2015-05-01

    To understand perceptions of primary care physicians (PCPs) about the value of advanced medical imaging. A national quantitative survey of 500 PCPs was conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire. Questions focused on advanced medical imaging (CT, MRI, and PET) and its perceived impact on the delivery of patient care. Responses were stratified by physician demographics. Large majorities of the PCPs indicated that advanced imaging increases their diagnostic confidence (441; 88%); provides data not otherwise available (451; 90%); permits better clinical decision making (440; 88%); increases confidence in treatment choices (438; 88%), and shortens time to definitive diagnosis (430; 86%]). Most (424; 85%) believe that patient care would be negatively affected without access to advanced imaging. PCPs whose clinical careers predated the proliferation of advanced imaging modalities (>20 years of practice) assigned higher value to advanced imaging on several dimensions compared with younger physicians whose training overlapped widespread technology availability. By a variety of metrics, large majorities of PCPs believe that advanced medical imaging provides considerable value to patient care. Those whose careers predated the widespread availability of advanced imaging tended to associate it with even higher value. Copyright © 2015 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. How physician and community pharmacist perceptions of the community pharmacist role in Australian primary care influence the quality of collaborative chronic disease management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieck, Allison; Pettigrew, Simone

    2013-01-01

    Community pharmacists (CPs) have been changing their role to focus on patient-centred services to improve the quality of chronic disease management (CDM) in primary care. However, CPs have not been readily included in collaborative CDM with other primary care professionals such as physicians. There is little understanding of the CP role change and whether it affects the utilisation of CPs in primary care collaborative CDM. To explore physician and CP perceptions of the CP's role in Australian primary care and how these perceptions may influence the quality of physician/CP CDM programmes. Data were collected from physicians and CPs using semi-structured interviews. A qualitative methodology utilising thematic analysis was employed during data analysis. Qualitative methodology trustworthiness techniques, negative case analysis and member checking were utilised to substantiate the resultant themes. A total of 22 physicians and 22 CPs were interviewed. Strong themes emerged regarding the participant perceptions of the CP's CDM role in primary care. The majority of interviewed physicians perceived that CPs did not have the appropriate CDM knowledge to complement physician knowledge to provide improved CDM compared with what they could provide on their own. Most of the interviewed CPs expressed a willingness and capability to undertake CDM; however, they were struggling to provide sustainable CDM in the business setting within which they function in the primary care environment. Role theory was selected as it provided the optimum explanation of the resultant themes. First, physician lack of confidence in the appropriateness of CP CDM knowledge causes physicians to be confused about the role CPs would undertake in a collaborative CDM that would benefit the physicians and their patients. Thus, by increasing physician awareness of CP CDM knowledge, physicians may see CPs as suitable CDM collaborators. Second, CPs are experiencing role conflict and stress in trying to change

  12. [Job satisfaction among primary care physicians at the IMSS].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valderrama-Martínez, José Arturo; Dávalos-Díaz, Guillermina

    2009-01-01

    To know factors related to job satisfaction among primary care Physicians from the Mexican Social Security Institute. Cross-sectional survey applied to physicians of outpatient visit areas in four Family Medicine Units in Leon, Guanajuato, from February to May 2007. The survey explored six areas. We used 95% confidence intervals and One-Way ANOVA to compare means among clinics and Chi square and OR'95% confidence intervals to compare proportions. One hundred sixty physicians participated (response rate 88.9%), three were excluded. Most physicians were satisfied with their work (86%). Half of the doctors feel satisfied with their economic benefits (48%), non-economic benefits (52%), and those from the collective bargaining agreement (53%), as well as with the labor union (46%) and their actual insurances (45%). Only one third or less of participants refer to receive incentives (31%) or recognitions for their work (33%), were satisfied with the opportunities for training (31%), the economic incentives (29%), or the salary (24%). The satisfaction's means of work, benefits, insurances, labor union and collective bargaining agreement were significantly higher than the means of salary and economic incentives. Satisfaction means were significantly higher in Clinic #53 than in Clinic #51 for job satisfaction and opportunities for training, as well as percentages of response in institutional support, incentives and recognitions for their work, were higher in Clinic 53 compared to all other clinics; however, it's the smallest clinic in this study. Family doctors find satisfaction in their practice, and factors such as institutional support, recognition and incentives may improve their general job satisfaction.

  13. Involvement of palliative care in euthanasia practice in a context of legalized euthanasia: A population-based mortality follow-back study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dierickx, Sigrid; Deliens, Luc; Cohen, Joachim; Chambaere, Kenneth

    2018-01-01

    In the international debate about assisted dying, it is commonly stated that euthanasia is incompatible with palliative care. In Belgium, where euthanasia was legalized in 2002, the Federation for Palliative Care Flanders has endorsed the viewpoint that euthanasia can be embedded in palliative care. To examine the involvement of palliative care services in euthanasia practice in a context of legalized euthanasia. Population-based mortality follow-back survey. Physicians attending a random sample of 6871 deaths in Flanders, Belgium, in 2013. People requesting euthanasia were more likely to have received palliative care (70.9%) than other people dying non-suddenly (45.2%) (odds ratio = 2.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.5-2.9)). The most frequently indicated reasons for non-referral to a palliative care service in those requesting euthanasia were that existing care already sufficiently addressed the patient's palliative and supportive care needs (56.5%) and that the patient did not want to be referred (26.1%). The likelihood of a request being granted did not differ between cases with or without palliative care involvement. Palliative care professionals were involved in the decision-making process and/or performance of euthanasia in 59.8% of all euthanasia deaths; this involvement was higher in hospitals (76.0%) than at home (47.0%) or in nursing homes (49.5%). In Flanders, in a context of legalized euthanasia, euthanasia and palliative care do not seem to be contradictory practices. A substantial proportion of people who make a euthanasia request are seen by palliative care services, and for a majority of these, the request is granted.

  14. Recruiting and retaining primary care physicians in urban underserved communities: the importance of having a mission to serve.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odom Walker, Kara; Ryan, Gery; Ramey, Robin; Nunez, Felix L; Beltran, Robert; Splawn, Robert G; Brown, Arleen F

    2010-11-01

    We examined factors influencing physician practice decisions that may increase primary care supply in underserved areas. We conducted in-depth interviews with 42 primary care physicians from Los Angeles County, California, stratified by race/ethnicity (African American, Latino, and non-Latino White) and practice location (underserved vs nonunderserved area). We reviewed transcriptions and coded them into themes by using standard qualitative methods. Three major themes emerged in relation to selecting geographic- and population-based practice decisions: (1) personal motivators, (2) career motivators, and (3) clinic support. We found that subthemes describing personal motivators (e.g., personal mission and self-identity) for choosing a practice were more common in responses among physicians who worked in underserved areas than among those who did not. By contrast, physicians in nonunderserved areas were more likely to cite work hours and lifestyle as reasons for selecting their current practice location or for leaving an underserved area. Medical schools and shortage-area clinical practices may enhance strategies for recruiting primary care physicians to underserved areas by identifying key personal motivators and may promote long-term retention through work-life balance.

  15. Specialty, political affiliation, and perceived social responsibility are associated with U.S. physician reactions to health care reform legislation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antiel, Ryan M; James, Katherine M; Egginton, Jason S; Sheeler, Robert D; Liebow, Mark; Goold, Susan Dorr; Tilburt, Jon C

    2014-02-01

    Little is known about how U.S. physicians’ political affiliations, specialties, or sense of social responsibility relate to their reactions to health care reform legislation. To assess U.S. physicians’ impressions about the direction of U.S. health care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), whether that legislation will make reimbursement more or less fair, and examine how those judgments relate to political affiliation and perceived social responsibility. A cross-sectional, mailed, self-reported survey. Simple random sample of 3,897 U.S.physicians. Views on the ACA in general, reimbursement under the ACA in particular, and perceived social responsibility. Among 2,556 physicians who responded (RR2: 65 %), approximately two out of five (41 %) believed that the ACA will turn U.S. health care in the right direction and make physician reimbursement less fair (44 %). Seventy-two percent of physicians endorsed a general professional obligation to address societal health policy issues, 65 % agreed that every physician is professionally obligated to care for the uninsured or underinsured, and half (55 %) were willing to accept limits on coverage for expensive drugs and procedures for the sake of expanding access to basic health care. In multivariable analyses, liberals and independents were both substantially more likely to endorse the ACA (OR 33.0 [95 % CI, 23.6–46.2]; OR 5.0 [95 % CI, 3.7–6.8], respectively), as were physicians reporting a salary (OR 1.7 [95 % CI, 1.2–2.5])or salary plus bonus (OR 1.4 [95 % CI, 1.1–1.9)compensation type. In the same multivariate models, those who agreed that addressing societal health policy issues are within the scope of their professional obligations (OR 1.5 [95 % CI, 1.0–2.0]), who believe physicians are professionally obligated to care for the uninsured / under-insured (OR 1.7 [95 % CI,1.3–2.4]), and who agreed with limiting coverage for expensive drugs and procedures to expand insurance coverage (OR 2.3 [95 % CI, 1.8

  16. Effect of communication style and physician-family relationships on satisfaction with pediatric chronic disease care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swedlund, Matthew P; Schumacher, Jayna B; Young, Henry N; Cox, Elizabeth D

    2012-01-01

    Over 8% of children have a chronic disease and many are unable to adhere to treatment. Satisfaction with chronic disease care can impact adherence. We examine how visit satisfaction is associated with physician communication style and ongoing physician-family relationships. We collected surveys and visit videos for 75 children ages 9-16 years visiting for asthma, diabetes, or sickle cell disease management. Raters assessed physician communication style (friendliness, interest, responsiveness, and dominance) from visit videos. Quality of the ongoing relationship was measured with four survey items (parent-physician relationship, child-physician relationship, comfort asking questions, and trust in the physician), while a single item assessed satisfaction. Correlations and chi square were used to assess association of satisfaction with communication style or quality of the ongoing relationship. Satisfaction was positively associated with physician to parent (p relationships (p communication style and the quality of the ongoing relationship contribute to pediatric chronic disease visit satisfaction.

  17. Increasing Military Physician Productivity in a Managed Care Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-07-13

    allows us to obtain to a common denominator, or one single rating even though the services are dissimilar and the input units are not "weighted." Serway ...many ideas as possible to catalyze the process. In removing barriers to productivity in the work environment, a thorough analysis of the physical ...physician and the organization has increased. The whole text of the book "Doctor’s Decisions and the Cost of Medical Care" is dedicated to this concept

  18. Pregnancy Options Counseling and Abortion Referrals Among US Primary Care Physicians: Results From a National Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holt, Kelsey; Janiak, Elizabeth; McCormick, Marie C; Lieberman, Ellice; Dehlendorf, Christine; Kajeepeta, Sandhya; Caglia, Jacquelyn M; Langer, Ana

    2017-07-01

    Primary care physicians (PCPs) can play a critical role in addressing unintended pregnancy through high-quality options counseling and referrals. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,000 PCPs in general, family, and internal medicine on practices and opinions related to options counseling for unintended pregnancy. We assessed predictors of physician practices using multivariable logistic regression weighted for sampling design and differential non-response. Response rate was 29%. Seventy-one percent believed residency training in options counseling should be required, and 69% believed PCPs have an obligation to provide abortion referrals even in the presence of a personal objection to abortion. However, only 26% reported routine options counseling when caring for women with unintended pregnancy compared to 60% who routinely discuss prenatal care. Among physicians who see women seeking abortion, 62% routinely provide referrals, while 14% routinely attempt to dissuade women. Family physicians were more likely to provide routine options counseling when seeing patients with unintended pregnancy than internal medicine physicians (32% vs 21%, P=0.002). In multivariable analyses, factors associated with higher odds of routine abortion referrals were more years in practice (OR=1.03 for each additional year, 95% CI: 1.00-1.05), identifying as a woman vs a man (OR=2.11, 95% CI: 1.31-3.40), practicing in a hospital vs private primary care/multispecialty setting (OR=3.17, 95% CI: 1.10-9.15), and no religious affiliation of practice vs religious affiliation (OR for Catholic affiliation=0.27, 95% CI: 0.11-0.66; OR for other religious affiliation=0.36, 95% CI: 0.15-0.83). Personal Christian religious affiliation among physicians who regularly attend religious services vs no religious affiliation was associated with lower odds of counseling (OR=0.48, 95% CI: 0.26-0.90) and referrals (OR=0.31, 95% CI: 0.15-0.62), and higher odds of abortion dissuasion (OR=4.03, 95

  19. The physician assistant workforce in Indiana: preparing to meet future health care needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Jennifer; Zorn, Jennifer; Gjerde, Tom; Burkhart, Jennifer; Rosebrock, Lori

    2011-12-01

    This study identifies baseline demographic and descriptive statistics for physician assistants (PAs) in Indiana from 1978 to 2010. Data were obtained from Indiana Professional Licensing Agency applications, the Indiana State Department of Health, and PA educational programs. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the PA workforce as well as their supervising physicians. Most PAs working in Indiana were born and educated outside the state. Of those educated in Indiana, 77% obtained an initial license in Indiana; as of May 2010, 62% were still licensed in the state. In the past 8 years, Indiana had a 97% increase in active licensed PAs. Only 24% of PAs work in primary care; 92% work in metropolitan areas. For 40 years, PAs have increasingly worked in areas that are medically underserved or experiencing a shortage of health professionals. However, the overall numbers of PAs working in those areas remain low. More PAs in Indiana are practicing in medical specialties than in primary care. As health care policy and regulatory changes evolve, future studies will be needed to understand the impact on the health care workforce of Indiana PAs. This study will serve as a baseline for those studies.

  20. Administrative skills for academy physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aluise, J J; Schmitz, C C; Bland, C J; McArtor, R E

    To function effectively within the multifaceted environment of the academic medical center, academic physicians need to heighten their understanding of the economics of the health care system, and further develop their leadership and managerial skills. A literature base on organizational development and management education is now available, which addresses the unique nature of the professional organization, including academic medical centers. This article describes an administration development curriculum for academic physicians. Competency statements, instructional strategies, and references provide health care educators with a model for developing administrative skills programs for academic physicians and other health care professionals. The continuing success of the academic medical center as a responsive health care system may depend on the degree to which academic physicians and their colleagues in other fields gain sophistication in self-management and organizational administration. Health care educators can apply the competencies and instructional strategies offered in this article to administrative development programs for physicians and other health professionals in their institutions.

  1. The Leapfrog initiative for intensive care unit physician staffing and its impact on intensive care unit performance: a narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gasperino, James

    2011-10-01

    The field of critical care has changed markedly in recent years to accommodate a growing population of chronically critically ill patients. New administrative structures have evolved to include divisions, departments, and sections devoted exclusively to the practice of critical care medicine. On an individual level, the ability to manage complex multisystem critical illnesses and to introduce invasive monitoring devices defines the intensivist. On a systems level, critical care services managed by an intensivist-led multidisciplinary team are now recognized by their ability to efficiently utilize hospital resources and improve patient outcomes. Due to the numerous cost and quality issues related to the delivery of critical care medicine, intensive care unit physician staffing (IPS) has become a charged subject in recent years. Although the federal government has played a large role in regulating best practices by physicians, other third parties have entered the arena. Perhaps the most influential of these has been The Leapfrog Group, a consortium representing 130 employers and 65 Fortune 500 companies that purchase health care for their employees. This group has proposed specific regulatory guidelines for IPS that are purported to result in substantial cost containment and improved quality of care. This narrative review examines the impact of The Leapfrog Group's recommendations on critical care delivery in the United States. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Sports medicine in The Netherlands: consultation with a sports physician without referral by a general practitioner

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    de Bruijn MC

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Matthijs C de Bruijn,1 Boudewijn J Kollen,2 Frank Baarveld21Center for Sports Medicine, 2Department of General Practice, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The NetherlandsBackground: In The Netherlands, sports medicine physicians are involved in the care of about 8% of all sports injuries that occur each year. Some patients consult a sports physician directly, without being referred by a general practitioner. This study aims to determine how many patients consult a sports physician directly, and to explore differences in the profiles of these patients compared with those who are referred.Methods: This was an exploratory cross-sectional study in which all new patients presenting with an injury to a regional sports medical center during September 2010 were identified. The characteristics of patients who self-referred and those who were referred by other medical professionals were compared.Results: A total of 234 patients were included (mean age 33.7 years, 59.1% male. Most of the injuries occurred during soccer and running, particularly injuries of the knee and ankle. In this cohort, 39.3% of patients consulted a sports physician directly. These patients were significantly more often involved in individual sports, consulted a sports physician relatively rapidly after the onset of injury, and had received significantly less care before this new event from medical professionals compared with patients who were referred.Conclusion: In this study, 39.3% of patients with sports injuries consulted a sports physician directly without being referred by another medical professional. The profile of this group of patients differed from that of patients who were referred. The specific roles of general practitioners and sports physicians in medical sports care in The Netherlands needs to be defined further.Keywords: sports injuries, sports medicine physician, primary care, secondary care

  3. Patient involvement in Danish health care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vrangbaek, Karsten

    2015-01-01

    PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to investigate different types of patient involvement in Denmark, and to discuss the potential implications of pursuing several strategies for patient involvement simultaneously. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper presents a preliminary framework for anal......PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to investigate different types of patient involvement in Denmark, and to discuss the potential implications of pursuing several strategies for patient involvement simultaneously. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper presents a preliminary framework...... for analysis of patient involvement in health care. This framework is used to analyze key governance features of patient involvement in Denmark based on previous research papers and reports describing patient involvement in Danish health care. FINDINGS: Patient involvement is important in Denmark...... be identified when pursuing the strategies at the same time. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed framework further. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The paper includes...

  4. Transfers from intensive care unit to hospital ward: a multicentre textual analysis of physician progress notes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Kyla N; Leigh, Jeanna Parsons; Kamran, Hasham; Bagshaw, Sean M; Fowler, Rob A; Dodek, Peter M; Turgeon, Alexis F; Forster, Alan J; Lamontagne, Francois; Soo, Andrea; Stelfox, Henry T

    2018-01-28

    Little is known about documentation during transitions of patient care between clinical specialties. Therefore, we examined the focus, structure and purpose of physician progress notes for patients transferred from the intensive care unit (ICU) to hospital ward to identify opportunities to improve communication breaks. This was a prospective cohort study in ten Canadian hospitals. We analyzed physician progress notes for consenting adult patients transferred from a medical-surgical ICU to hospital ward. The number, length, legibility and content of notes was counted and compared across care settings using mixed-effects linear regression models accounting for clustering within hospitals. Qualitative content analyses were conducted on a stratified random sample of 32 patients. A total of 447 patient medical records that included 7052 progress notes (mean 2.1 notes/patient/day 95% CI 1.9-2.3) were analyzed. Notes written by the ICU team were significantly longer than notes written by the ward team (mean lines of text 21 vs. 15, p notes; mean agreement of patient issues was 42% [95% CI 31-53%]. Qualitative analyses identified eight themes related to focus (central point - e.g., problem list), structure (organization, - e.g., note-taking style), and purpose (intention - e.g., documentation of patient course) of the notes that varied across clinical specialties and physician seniority. Important gaps and variations in written documentation during transitions of patient care between ICU and hospital ward physicians are common, and include discrepancies in documentation of patient information.

  5. Understanding the private worlds of physicians, nurses, and parents: a study of life-sustaining treatment decisions in Italian paediatric critical care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnevale, Franco A; Benedetti, Monica; Bonaldi, Amabile; Bravi, Elena; Trabucco, Gaetano; Biban, Paolo

    2011-12-01

    This study's aim was to describe: (a) How life-sustaining treatment (LST) decisions are made for critically ill children in Italy; and (b) How these decisional processes are experienced by physicians, nurses and parents. Focus groups with 16 physicians and 26 nurses, and individual interviews with 9 parents were conducted. Findings uncovered the 'private worlds' of paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) physicians, nurses and parents; they all suffer tremendously and privately. Physicians struggle with the weight of responsibility and solitude in making LST decisions. Nurses struggle with feelings of exclusion from decisions regarding patients and families that they care for. Physicians and nurses are distressed by legal barriers to LST withdrawal. Parents struggle with their dependence on physicians and nurses to provide care for their child and strive to understand what is happening to their child. Features of helpful and unhelpful communication with parents are highlighted, which should be considered in educational and practice changes.

  6. Primary care physicians' reported use of pre-screening discussions for prostate cancer screening: a cross-sectional survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linder, Suzanne K; Hawley, Sarah T; Cooper, Crystale P; Scholl, Lawrence E; Jibaja-Weiss, Maria; Volk, Robert J

    2009-03-18

    Professional medical organizations recommend individualized patient decision making about prostate cancer screening. Little is known about primary care physicians' use of pre-screening discussions to promote informed decision making for prostate cancer screening. The aim of this study is to explore physicians' use of pre-screening discussions and reasons why physicians would or would not try to persuade patients to be screened if they initially refuse testing. Primary care physicians completed a self-administered survey about prostate cancer screening practices for informed decision making. Sixty-six physicians (75.9%) completed the survey, and 63 were used in the analysis. Thirteen physicians (20.6%) reported not using prescreening discussions, 45 (71.4%) reported the use of prescreening discussions, and 3 (4.8%) reported neither ordering the PSA test nor discussing it with patients. Sixty-nine percent of physicians who reported not having discussions indicated they were more likely to screen African American patients for prostate cancer, compared to 50% of physicians who reported the use of discussions (Chi-square(1) = 1.62, p = .20). Similarly, 91% of physicians who reported not having discussions indicated they are more likely to screen patients with a family history of prostate cancer, compared to 46% of those who reported the use of discussion (Chi-square(1) = 13.27, p practice styles. Future research needs to consider the nature of discussions and the degree to which informed decision making is being achieved in clinical practice.

  7. [The self-perception of their professional role of the primary care physicians of Estonia and Finland].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virjo, I O; Mattila, K J; Lember, M; Kermes, R; Pikk, A; Isokoski, M K

    1997-05-15

    To find out how experienced primary care physicians working in different societies see themselves as doctors. A cross-sectional study. Primary health care in Estonia and Finland. Estonian district doctors (n = 110) and Finnish specialists of general practice (n = 211). In a postal questionnaire the respondents were asked to evaluate how well 18 different expressions described them as doctors on a 5-step scale from "1 = very poorly" to "5 = very well". Four of the five expressions that were thought most accurate and telling--"Listener", "Vocational doctor", "Helper", and "Family physician"--were the same in Estonia and Finland. Even though there are differences in health care systems, the self-images of primary care doctors in both countries were more or less consistent with the international definitions of the general practitioner's job and role.

  8. Perspectives of family medicine physicians on the importance of adolescent preventive care: a multivariate analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jaime L; Aalsma, Matthew C; Gilbert, Amy L; Hensel, Devon J; Rickert, Vaughn I

    2016-01-20

    The study objective was to identify commonalities amongst family medicine physicians who endorse annual adolescent visits. A nationally weighted representative on-line survey was used to explore pediatrician (N = 204) and family medicine physicians (N = 221) beliefs and behaviors surrounding adolescent wellness. Our primary outcome was endorsement that adolescents should receive annual preventive care visits. Pediatricians were significantly more likely (p family medicine physicians, bivariate comparisons were conducted between those who endorsed an annual visit (N = 164) compared to those who did not (N = 57) with significant predictors combined into two multivariate logistic regression models. Model 1 controlled for: patient race, proportion of 13-17 year olds in provider's practice, discussion beliefs scale and discussion behaviors with parents scale. Model 2 controlled for the same first three variables as well as discussion behaviors with adolescents scale. Model 1 showed for each discussion beliefs scale topic selected, family medicine physicians had 1.14 increased odds of endorsing annual visits (p family medicine physicians had 1.15 increased odds of also endorsing the importance of annual visits (p Family medicine physicians that endorse annual visits are significantly more likely to affirm they hold strong beliefs about topics that should be discussed during the annual exam. They also act on these beliefs by talking to parents of teens about these topics. This group appears to focus on quality of care in thought and deed.

  9. Physicians' fees and public medical care programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, R H; Hadley, J

    1981-01-01

    In this article we develop and estimate a model of physicians' pricing that explicitly incorporates the effects of Medicare and Medicaid demand subsidies. Our analysis is based on a multiperiod model in which physicians are monopolistic competitors supplying services to several markets. The implications of the model are tested using data derived from claims submitted by a cohort of 1,200 California physicians during the years 1972-1975. We conclude that the demand for physician's services is relatively elastic; that increases in the local supply of physicians reduce prices somewhat; that physicians respond strategically to attempts to control prices through the customary-prevailing-reasonable system; and that price controls limit the rate of increase in physicians' prices. The analysis identifies a family of policies that recognize the monopsony power of public programs and may change the cost-access trade-off. PMID:7021479

  10. Burnout of Physicians Working in Primary Health Care Centers under Ministry of Health Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bawakid, Khalid; Mandoura, Najlaa; Shah, Hassan Bin Usman; Ibrahim, Adel; Akkad, Noura Mohammad; Mufti, Fauad

    2017-01-01

    Introduction The levels of physicians' job satisfaction and burnout directly affect their professionalism, punctuality, absenteeism, and ultimately, patients' care. Despite its crucial importance, little is known about professional burnout of the physicians in Saudi Arabia. The objectives of this research are two-fold: (1) To assess the prevalence of burnout in physicians working in primary health care centers under Ministry of Health; and (2) to find the modifiable factors which can decrease the burnout ratio. Methodology Through a cross-sectional study design, a representative sample of the physicians working in primary health care centers (PHCCs) Jeddah (n=246) was randomly selected. The overall burnout level was assessed using the validated abbreviated Maslach burnout inventory (aMBI) questionnaire. It measures the overall burnout prevalence based on three main domains i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Independent sample T-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate regression analysis were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22, IBM, Armonk, NY). Results Overall, moderate to high burnout was prevalent in 25.2% of the physicians. Emotional exhaustion was noted in 69.5%. Multivariate regression analysis showed that patient pressure/violence (p <0.001), unorganized patients flow to clinics (p=0.021), more paperwork (p<0.001), and less co-operative colleague doctors (p=0.045) were the significant predictors for high emotional exhaustion. A positive correlation was noted between the number of patients per day and burnout. The patient’s pressure/violence was the only significant independent predictor of overall burnout. Conclusion Emotional exhaustion is the most prominent feature of overall burnout in the physicians of primary health care centers. The main reasons include patient’s pressure/violence, unorganized patient flow, less cooperative colleague doctors, fewer

  11. Application of total care time and payment per unit time model for physician reimbursement for common general surgery operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatterjee, Abhishek; Holubar, Stefan D; Figy, Sean; Chen, Lilian; Montagne, Shirley A; Rosen, Joseph M; Desimone, Joseph P

    2012-06-01

    The relative value unit system relies on subjective measures of physician input in the care of patients. A payment per unit time model incorporates surgeon reimbursement to the total care time spent in the operating room, postoperative in-house, and clinic time to define payment per unit time. We aimed to compare common general surgery operations by using the total care time and payment per unit time method in order to demonstrate a more objective measurement for physician reimbursement. Average total physician payment per case was obtained for 5 outpatient operations and 4 inpatient operations in general surgery. Total care time was defined as the sum of operative time, 30 minutes per hospital day, and 30 minutes per office visit for each operation. Payment per unit time was calculated by dividing the physician reimbursement per case by the total care time. Total care time, physician payment per case, and payment per unit time for each type of operation demonstrated that an average payment per time spent for inpatient operations was $455.73 and slightly more at $467.51 for outpatient operations. Partial colectomy with primary anastomosis had the longest total care time (8.98 hours) and the least payment per unit time ($188.52). Laparoscopic gastric bypass had the highest payment per time ($707.30). The total care time and payment per unit time method can be used as an adjunct to compare reimbursement among different operations on an institutional level as well as on a national level. Although many operations have similar payment trends based on time spent by the surgeon, payment differences using this methodology are seen and may be in need of further review. Copyright © 2012 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Primary care physicians' reported use of pre-screening discussions for prostate cancer screening: a cross-sectional survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cooper Crystale P

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Professional medical organizations recommend individualized patient decision making about prostate cancer screening. Little is known about primary care physicians' use of pre-screening discussions to promote informed decision making for prostate cancer screening. The aim of this study is to explore physicians' use of pre-screening discussions and reasons why physicians would or would not try to persuade patients to be screened if they initially refuse testing. Methods Primary care physicians completed a self-administered survey about prostate cancer screening practices for informed decision making. Results Sixty-six physicians (75.9% completed the survey, and 63 were used in the analysis. Thirteen physicians (20.6% reported not using prescreening discussions, 45 (71.4% reported the use of prescreening discussions, and 3 (4.8% reported neither ordering the PSA test nor discussing it with patients. Sixty-nine percent of physicians who reported not having discussions indicated they were more likely to screen African American patients for prostate cancer, compared to 50% of physicians who reported the use of discussions (Chi-square(1 = 1.62, p = .20. Similarly, 91% of physicians who reported not having discussions indicated they are more likely to screen patients with a family history of prostate cancer, compared to 46% of those who reported the use of discussion (Chi-square(1 = 13.27, p Conclusion Although guidelines recommend discussing the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening, physicians report varying practice styles. Future research needs to consider the nature of discussions and the degree to which informed decision making is being achieved in clinical practice.

  13. [Familial characteristics and self-perceived health among female and male primary care physicians in Andalusia (Spain)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado, Ana; Saletti-Cuesta, Lorena; López-Fernández, Luis Andrés; Toro-Cárdenas, Silvia

    2013-01-01

    To determine the relationships between a group of professional and family characteristics and the components of physical and mental health in female and male primary care physicians working in health centers in Andalusia (Spain). A descriptive, cross-sectional, multicenter study was performed. The population consisted of urban health centers in Andalusia and their physicians. The sample comprised 88 health centers and 500 physicians. Measurements consisted of sex, age, professional characteristics (postgraduate training in family medicine, position of health center manager, accreditation as a residents' tutor, and workload based on patient quota and the mean number of patients/day); family responsibilities, defined by two dimensions of the family-work relationship (support overload-family support deficit and family-work conflict); and perceived physical and mental health. The data source was a self-administered questionnaire sent by surface mail. Multiple regression analyses were performed for physical and mental health for the whole sample and by gender. Responses were obtained from 368 physicians (73.6%). Mental health was worse in female physicians than in male physicians; no differences were found between genders in physical health. The family-work conflict was associated with physical and mental health in physicians of both genders. Physical health deteriorated with increasing age in both genders, improved in the female tutors of residents, and decreased with increasing family-work conflict in male physicians. Mental health decreased with increasing housework on the weekends and with family-work conflict in both genders. In male physicians, mental health deteriorated with postgraduate training in family medicine and improved if they were health center managers. Workload and professional characteristics have little relationship with the health of primary care physicians. Family characteristics play a greater role. Copyright © 2012 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier

  14. The role of primary care physicians in the Israel Defense Forces: a self-perception study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimlichman, Eyal; Mandel, Dror; Mimouni, Francis B; Vinker, Shlomo; Kochba, Ilan; Kreiss, Yitshak; Lahad, Amnon

    2005-03-01

    The health system of the medical corps of the Israel Defense Force is based primarily upon primary healthcare. In recent years, health management organizations have considered the primary care physician responsible for assessing the overall health needs of the patient and, accordingly, introduced the term "gatekeeper." To describe and analyze how PCPs in the IDF view their roles as primary care providers and to characterize how they perceive the quality of the medical care that they provide. We conducted a survey using a questionnaire that was mailed or faxed to a representative sample of PCPs. The questionnaire included demographic background, professional background, statements on self-perception issues, and ranking of roles as a PCP in the IDF. Statements concerning commitment to the patient were ranked higher than statements concerning commitment to the military organization. Most physicians perceive the quality of the medical care service that they provide as high; they also stated that they do not receive adequate continuous medical education. Our survey shows that PCPs in the IDF, like civilian family physicians, perceive their primary obligation as serving the needs of their patients but are yet to take on the full role of "gatekeepers" in the IDF's healthcare system. We conclude that the Medical Corps should implement appropriate steps to ensure that PCPs are prepared to take on a more prominent role as "gatekeepers" and providers of high quality primary medical care.

  15. Physician anger: Leggo dem managed care blues--leadership beyond the era of managed cost.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirz, H L

    1999-01-01

    While managed care has caused great disruption, it has also provided physician executives with a natural leadership raison d'être. Managed care, with all its pros and cons, is largely a response to certain unrelenting trends. The core functions of leaders comprise the stewardship of organizations and colleagues in response to these trends. Four trends are explored: (1) The demise of open-ended funding of American health care; (2) continued competition for health care resources; (3) thriving pluralism; and (4) patients continually adjusting to assure themselves of appropriate health care access, quality, and service. In the 21st century, the industry will need a new brand of leader, one capable of balancing the needs of the professionals with the business and accountability requirements of a permanently competitive and resource-constrained service industry. The keys to successful leadership in the future include: (1) Clear service differentiation and a compelling vision to match it; (2) recruiting and retaining top clinical talent, including the required return to physician self-direction and governance; (3) successful partnerships with others outside your organization; and (4) a steady focus on performance in all its dimensions.

  16. Training in male sexual and reproductive health for a primary care physician.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaiful, Bi

    2008-01-01

    In 2006, I was awarded a scholarship from Universiti Sains Malaysia for Fellowship training at Monash University (MU) for one year. The objective of the training programme was to develop knowledge and skills in several areas, including androgen deficiency, male infertility, prostate disease, testicular tumours, sexual dysfunction and sexually transmitted diseases. The training programme consisted of attachments with clinical specialists, completion of a course work module and a research project. After completion of the training programme, I believe that Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) will benefit from undertaking the training programme that I had completed. It will enable PCPs to assume leadership roles in this multidisciplinary area. The ability of PCPs in handling sexual and reproductive health issues in men will definitely be a more cost effective form of care for patients, particularly as the number of specialists is limited, and even more importantly, it will be satisfying for the patient and the physician.

  17. TRAINING IN MALE SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH FOR A PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SHAIFUL BI

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In 2006, I was awarded a scholarship from Universiti Sains Malaysia for Fellowship training at Monash University (MU for one year. The objective of the training programme was to develop knowledge and skills in several areas, including androgen deficiency, male infertility, prostate disease, testicular tumours, sexual dysfunction and sexually transmitted diseases. The training programme consisted of attachments with clinical specialists, completion of a course work module and a research project. After completion of the training programme, I believe that Primary Care Physicians (PCPs will benefit from undertaking the training programme that I had completed. It will enable PCPs to assume leadership roles in this multidisciplinary area. The ability of PCPs in handling sexual and reproductive health issues in men will definitely be a more cost effective form of care for patients, particularly as the number of specialists is limited, and even more importantly, it will be satisfying for the patient and the physician.

  18. Knowledge and attitudes of primary care physicians in the management of patients at risk for cardiovascular events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Turakhia Mintu P

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Adherence to clinical practice guidelines for management of cardiovascular disease (CVD is suboptimal. The purposes of this study were to identify practice patterns and barriers among U.S. general internists and family physicians in regard to cardiovascular risk management, and examine the association between physician characteristics and cardiovascular risk management. Methods A case vignette survey focused on cardiovascular disease risk management was distributed to a random sample of 12,000 U.S. family physicians and general internists between November and December 2006. Results Responses from a total of 888 practicing primary care physicians who see 60 patients per week were used for analysis. In an asymptomatic patient at low risk for cardiovascular event, 28% of family physicians and 37% of general internists made guideline-based preventive choices for no antiplatelet therapy (p Conclusion Despite the benefits demonstrated for managing cardiovascular risks, gaps remain in primary care practitioners' management of risks according to guideline recommendations. Innovative educational approaches that address barriers may facilitate the implementation of guideline-based recommendations in CVD risk management.

  19. Physicians and Insider Trading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kesselheim, Aaron S; Sinha, Michael S; Joffe, Steven

    2015-12-01

    Although insider trading is illegal, recent high-profile cases have involved physicians and scientists who are part of corporate governance or who have access to information about clinical trials of investigational products. Insider trading occurs when a person in possession of information that might affect the share price of a company's stock uses that information to buy or sell securities--or supplies that information to others who buy or sell--when the person is expected to keep such information confidential. The input that physicians and scientists provide to business leaders can serve legitimate social functions, but insider trading threatens to undermine any positive outcomes of these relationships. We review insider-trading rules and consider approaches to securities fraud in the health care field. Given the magnitude of the potential financial rewards, the ease of concealing illegal conduct, and the absence of identifiable victims, the temptation for physicians and scientists to engage in insider trading will always be present. Minimizing the occurrence of insider trading will require robust education, strictly enforced contractual provisions, and selective prohibitions against high-risk conduct, such as participation in expert consulting networks and online physician forums, by those individuals with access to valuable inside information.

  20. Determinants of customer satisfaction with the health care system, with the possibility to choose a personal physician and with a family doctor in a transition country.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersnik, J

    2001-08-01

    Many Eastern and Central European counties are reforming their health care systems. The aim of this study was to determine customer satisfaction with a reformed health care system, with the possibility of free choice of a family physician and patient satisfaction with the family physician in Slovenia and their major determinants. We used a postal survey of the patients who attended their family physician's offices during the study period. We obtained an 84% response rate. Some 72.9% of the respondents were satisfied with the current organisation of health care services, 95.5% of the respondents were satisfied with the possibility of choosing their own family physician and 58% of participants were very satisfied with the level of care received from their personal family practitioners. It was shown that higher patient satisfaction with the family physician was the most powerful predictor of patients' satisfaction with the health care system. The results show that health care reform in Slovenia has a positive impact on the consumers' perceptions of health care quality, measured in terms of consumer satisfaction with the health care system, the possibility to choose a family physician and the overall satisfaction with the family physician.

  1. Nurses' and physicians' perceptions of Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit for delirium detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oxenbøll-Collet, Marie; Egerod, Ingrid; Christensen, Vibeke

    2018-01-01

    of this study was to identify nurses' and physicians' perceived professional barriers to using the CAM-ICU in Danish ICUs. Methods: This study uses a qualitative explorative multicentre design using focus groups and a semi-structured interview guide. Five focus groups with nurses (n=20) and four with physicians......-ICU screening affected nursing care, clinical judgment and professional integrity; (2) Instrument reliability: nurses and physicians expressed concerns about CAM-ICU assessment in non-sedated patients, patients with multi-organ failure or patients influenced by residual sedatives/opioids; and (3) Clinical...... consequence: after CAM-ICU assessment, physicians lacked evidence-based treatment options, and nurses lacked physician acknowledgment and guidelines for disclosing CAM-ICU results to patients. Conclusion: In this study, ICU nurses and physicians raised a number of concerns regarding the use of the CAM...

  2. Direct-to-consumer advertising: physicians' views of its effects on quality of care and the doctor-patient relationship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Elizabeth; Lo, Bernard; Pollack, Lance; Donelan, Karen; Lee, Ken

    2003-01-01

    The objective of the study was to determine physicians' views of the effects of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) on health service utilization, quality of care, and the doctor-patient relationship. Cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of US physicians to determine their perceptions of the effects of patients discussing information from DTCA on time efficiency; requests for specific interventions; health outcomes; and the doctor-patient relationship. Physicians reported that more than half (56%) of patients who discussed information from DTCA in a visit did so because they wanted a specific intervention, such as a test, change in medication, or specialist referral. The physician deemed 49% of these requests clinically inappropriate. Physicians filled 69% of requests they deemed clinically inappropriate; 39% of physicians perceived DTCA as damaging to the time efficiency of the visit, and 13% saw it as helpful. Thirty-three percent of physicians thought discussing DTCA had improved the doctor-patient relationship; 8% felt it had worsened it. The effect on the relationship was strongly associated with doing what the patient wanted. DTCA can have good and bad effects on quality of care, the doctor-patient relationship, and health service utilization. The benefits might be maximized, and the harms minimized, by increasing the accuracy of information in advertisements; enhancing physicians' communication and negotiation skills; and encouraging patients to respect physicians' clinical expertise.

  3. A Survey of Hospice and Palliative Care Physicians Regarding Palliative Sedation Practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lux, Michael R; Protus, Bridget McCrate; Kimbrel, Jason; Grauer, Phyllis

    2017-04-01

    Patients nearing the end of life may experience symptoms that are refractory to standard therapeutic options. Physicians may consider palliative sedation to relieve intolerable suffering. There is limited clinical literature regarding preferred medications for palliative sedation. To determine the preferred medications physicians use when implementing palliative sedation. An Internet-based, cross-sectional survey of hospice and palliative care physicians in the United States. A link to the survey was e-mailed to 3130 physician members of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, of which 381 physicians completed the survey. Physicians were not required to answer all questions. Nearly all (n = 335, 99%) respondents indicated that palliative sedation may be used (acceptable by 73% [n = 248] for refractory symptoms and acceptable by 26% [n = 87] only for imminently dying patients). Seventy-nine percent (n = 252) believed that opioids should not be used to induce palliative sedation but should be continued to provide pain control. Midazolam was the most commonly selected first-line choice for palliative sedation (n = 155, 42%). The most commonly reported second-line agents for the induction of palliative sedation were lorazepam, midazolam (for those who did not select midazolam as first-line agent), and phenobarbital with a reported preference of 20% (n = 49), 19% (n = 46), and 17% (n = 40), respectively. Of the physicians surveyed, 99% (n = 335) felt that palliative sedation is a reasonable treatment modality. Midazolam was considered a drug of choice for inducing and maintaining sedation, and opioids were continued for pain control.

  4. [Being cared for and caring: living with multiple chronic diseases (Leila)-a qualitative study about APN contributions to integrated care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller-Staub, Maria; Zigan, Nicole; Händler-Schuster, Daniela; Probst, Sebastian; Monego, Renate; Imhof, Lorenz

    2015-04-01

    Living with multiple chronic diseases is complex and leads to enhanced care needs. To foster integrated care a project called "Living with chronic disease" (Leila) was initiated. The aim was to develop an Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) service in collaboration with medical centers for persons who are living with multiple chronic diseases. The following research questions were addressed: 1. What are patients' experiences, referring physicians and APNs with the Leila-Service? 2. How are referral processes performed? 3. How do the involved groups experience collaboration and APN role development? A qualitative approach according grounded theory of Corbin and Strauss was used to explore the experiences with the Leila project and the interaction of the persons involved. 38 interviews were conducted with patients who are living with multiple chronic diseases, their APN's and the referring physicians. The findings revealed "Being cared for and caring" as main category. The data demonstrated how patients responded to their involvement into care and that they were taken as serious partners in the care process. The category "organizing everyday life" describes how patients learned to cope with the consequences of living with multiple chronic diseases. "Using all resources" as another category demonstrates how capabilities and strengths were adopted. The results of the cooperation- and allocation processes showed that the APN recognition and APN role performance have to be negotiated. Prospective APN-services for this patient population should be integrated along with physician networks and other service providers including community health nursing.

  5. Factors associated with father involvement in infant care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falceto, Olga G; Fernandes, Carmen L; Baratojo, Claudia; Giugliani, Elsa R J

    2008-12-01

    To identify factors associated with the lack of active father involvement in infant care at four months of age. Cross-sectional study involving families of 153 infants at four months of age, interviewed in their homes by two family therapists. In addition to father involvement in infant care, sociodemographic, parental mental health (using the Self Report Questionnaire-20 scale and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria assessment) and quality of couple relationship characteristics (using the Assessment of Relational Functioning from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) were analyzed. Poisson regression was employed to assess the association between lack of father involvement in child care and the variables selected. Prevalence ratio was used to estimate the magnitude of associations. Fathers of 13% of infants had no contact with their children. Among families whose parents lived together (78% of all), 33% of the fathers reported not actively participating in their children's care. Problematic couple relationship and mother as a housewife were associated with lack of father involvement in infant care. High prevalence of families whose father is not actively involved with infant care, especially when couple relationship is problematic and the mother does not have a paid job.

  6. Involvement of palliative care in euthanasia practice in a context of legalized euthanasia: A population-based mortality follow-back study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dierickx, Sigrid; Deliens, Luc; Cohen, Joachim; Chambaere, Kenneth

    2017-01-01

    Background: In the international debate about assisted dying, it is commonly stated that euthanasia is incompatible with palliative care. In Belgium, where euthanasia was legalized in 2002, the Federation for Palliative Care Flanders has endorsed the viewpoint that euthanasia can be embedded in palliative care. Aim: To examine the involvement of palliative care services in euthanasia practice in a context of legalized euthanasia. Design: Population-based mortality follow-back survey. Setting/participants: Physicians attending a random sample of 6871 deaths in Flanders, Belgium, in 2013. Results: People requesting euthanasia were more likely to have received palliative care (70.9%) than other people dying non-suddenly (45.2%) (odds ratio = 2.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.5–2.9)). The most frequently indicated reasons for non-referral to a palliative care service in those requesting euthanasia were that existing care already sufficiently addressed the patient’s palliative and supportive care needs (56.5%) and that the patient did not want to be referred (26.1%). The likelihood of a request being granted did not differ between cases with or without palliative care involvement. Palliative care professionals were involved in the decision-making process and/or performance of euthanasia in 59.8% of all euthanasia deaths; this involvement was higher in hospitals (76.0%) than at home (47.0%) or in nursing homes (49.5%). Conclusion: In Flanders, in a context of legalized euthanasia, euthanasia and palliative care do not seem to be contradictory practices. A substantial proportion of people who make a euthanasia request are seen by palliative care services, and for a majority of these, the request is granted. PMID:28849727

  7. Integration of public health and primary care: A systematic review of the current literature in primary care physician mediated childhood obesity interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhuyan, Soumitra S; Chandak, Aastha; Smith, Patti; Carlton, Erik L; Duncan, Kenric; Gentry, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Childhood obesity, with its growing prevalence, detrimental effects on population health and economic burden, is an important public health issue in the United States and worldwide. There is need for expansion of the role of primary care physicians in obesity interventions. The primary aim of this review is to explore primary care physician (PCP) mediated interventions targeting childhood obesity and assess the roles played by physicians in the interventions. A systematic review of the literature published between January 2007 and October 2014 was conducted using a combination of keywords like "childhood obesity", "paediatric obesity", "childhood overweight", "paediatric overweight", "primary care physician", "primary care settings", "healthcare teams", and "community resources" from MEDLINE and CINAHL during November 2014. Author name(s), publication year, sample size, patient's age, study and follow-up duration, intervention components, role of PCP, members of the healthcare team, and outcomes were extracted for this review. Nine studies were included in the review. PCP-mediated interventions were composed of behavioural, education and technological interventions or a combination of these. Most interventions led to positive changes in Body Mass Index (BMI), healthier lifestyles and increased satisfaction among parents. PCPs participated in screening and diagnosing, making referrals for intervention, providing nutrition counselling, and promoting physical activity. PCPs, Dietitians and nurses were often part of the healthcare team. PCP-mediated interventions have the potential to effectively curb childhood obesity. However, there is a further need for training of PCPs, and explain new types of interventions such as the use of technology. Copyright © 2015 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. [Reducing stress levels and anxiety in primary-care physicians through training and practice of a mindfulness meditation technique].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franco Justo, Clemente

    2010-11-01

    To check the effectiveness of a mindfulness development meditation technique on stress and anxiety in a group of primary-care physicians. Quasi-experimental with pretest/posttest/follow-up measurements in a control group and an experimental group. SITE: University of Almeria. 38 primary-care physicians enrolled in a Teaching Aptitude Course (CAP). An experimental group and a control group were formed with 19 participants in each. The experimental group took a psycho-educational meditation program for training and practice in mindfulness. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Strain Questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire were used to measure stress and anxiety levels. A comparative statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney non-parametric U test, finding a significant reduction in all the primary-care physician stress and anxiety variables in the experimental group compared to the control group in pretest-posttest and follow-up tests. The results of this study support the effectiveness of mindfulness development meditation techniques in decreasing stress and anxiety in primary-care physicians. Nevertheless, the study shows various limitations that would have to be corrected in successive studies to bring more validity to the results. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

  9. Impact of Medical Scribes on Physician and Patient Satisfaction in Primary Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pozdnyakova, Anastasia; Laiteerapong, Neda; Volerman, Anna; Feld, Lauren D; Wan, Wen; Burnet, Deborah L; Lee, Wei Wei

    2018-04-26

    Use of electronic health records (EHRs) is associated with physician stress and burnout. While emergency departments and subspecialists have used scribes to address this issue, little is known about the impact of scribes in academic primary care. Assess the impact of a scribe on physician and patient satisfaction at an academic general internal medicine (GIM) clinic. Prospective, pre-post-pilot study. During the 3-month pilot, physicians had clinic sessions with and without a scribe. We assessed changes in (1) physician workplace satisfaction and burnout, (2) time spent on EHR documentation, and (3) patient satisfaction. Six GIM faculty and a convenience sample of their patients (N = 325) at an academic GIM clinic. A 21-item pre- and 44-item post-pilot survey assessed physician workplace satisfaction and burnout. Physicians used logs to record time spent on EHR documentation outside of clinic hours. A 27-item post-visit survey assessed patient satisfaction during visits with and without the scribe. Of six physicians, 100% were satisfied with clinic workflow post-pilot (vs. 33% pre-pilot), and 83% were satisfied with EHR use post-pilot (vs. 17% pre-pilot). Physician burnout was low at baseline and did not change post-pilot. Mean time spent on post-clinic EHR documentation decreased from 1.65 to 0.76 h per clinic session (p = 0.02). Patient satisfaction was not different between patients who had clinic visits with vs. without scribe overall or by age, gender, and race. Compared to patients 65 years or older, younger patients were more likely to report that the physician was more attentive and provided more education during visits with the scribe present (p = 0.03 and 0.02, respectively). Male patients were more likely to report that they disliked having a scribe (p = 0.03). In an academic GIM setting, employment of a scribe was associated with improved physician satisfaction without compromising patient satisfaction.

  10. General practitioners versus other physicians in the quality of primary care: a cross-sectional study in Guangdong Province, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Yaming; Zhang, Xiao; Hao, Yuantao; Shi, Leiyu; Hu, Ruwei

    2015-10-09

    The primary care in China can be provided by general practitioners (GPs) and other physicians (non-GPs). However, China's general practice system has never been really established. Chinese patients tend to consider the quality of primary care provided by GPs much lower than that of non-GPs. Besides, many GPs presently prefer leaving their own positions and seeking better development in big hospitals, which has made the already weak GP system weaker. Yet, few studies have specially compared the quality of primary care provided by Chinese GPs and other physicians and no studies have explored the independent predictors of Chinese GPs' intentions to stay on their current job. In this study, we aimed to compare the quality of primary care offered by GPs with non-GPs and to explore the independent predictors of GPs' future work intentions. This cross-sectional study applied multi-stage random cluster sampling methodology. The data were collected from November 2013 to September 2014 in Guangdong Province. In total, 401 effective questionnaires were selected from the physicians. Quality of primary care was assessed using the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) Provider Part, representing six primary care domains: ongoing care, coordination (i.e., referrals and information systems), comprehensiveness (i.e., service available and service provided), family-centeredness, community orientation and cultural competence. Of 401 participating physicians, 163 (40.6 %) were GPs. The total PCAT score was 26.32 ± 2.24 which was the sum score of the six domains and represent the quality of primary care. GPs achieved significantly different total scores and scores on three individual scales: comprehensiveness: service available, comprehensiveness: service provided and community orientation. Multiple linear regressions revealed GPs had a higher total score and scores for comprehensiveness: service provided and community orientation after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics

  11. Physicians' accounts of frontline tensions when implementing pilot projects to improve primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mansfield, Elizabeth; Bhattacharyya, Onil; Christian, Jennifer; Naglie, Gary; Steriopoulos, Vicky; Webster, Fiona

    2018-03-19

    Purpose Canada's primary care system has been described as "a culture of pilot projects" with little evidence of converting successful initiatives into funded, permanent programs or sharing project outcomes and insights across jurisdictions. Health services pilot projects are advocated as an effective strategy for identifying promising models of care and building integrated care partnerships in local settings. In the qualitative study reported here, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the strengths and challenges of this approach. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 primary care physicians who discussed their experiences as pilot project leads. Following thematic analysis methods, broad system issues were captured as well as individual project information. Findings While participants often portrayed themselves as advocates for vulnerable patients, mobilizing healthcare organizations and providers to support new models of care was discussed as challenging. Competition between local healthcare providers and initiatives could impact pilot project success. Participants also reported tensions between their clinical, project management and research roles with additional time demands and skill requirements interfering with the work of implementing and evaluating service innovations. Originality/value Study findings highlight the complexity of pilot project implementation, which encompasses physician commitment to addressing care for vulnerable populations through to the need for additional skill set requirements and the impact of local project environments. The current pilot project approach could be strengthened by including more multidisciplinary collaboration and providing infrastructure supports to enhance the design, implementation and evaluation of health services improvement initiatives.

  12. Higher fees paid to US physicians drive higher spending for physician services compared to other countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laugesen, Miriam J; Glied, Sherry A

    2011-09-01

    Higher health care prices in the United States are a key reason that the nation's health spending is so much higher than that of other countries. Our study compared physicians' fees paid by public and private payers for primary care office visits and hip replacements in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also compared physicians' incomes net of practice expenses, differences in financing the cost of medical education, and the relative contribution of payments per physician and of physician supply in the countries' national spending on physician services. Public and private payers paid somewhat higher fees to US primary care physicians for office visits (27 percent more for public, 70 percent more for private) and much higher fees to orthopedic physicians for hip replacements (70 percent more for public, 120 percent more for private) than public and private payers paid these physicians' counterparts in other countries. US primary care and orthopedic physicians also earned higher incomes ($186,582 and $442,450, respectively) than their foreign counterparts. We conclude that the higher fees, rather than factors such as higher practice costs, volume of services, or tuition expenses, were the main drivers of higher US spending, particularly in orthopedics.

  13. mHealth App for iOS to Help in Diagnostic Decision in Ophthalmology to Primary Care Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, Marta Manovel; López, Miguel Maldonado; de la Torre Díez, Isabel; Jimeno, José Carlos Pastor; López-Coronado, Miguel

    2017-05-01

    Decision support systems (DSS) are increasingly demanded due that diagnosis is one of the main activities that physicians accomplish every day. This fact seems critical when primary care physicians deal with uncommon problems belonging to specialized areas. The main objective of this paper is the development and user evaluation of a mobile DSS for iOS named OphthalDSS. This app has as purpose helping in anterior segment ocular diseases' diagnosis, besides offering educative content about ophthalmic diseases to users. For the deployment of this work, firstly it has been used the Apple IDE, Xcode, to develop the OphthalDSS mobile application using Objective-C as programming language. The core of the decision support system implemented by OphthalDSS is a decision tree developed by expert ophthalmologists. In order to evaluate the Quality of Experience (QoE) of primary care physicians after having tried the OphthalDSS app, a written inquiry based on the Likert scale was used. A total of 50 physicians answered to it, after trying the app during 1 month in their medical consultation. OphthalDSS is capable of helping to make diagnoses of diseases related to the anterior segment of the eye. Other features of OphthalDSS are a guide of each disease and an educational section. A 70% of the physicians answered in the survey that OphthalDSS performs in the way that they expected, and a 95% assures their trust in the reliability of the clinical information. Moreover, a 75% of them think that the decision system has a proper performance. Most of the primary care physicians agree with that OphthalDSS does the function that they expected, it is a user-friendly and the contents and structure are adequate. We can conclude that OphthalDSS is a practical tool but physicians require extra content that makes it a really useful one.

  14. Physician heal thyself

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Compared to overweight or obese physicians, normal‑weight physicians were significantly more likely to discuss weight loss with their obese patients, according to a study among. 500 primary care physicians, undertaken by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.[4]. A recent, highly accessed ...

  15. The impact of the hospital work environment on social support from physicians in breast cancer care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansmann, Lena; Wirtz, Markus; Kowalski, Christoph; Pfaff, Holger; Visser, Adriaan; Ernstmann, Nicole

    2014-09-01

    Research on determinants of a good patient-physician interaction mainly disregards systemic factors, such as the work environment in healthcare. This study aims to identify stressors and resources within the work environment of hospital physicians that enable or hinder the physicians' provision of social support to patients. Four data sources on 35 German breast cancer center hospitals were matched: structured hospital quality reports and surveys of 348 physicians, 108 persons in hospital leadership, and 1844 patients. Associations between hospital structures, physicians' social resources as well as job demands and control and patients' perceived support from physicians have been studied in multilevel models. Patients feel better supported by their physicians in hospitals with high social capital, a high percentage of permanently employed physicians, and less physically strained physicians. The results highlight the importance of the work environment for a good patient-physician interaction. They can be used to develop interventions for redesigning the hospital work environment, which in turn may improve physician satisfaction, well-being, and performance and consequently the quality of care. Health policy and hospital management could create conditions conducive to better patient-physician interaction by strengthening the social capital and by increasing job security for physicians. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Temporal and subjective work demands in office-based patient care: an exploration of the dimensions of physician work intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, C Jeff; Bolon, Shannon; Elder, Nancy; Schroer, Brian; Matthews, Gerald; Szaflarski, Jerzy P; Raphaelson, Marc; Horner, Ronnie D

    2011-01-01

    Physician work intensity (WI) during office-based patient care affects quality of care and patient safety as well as physician job-satisfaction and reimbursement. Existing, brief work intensity measures have been used in physician studies, but their validity in clinical settings has not been established. Document and describe subjective and temporal WI dimensions for physicians in office-based clinical settings. Examine these in relation to the measurement procedures and dimensions of the SWAT and NASA-TLX intensity measures. A focused ethnographic study using interviews and direct observations. Five family physicians, 5 general internists, 5 neurologists, and 4 surgeons. Through interviews, each physician was asked to describe low and high intensity work responsibilities, patients, and events. To document time and task allotments, physicians were observed during a routine workday. Notes and transcripts were analyzed using the editing method in which categories are obtained from the data. WI factors identified by physicians matched dimensions assessed by standard, generic instruments of work intensity. Physicians also reported WI factors outside of the direct patient encounter. Across specialties, physician time spent in direct contact with patients averaged 61% for office-based services. Brief work intensity measures such as the SWAT and NASA-TLX can be used to assess WI in the office-based clinical setting. However, because these measures define the physician work "task" in terms of effort in the presence of the patient (ie, intraservice time), substantial physician effort dedicated to pre- and postservice activities is not captured.

  17. Generalizable items and modular structure for computerised physician staffing calculation on intensive care units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Manfred; Marx, Gernot; Iber, Thomas

    2017-08-04

    Intensive care medicine remains one of the most cost-driving areas within hospitals with high personnel costs. Under the scope of limited budgets and reimbursement, realistic needs are essential to justify personnel staffing. Unfortunately, all existing staffing models are top-down calculations with a high variability in results. We present a workload-oriented model, integrating quality of care, efficiency of processes, legal, educational, controlling, local, organisational and economic aspects. In our model, the physician's workload solely related to the intensive care unit depends on three tasks: Patient-oriented tasks, divided in basic tasks (performed in every patient) and additional tasks (necessary in patients with specific diagnostic and therapeutic requirements depending on their specific illness, only), and non patient-oriented tasks. All three tasks have to be taken into account for calculating the required number of physicians. The calculation tool further allows to determine minimal personnel staffing, distribution of calculated personnel demand regarding type of employee due to working hours per year, shift work or standby duty. This model was introduced and described first by the German Board of Anesthesiologists and the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine in 2008 and since has been implemented and updated 2012 in Germany. The modular, flexible nature of the Excel-based calculation tool should allow adaption to the respective legal and organizational demands of different countries. After 8 years of experience with this calculation, we report the generalizable key aspects which may help physicians all around the world to justify realistic workload-oriented personnel staffing needs.

  18. Using Nurse Ratings of Physician Communication in the ICU To Identify Potential Targets for Interventions To Improve End-of-Life Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Kathleen J; Downey, Lois; Nielsen, Elizabeth L; Treece, Patsy D; Shannon, Sarah E; Curtis, J Randall; Engelberg, Ruth A

    2016-03-01

    Communication among doctors, nurses, and families contributes to high-quality end-of-life care, but is difficult to improve. Our objective was to identify aspects of communication appropriate for interventions to improve quality of dying in the intensive care unit (ICU). This observational study used data from a cluster-randomized trial of an interdisciplinary intervention to improve end-of-life care at 15 Seattle/Tacoma area hospitals (2003-2008). Nurses completed surveys for patients dying in the ICU. We examined associations between nurse-assessed predictors (physician-nurse communication, physician-family communication) and nurse ratings of patients' quality of dying (nurse-QODD-1). Based on 1173 nurse surveys, four of six physician-nurse communication topics were positively associated with nurse-QODD-1: family questions, family dynamics, spiritual/religious issues, and cultural issues. Discussions between nurses and physicians about nurses' concerns for patients or families were negatively associated. All physician-family communication ratings, as assessed by nurses, were positively associated with nurse-QODD-1: answering family's questions, listening to family, asking about treatments patient would want, helping family decide patient's treatment wishes, and overall communication. Path analysis suggested overall physician-family communication and helping family incorporate patient's wishes were directly associated with nurse-QODD-1. Several topics of physician-nurse communication, as rated by nurses, were associated with higher nurse-rated quality of dying, whereas one topic, nurses' concerns for patient or family, was associated with poorer ratings. Higher nurse ratings of physician-family communication were uniformly associated with higher quality of dying, highlighting the importance of this communication. Physician support of family decision making was particularly important, suggesting a potential target for interventions to improve end-of-life care.

  19. Physician-centered management guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulde, M F

    1999-01-01

    The "Fortune 500 Most Admired" companies fully understand the irreverent premise "the customer comes second" and that there is a direct correlation between a satisfied work force and productivity, service quality, and, ultimately, organizational success. If health care organizations hope to recruit and retain the quality workforce upon which their core competency depends, they must develop a vision strategic plan, organizational structure, and managerial style that acknowledges the vital and central role of physicians in the delivery of care. This article outlines a conceptual framework for effective physician management, a "critical pathway," that will enable health care organizations to add their name to the list of "most admired." The nine principles described in this article are based on a more respectful and solicitous treatment of physicians and their more central directing role in organizational change. They would permit the transformation of health care into a system that both preserves the virtues of the physician-patient relationship and meets the demand for quality and cost-effectiveness.

  20. Walking a fine line: Is it possible to remain an empathic physician and have a hardened heart?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruce W. Newton

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Establishing an empathic physician-patient relationship is an essential physician skill. This chapter discusses the sexually dimorphic aspects of the neural components involved in affective and cognitive empathy, and examines why men and women medical students or physicians express different levels of empathy. Studies reveal levels of medical student affective or cognitive empathy can help reveal which medical specialty a student will enter. The data show students or physicians with higher empathy enter into specialties characterized by large amounts of patient contact and continuity of care; and individuals with lower levels of empathy desire specialties having little or no patient contact and little to no continuity of care.Burnout and stress can decrease the empathy physicians had when they first entered medical school to unacceptable levels. Conversely, having a too empathetic physician can let patient conditions and reactions interfere with the ability to provide effective care. By learning to blunt affective empathic responses, physicians establish a certain degree of empathic detachment with the patient in order to provide objective care. However, a physician must not become so detached and hardened that their conduct appears callous, because it is still important for physicians, especially those in specialties with a large amount of patient contact, to use empathic communication skills.

  1. As good as it gets? Managing risks of cardiovascular disease in California's top-performing physician organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Hector P; Ivey, Susan L; Raffetto, Brian J; Vaughn, Jennifer; Knox, Margae; Hanley, Hattie Rees; Mangione, Carol M; Shortell, Stephen M

    2014-04-01

    The California Right Care Initiative (RCI) accelerates the adoption of evidence-based guidelines and improved care management practices for conditions for which the gap between science and practice is significant, resulting in preventable disability and death. Medical directors and quality improvement leaders from 11 of the 12 physician organizations that met the 2010 national 90th percentile performance benchmarks for control of hyperlipidemia and glycated hemoglobin in 2011 were interviewed in 2012. Interviews, as well as surveys, assessed performance reporting and feedback to individual physicians; medication management protocols; team-based care management; primary care team huddles; coordination of care between primary care clinicians and specialists; implementation of shared medical appointments; and telephone visits for high-risk patients. All but 1 of 11 organizations implemented electronic health records. Electronic information exchange between primary care physicians and specialists, however, was uncommon. Few organizations routinely used interdisciplinary team approaches, shared medical appointments, or telephonic strategies for managing cardiovascular risks among patients. Implementation barriers included physicians' resistance to change, limited resources and reimbursement for team approaches, and limited organizational capacity for change. Implementation facilitators included routine use of reliable data to guide improvement, leadership facilitation of change, physician buy-in, health information technology use, and financial incentives. To accelerate improvements in managing cardiovascular risks, physician organizations may need to implement strategies involving extensive practice reorganization and work flow redesign.

  2. Patient and family physician preferences for care and communication in the eventuality of anthrax terrorism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahan, Ernesto; Fogelman, Yacov; Kitai, Eliezer; Vinker, Shlomo

    2003-08-01

    The threat of bioterrorism consequent to the September 11, 2001 attack in the USA generated suggestions for improved medical response mainly through hospital preparedness. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of this period of tension on patients' first choice for care and for receiving relevant information, and on primary care doctors' feelings of responsibility in the eventuality of an anthrax attack. During October 11-31, 2001, 500 patients from 30 clinics throughout Israel were asked to complete a questionnaire on their awareness of the anthrax threat, measures taken to prepare for it, and preferred sources of care and information. Their 30 physicians, and an additional 20, completed a questionnaire on knowledge about anthrax and anthrax-related patient behaviours and clinic visits. The outstanding finding was the low rate (30%) of patients who chose the hospital emergency department as their first choice for care or information if they were worried about an anthrax attack or the media communicated that an attack was in progress. The other two-thirds preferred their family doctor or the health authorities. Most of the physicians (89%) felt it was their responsibility to treat anthrax-infected patients and that they should therefore be supplied with appropriate guidelines. This study suggests that in Israel, a country with a high degree of awareness of civil defence aspects, both patients and primary care doctors believe that family physicians should have a major role in the case of bioterrorist attacks. This must be seriously considered during formulation of relevant health services programmes.

  3. Las instituciones de salud y el autocuidado de los médicos Health institutions and physicians' self-care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luz Arenas-Monreal

    2004-08-01

    conducted among physicians at the study sites: two to primary care physicians and two to secondary care physicians. RESULTS: Study findings show that physicians face barriers to self-care. Secondary care physicians were particularly affected by long work journeys and multiemployment. The main difficulties were associated with stress, nutrition, rest, and recreational activities. Physicians did not regularly have medical check-ups and would often simply consult with their colleagues in "hallway checkups" when they were afflicted by an illness. The physicians coincided in their recommendation that the health institutions should develop policies, programs, guidelines, and facilities to promote self-care among health workers. CONCLUSIONS: Health institutions are not designed or organized to promote self-care among their personnel. In the case of secondary care physicians, the organizational structure often prevents them from engaging in healthy activities.

  4. Physician-Pharmacist Collaborative Care for Dyslipidemia Patients: Knowledge and Skills of Community Pharmacists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villeneuve, Julie; Lamarre, Diane; Lussier, Marie-Therese; Vanier, Marie-Claude; Genest, Jacques; Blais, Lucie; Hudon, Eveline; Perreault, Sylvie; Berbiche, Djamal; Lalonde, Lyne

    2009-01-01

    Introduction: In a physician-pharmacist collaborative-care (PPCC) intervention, community pharmacists were responsible for initiating lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy and adjusting the medication dosage. They attended a 1-day interactive workshop supported by a treatment protocol and clinical and communication tools. Afterwards, changes in…

  5. [Use of sedation in the palliative care situation by respiratory physicians].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grijol-Cariou, A-L; Goupil, F; Hubault, P; Jouanneau, J

    2014-01-01

    The prognosis of advanced stage chronic lung disease, including lung cancer, is often poor and associated with uncomfortable symptoms for the patient, especially in the end of life phase. In the case of intolerable symptoms, refractory to maximal treatment, sedation may then be considered. This is sometimes a source of confusion and difficulty for clinicians who need to know the official guidelines. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of sedation by respiratory physicians, in order to understand their difficulties in these complex situations. The study was conducted using semi-structured, anonymous interviews of volunteers. The topics discussed included their definition of sedation, its indications, their possible difficulties or reluctance in using it, the information given to the patient and the traceability of the sedation prescription. All respiratory physicians agreed to participate in the study, indicating a major interest in this topic. No sedation decision is taken without careful consideration. The majority of physicians understand the difference between anxiolysis and sedation, most defining the latter as using a drug to sedate a patient faced with uncontrollable symptoms. All doctors refused to link sedation to euthanasia, although half expressed a feeling of causality between sedation and the patient's death - knowing that few consider the possibility of transient sedation. The main reluctance among doctors is in chronic respiratory insufficiency. Any decision concerning sedation should be discussed beforehand with the care team and the resident in charge of the patient, but not necessarily with another colleague. There is rarely evidence of this discussion in the medical records or of the information given to the patient and his family, thus increasing the difficulties of decision-making, especially at nights or weekends. The decision to start sedation is seen as difficult because it presupposes that a life-threatening short

  6. Health care workplace discrimination and physician turnover.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunez-Smith, Marcella; Pilgrim, Nanlesta; Wynia, Matthew; Desai, Mayur M; Bright, Cedric; Krumholz, Harlan M; Bradley, Elizabeth H

    2009-12-01

    To examine the association between physician race/ ethnicity, workplace discrimination, and physician job turnover. Cross-sectional, national survey conducted in 2006-2007 of practicing physicians (n = 529) randomly identified via the American Medical Association Masterfile and the National Medical Association membership roster. We assessed the relationships between career racial/ethnic discrimination at work and several career-related dependent variables, including 2 measures of physician turnover, career satisfaction, and contemplation of career change. We used standard frequency analyses, odds ratios and chi2 statistics, and multivariate logistic regression modeling to evaluate these associations. Physicians who self-identified as nonmajority were significantly more likely to have left at least 1 job because of workplace discrimination (black, 29%; Asian, 24%; other race, 21%; Hispanic/Latino, 20%; white, 9%). In multivariate models, having experienced racial/ethnic discrimination at work was associated with high job turnover (adjusted odds ratio, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.4-4.9). Among physicians who experienced workplace discrimination, only 45% of physicians were satisfied with their careers (vs 88% among those who had not experienced workplace discrimination, p value workplace discrimination, p value Workplace discrimination is associated with physician job turnover, career dissatisfaction, and contemplation of career change. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring for workplace discrimination and responding when opportunities for intervention and retention still exist.

  7. Physician perspectives and compliance with patient advance directives: the role external factors play on physician decision making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burkle Christopher M

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Following passage of the Patient Self Determination Act in 1990, health care institutions that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding are required to inform patients of their right to make their health care preferences known through execution of a living will and/or to appoint a surrogate-decision maker. We evaluated the impact of external factors and perceived patient preferences on physicians’ decisions to honor or forgo previously established advance directives (ADs. In addition, physician views regarding legal risk, patients’ ability to comprehend complexities involved with their care, and impact of medical costs related to end-of-life care decisions were explored. Methods Attendees of two Mayo Clinic continuing medical education courses were surveyed. Three scenarios based in part on previously court-litigated matters assessed impact of external factors and perceived patient preferences on physician compliance with patient-articulated wishes regarding resuscitation. General questions measured respondents’ perception of legal risk, concerns over patient knowledge of idiosyncrasies involved with their care, and impact medical costs may have on compliance with patient preferences. Responses indicating strength of agreement or disagreement with statements were treated as ordinal data and analyzed using the Cochran Armitage trend test. Results Three hundred eighty-eight of 951 surveys were completed (41% response rate. Eighty percent reported they were likely to honor a patient’s AD despite its 5 year age. Fewer than half (41% would honor the AD of a patient in ventricular fibrillation who had expressed a desire to “pass away in peace.” Few (17% would forgo an AD following a family’s request for continued resuscitative treatment. A majority (52% considered risk of liability to be lower when maintaining someone alive against their wishes than mistakenly failing to provide resuscitative efforts. A large percentage

  8. Physician cooperation in outpatient cancer care. An amplified secondary analysis of qualitative interview data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engler, J; Güthlin, C; Dahlhaus, A; Kojima, E; Müller-Nordhorn, J; Weißbach, L; Holmberg, C

    2017-11-01

    The importance of outpatient cancer care services is increasing due to the growing number of patients having or having had cancer. However, little is known about cooperation among physicians in outpatient settings. To understand what inter- and multidisciplinary care means in community settings, we conducted an amplified secondary analysis that combined qualitative interview data with 42 general practitioners (GPs), 21 oncologists and 21 urologists that mainly worked in medical practices in Germany. We compared their perspectives on cooperation relationships in cancer care. Our results indicate that all participants regarded cooperation as a prerequisite for good cancer care. Oncologists and urologists mainly reported cooperating for tumour-specific treatment tasks, while GPs' reasoning for cooperation was more patient-centred. While oncologists and urologists reported experiencing reciprocal communication with other physicians, GPs had to gather the information they needed. GPs seldom reported engaging in formal cooperation structures, while for specialists, participation in formal spaces of cooperation, such as tumour boards, facilitated a more frequent and informal discussion of patients, for instance on the phone. Further research should focus on ways to foster GPs' integration in cancer care and evaluate if this can be reached by incorporating GPs in formal cooperation structures such as tumour boards. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Patient satisfaction and alliance as a function of the physician's self-regulation, the physician's stress, and the content of consultation in cancer care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Vries, A M M; Gholamrezaee, M M; Verdonck-de Leeuw, I M; Passchier, J; Despland, J-N; Stiefel, F; de Roten, Y

    2017-07-01

    To investigate which characteristics of the physician and of the consultation are related to patient satisfaction with communication and working alliance. Real-life consultations (N = 134) between patients (n = 134) and their physicians (n = 24) were audiotaped. All of the patients were aware of their cancer diagnosis and consulted their physician to discuss the results of tests (CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging, or tumor markers) and the progression of their cancer. The consultations were transcribed and coded with the "Defense Mechanisms Rating Scale-Clinician." The patients and physicians completed questionnaires about stress, satisfaction, and alliance, and the data were analyzed using robust linear modeling. Patient satisfaction with communication and working alliance was high. Both were significantly (negatively) related to the physician's neurotic and action defenses-in particular to the defenses of displacement, self-devaluation, acting out, and hypochondriasis-as well as to the physician's stress level. The content of the consultation was not significantly related to the patient outcomes. Our study shows that patient satisfaction with communication and working alliance is not influenced by the content of the consultation but is significantly associated with the physician's self-regulation (defense mechanisms) and stress. The results of this study might contribute to optimizing communication skills training and to improving communication and working alliance in cancer care. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. Factors affecting cardiac rehabilitation referral by physician specialty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grace, Sherry L; Grewal, Keerat; Stewart, Donna E

    2008-01-01

    Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is widely underutilized because of multiple factors including physician referral practices. Previous research has shown CR referral varies by type of provider, with cardiologists more likely to refer than primary care physicians. The objective of this study was to compare factors affecting CR referral in primary care physicians versus cardiac specialists. A cross-sectional survey of a stratified random sample of 510 primary care physicians and cardiac specialists (cardiologists or cardiovascular surgeons) in Ontario identified through the Canadian Medical Directory Online was administered. One hundred four primary care physicians and 81 cardiac specialists responded to the 26-item investigator-generated survey examining medical, demographic, attitudinal, and health system factors affecting CR referral. Primary care physicians were more likely to endorse lack of familiarity with CR site locations (P negatively impacting CR referral practices than cardiac specialists. Cardiac specialists were significantly more likely to perceive that their colleagues and department would regularly refer patients to CR than primary care physicians (P Marketing CR site locations, provision of standardized referral forms, and ensuring discharge summaries are communicated to primary care physicians may improve their willingness to refer to CR.

  11. The Complexity Of Billing And Paying For Physician Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottlieb, Joshua D; Shapiro, Adam Hale; Dunn, Abe

    2018-04-01

    The administrative costs of providing health insurance in the US are very high, but their determinants are poorly understood. We advance the nascent literature in this field by developing new measures of billing complexity for physician care across insurers and over time, and by estimating them using a large sample of detailed insurance "remittance data" for the period 2013-15. We found dramatic variation across different types of insurance. Fee-for-service Medicaid is the most challenging type of insurer to bill, with a claim denial rate that is 17.8 percentage points higher than that for fee-for-service Medicare. The denial rate for Medicaid managed care was 6 percentage points higher than that for fee-for-service Medicare, while the rate for private insurance appeared similar to that of Medicare Advantage. Based on conservative assumptions, we estimated that the health care sector deals with $11 billion in challenged revenue annually, but this number could be as high as $54 billion. These costs have significant implications for analyses of health insurance reforms.

  12. Evaluation of "care of the foot" as a risk factor for diabetic foot ulceration: the role of internal physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oguejiofor, O C; Oli, J M; Odenigbo, C U

    2009-03-01

    Several risk factors predispose the diabetic patient to foot ulceration, including "inadequate care of the foot". This risk factor for foot ulceration has not been previously evaluated among Nigeria diabetic patients and is the objective of this study. One hundred and twenty (120) diabetic patients with and without symptoms of peripheral neuropathy receiving care at the medical outpatient department (MOPD) and the diabetic clinic of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi were recruited consecutively as they presented. They were administered structured questionnaires to assess some variables concerning care of their feet as provided to them by their physicians. Among the 120 diabetic participants, 83 (69.2%) had neuropathic symptoms (the symptomatic participants) while 37 (30.8%) were asymptomatic (the asymptomatic participants). Eighty (80; 96.4%) of the symptomatic vs 36 (97.3%) of the asymptomatic participants had never had their feet examined by their physician. Also, 26 (31.3%) of the symptomatic vs 12 (32.4%) of the asymptomatic participants had never received any form of advice on how to take special care of their feet by their physician, and 26 (31.3%) of the symptomatic vs 6 (16.2%) of the asymptomatic participants walked unshod most times in their immediate surroundings. Physicians do not provide adequate care to the feet of their diabetic patients irrespective of the presence or absence of neuropathic symptoms, making this variable a critical risk factor for diabetic foot ulceration and amputation. Continuing medical education to health care providers emphasizing adequate "care of the foot" of the diabetic patient, will reduce avoidable loss of limbs to diabetes.

  13. More than half the families of mobile intensive care unit patients experience inadequate communication with physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debaty, Guillaume; Ageron, François-Xavier; Minguet, Laetitia; Courtiol, Guillaume; Escallier, Christophe; Henniche, Adeline; Maignan, Maxime; Briot, Raphaël; Carpentier, Françoise; Savary, Dominique; Labarere, José; Danel, Vincent

    2015-07-01

    This study aimed to assess comprehension by family members of the patient's severity in the prehospital setting. We conducted a cross-sectional study in four mobile intensive care units (ICUs, medicalized ambulances) in France from June to October 2012. Nurses collected data on patients, patient's relatives, and mobile ICU physicians. For each patient, one relative and one physician independently rated the patient's severity using a simplified version of the Clinical Classification of Out-of-Hospital Emergency Patients scale (CCMS). Relatives were also asked to assess their interview with the physician. The primary outcome was agreement between the relative's and physician's ratings of the patient's severity. Data were available for 184 patients, their relatives, and mobile ICU physicians. Full and partial agreement between relatives and physicians regarding the patient's severity was found for 79 (43%) and 121 (66%) cases, respectively [weighted kappa = 0.32 (95% confidence interval, CI, 0.23-0.42)]. Relatives overestimated the patient's severity assessed by the physician [6 (5-8) vs. 4 (3-7), p communicated by mobile ICU physicians.

  14. Statewide Policy Change in Pediatric Dental Care, and the Impact on Pediatric Dental and Physician Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zlotnick, Cheryl; Tam, Tammy; Ye, Yu

    2017-10-01

    Introduction In 2007, the California signed legislation mandating a dental visit for all children entering kindergarten or first grade; no such mandate was made for physician visits. This study examines the impact of this policy change on the risk factors associated with obtaining pediatric dental and physician health care visits. Methods Every 2 years, California Health Interview Survey conducts a statewide survey on a representative community sample. This cross-sectional study took advantage of these data to conduct a "natural experiment" assessing the impact of this policy change on both pediatric physician and dental care visits in the past year. Samples included surveys of adults and children (ages 5-11) on years 2005 (n = 5096), 2007 (n = 4324) and 2009 (n = 4100). Results Although few changes in risk factors were noted in pediatric physician visits, a gradual decrease in risk factors was found in pediatric dental visits from 2005 to 2009. Report of no dental visit was less likely for: younger children (OR -0.81, CI 0.75-0.88), insured children (OR 0.34, CI 0.22-0.53), and children who had a physician's visit last year (OR 0.37, CI 0.25-0.53) in 2005. By 2007, absence of insurance was the only risk factor related to having no dental visit (OR 0.34, CI 0.19-0.61). By 2009, no a priori measured risk factors were associated with not having a dental visit for children aged 5-11 years. Conclusions A statewide policy mandating pediatric dental visits appears to have reduced disparities. A policy for medical care may contribute to similar benefits.

  15. Nursing Home Physicians' Assessments of Barriers and Strategies for End-of-Life Care in Norway and The Netherlands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fosse, Anette; Zuidema, Sytse; Boersma, Froukje

    2017-01-01

    of patients’ family, pain- and symptom assessment protocols, EOL care guidelines, routines for advance care planning, and education in EOL care for physicians and nursing staff. Conclusions: Inadequate staffing levels, as well as lack of competence, time, and interest emerge as important barriers to quality...... physicians usually work part time in NHs. Thus, we aimed at assessing and comparing NH physicians’ perspectives on barriers and strategies for providing EOL care in NHs in Norway and in The Netherlands. Design: A cross-sectional study using an electronic questionnaire was conducted in 2015. Setting...... physicians’ perceptions of organizational, educational, financial, legal, and personal prerequisites for quality EOL care. Differences between the countries were compared using χ2 test and t-test. Results: Most respondents in both countries reported inadequate staffing, lack of skills among nursing personnel...

  16. The emerging role of respiratory physiotherapy: A profile of the attitudes of nurses and physicians in Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Mohammedali, Zainab; O'Dwyer, Tom K; Broderick, Julie M

    2016-01-01

    Respiratory physiotherapy plays a key role in the management and treatment of patients with respiratory diseases worldwide, yet this specialty is not well established in Saudi Arabia. To profile the attitudes among physicians and nurses toward physiotherapists working in respiratory care settings in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted. A questionnaire was developed consisting of 23 items, which was distributed both electronically and in paper form to physicians and nurses working in hospitals and health-care centers in Saudi Arabia. Physicians and nurses working outside of Saudi Arabia, and other health professionals, were excluded from the study. A total of 284 questionnaires were returned (nurses: n = 158; physicians: n = 126). The majority believed that physiotherapists have the skills to be involved in respiratory care (79.9%, n = 226) and that physiotherapists are an important member of the Intensive Care Unit team (90.4%, n = 255). Most respondents ( n = 232, 82.9%) felt in need of more information regarding the role of physiotherapy within respiratory care; significantly more nurses than physicians believed they needed additional education ( P = 0.002). Specialized physicians were more likely than nonspecialized physicians to refer respiratory patients to physiotherapy ( P Saudi Arabia. The need for further education for physicians and nurses on the role of physiotherapy in respiratory care was highlighted; this would enable physiotherapy to develop and be further integrated into the respiratory care multidisciplinary team.

  17. Conformity to the surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines among physicians in a general intensive care unit in Nairobi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mung'ayi, V; Karuga, R

    2010-08-01

    There are emerging therapies for managing septic critically-ill patients. There is little data from the developing world on their usage. To determine the conformity rate for resuscitation and management bundles for septic patients amongst physicians in a general intensive care unit. Cross sectional observational study. The general intensive care unit, Aga Khan University Hospital,Nairobi. Admitting physicians from all specialties in the general intensive care unit. The physicians had high conformity rates of 92% and 96% for the fluid resuscitation and use of va so pressors respectively for the initial resuscitation bundle. They had moderate conformity rates for blood cultures prior to administering antibiotics (57%) and administration of antibiotics within first hour of recognition of septic shock (54%). There was high conformity rate to the glucose control policy (81%), use of protective lung strategy in acute lung injury/Acute respiratory distress syndrome, venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (100%) and stress ulcer prophylaxis (100%) in the management bundle. Conformity was moderate for use of sedation, analgesia and muscle relaxant policy (69%), continuous renal replacement therapies (54%) and low for steroid policy (35%), administration ofdrotrecogin alfa (0%) and selective digestive decontamination (15%). There is varying conformity to the international sepsis guidelines among physicians caring for patients in our general ICU. Since increased conformity would improve survival and reduce morbidity, there is need for sustained education and guideline based performance improvement.

  18. Psychiatric rehabilitation education for physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudnick, Abraham; Eastwood, Diane

    2013-06-01

    As part of a rapidly spreading reform toward recovery-oriented services, mental health care systems are adopting Psychiatric/Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR). Accordingly, PSR education and training programs are now available and accessible. Although psychiatrists and sometimes other physicians (such as family physicians) provide important services to people with serious mental illnesses and may, therefore, need knowledge and skill in PSR, it seems that the medical profession has been slow to participate in PSR education. Based on our experience working in Canada as academic psychiatrists who are also Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners (CPRPs), we offer descriptions of several Canadian initiatives that involve physicians in PSR education. Multiple frameworks guide PSR education for physicians. First, guidance is provided by published PSR principles, such as the importance of self-determination (www.psrrpscanada.ca). Second, guidance is provided by adult education (andragogy) principles, emphasizing the importance of addressing attitudes in addition to knowledge and skills (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011). Third, guidance in Canada is provided by Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS) principles, which delineate the multiple roles of physicians beyond that of medical expert (Frank, 2005) and have recently been adopted in Australia (Boyce, Spratt, Davies, & McEvoy, 2011). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Physician practice management companies: should physicians be scared?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott-Rotter, A E; Brown, J A

    1999-01-01

    Physician practice management companies (PPMCs) manage nonclinical aspects of physician care and control physician groups by buying practice assets. Until recently, PPMCs were a favorite of Wall Street. Suddenly, in early 1998, the collapse of the MedPartners-PhyCor merger led to the rapid fall of most PPMC stock, thereby increasing wariness of physicians to sell to or invest in PPMCs. This article explores not only the broken promises made by and false assumptions about PPMCs, but also suggests criteria that physicians should use and questions would-be PPMC members should ask before joining. Criteria include: demonstrated expertise, a company philosophy that promotes professional autonomy, financial stability, freedom from litigation, and satisfied physicians already in the PPMC. The authors recommend that physicians seek out relatively small, single-specialty PPMCs, which hold the best promise of generating profits and permitting professional control over clinical decisions.

  20. Knowledge and attitudes towards cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation amongst Asian primary health care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcus Eh Ong

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Marcus Eh Ong1, Susan Yap1, Kim P Chan1, Papia Sultana2, Venkataraman Anantharaman11Department of Emergency Medicine, 2Department of Clinical Research, Singapore General Hospital, SingaporeObjective: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of local primary health care physicians in relation to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR and defibrillation.Methods: We conducted a survey on general practitioners in Singapore by using a self-administered questionnaire that comprised 29 questions.Results: The response rate was 80%, with 60 of 75 physicians completing the questionnaire. The average age of the respondents was 52 years. Sixty percent of them reported that they knew how to operate an automated external defibrillator (AED, and 38% had attended AED training. Only 36% were willing to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation during CPR, and 53% preferred chest compression-only resuscitation (CCR to standard CPR. We found those aged <50 years were more likely to be trained in basic cardiac life support (BCLS (P < 0.001 and advanced cardiac life support (P = 0.005 or to have ever attended to a patient with cardiac arrest (P = 0.007. Female physicians tended to agree that all clinics should have AEDs (P = 0.005 and support legislation to make AEDs compulsory in clinics (P < 0.001. We also found that a large proportion of physicians who were trained in BCLS (P = 0.006 were willing to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation.Conclusion: Most local primary care physicians realize the importance of defibrillation, and the majority prefer CCR to standard CPR.Keywords: general practitioners, cardiac arrest, resuscitation, defibrillation, attitude, knowledge

  1. Exploring Health Care Providers' Views About Initiating End-of-Life Care Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nedjat-Haiem, Frances R; Carrion, Iraida V; Gonzalez, Krystana; Ell, Kathleen; Thompson, Beti; Mishra, Shiraz I

    2017-05-01

    Numerous factors impede effective and timely end-of-life (EOL) care communication. These factors include delays in communication until patients are seriously ill and/or close to death. Gaps in patient-provider communication negatively affect advance care planning and limit referrals to palliative and hospice care. Confusion about the roles of various health care providers also limits communication, especially when providers do not coordinate care with other health care providers in various disciplines. Although providers receive education regarding EOL communication and care coordination, little is known about the roles of all health care providers, including nonphysician support staff working with physicians to discuss the possibility of dying and help patients prepare for death. This study explores the perspectives of physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains on engaging seriously ill patients and families in EOL care communication. Qualitative data were from 79 (medical and nonmedical) providers practicing at 2 medical centers in Central Los Angeles. Three themes that describe providers' perceptions of their roles and responsibility in talking with seriously ill patients emerged: (1) providers' roles for engaging in EOL discussions, (2) responsibility of physicians for initiating and leading discussions, and (3) need for team co-management patient care. Providers highlighted the importance of beginning discussions early by having physicians lead them, specifically due to their medical training and need to clarify medical information regarding patients' prognosis. Although physicians are a vital part of leading EOL communication, and are at the center of communication of medical information, an interdisciplinary approach that involves nurses, social workers, and chaplains could significantly improve patient care.

  2. Emotional and psychological effects of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia on participating physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Kenneth R

    2006-01-01

    This is a review and evaluation of medical and public literature regarding the reported emotional and psychological effects of participation in physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia on the involved physicians. Articles in medical journals, legislative investigations and the public press were obtained and reviewed to determine what has been reported regarding the effects on physicians who have been personally involved in PAS and euthanasia. The physician is centrally involved in PAS and euthanasia, and the emotional and psychological effects on the participating physician can be substantial. The shift away from the fundamental values of medicine to heal and promote human wholeness can have significant effects on many participating physicians. Doctors describe being profoundly adversely affected, being shocked by the suddenness of the death, being caught up in the patient's drive for assisted suicide, having a sense of powerlessness, and feeling isolated. There is evidence of pressure on and intimidation of doctors by some patients to assist in suicide. The effect of countertransference in the doctor-patient relationship may influence physician involvement in PAS and euthanasia. Many doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS are adversely affected emotionally and psychologically by their experiences.

  3. Employed family physician satisfaction and commitment to their practice, work group, and health care organization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karsh, Ben-Tzion; Beasley, John W; Brown, Roger L

    2010-04-01

    Test a model of family physician job satisfaction and commitment. Data were collected from 1,482 family physicians in a Midwest state during 2000-2001. The sampling frame came from the membership listing of the state's family physician association, and the analyzed dataset included family physicians employed by large multispecialty group practices. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data about physician working conditions, job satisfaction, commitment, and demographic variables. The response rate was 47 percent. Different variables predicted the different measures of satisfaction and commitment. Satisfaction with one's health care organization (HCO) was most strongly predicted by the degree to which physicians perceived that management valued and recognized them and by the extent to which physicians perceived the organization's goals to be compatible with their own. Satisfaction with one's workgroup was most strongly predicted by the social relationship with members of the workgroup; satisfaction with one's practice was most strongly predicted by relationships with patients. Commitment to one's workgroup was predicted by relationships with one's workgroup. Commitment to one's HCO was predicted by relationships with management of the HCO. Social relationships are stronger predictors of employed family physician satisfaction and commitment than staff support, job control, income, or time pressure.

  4. The process of palliative sedation as viewed by physicians and nurses working in palliative care in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spineli, Vívian Marina Calixto Damasceno; Kurashima, Andrea Yamaguchi; De Gutiérrez, Maria Gaby Rivero

    2015-10-01

    Our aim was to describe the process of palliative sedation from the point of view of physicians and nurses working in palliative care in Brazil. Ours was a descriptive study conducted between May and December of 2011, with purposeful snowball sampling of 32 physicians and 29 nurses working in facilities in Brazil that have adopted the practice of palliative care. The symptoms prioritized for an indication of palliative sedation were dyspnea, delirium, and pain. Some 65.6% of respondents believed that the survival time of a patient in the final phase was not a determining factor for the indication of this measure, and that the patient, family, and healthcare team should participate in the decision-making process. For 42.6% of these professionals, the opinion of the family was the main barrier to an indication of this therapy. The opinion of the physicians and nurses who participated in this study converged with the principal national and international guidelines on palliative sedation. However, even though it is a therapy that has been adopted in palliative care, it remains a controversial practice.

  5. Relationship between job satisfaction and performance of primary care physicians after the family physician reform of east Azerbaijan province in Northwest Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jabbari, Hossein; Pezeshki, Mohamad Zakarria; Naghavi-Behzad, Mohammad; Asghari, Mohammad; Bakhshian, Fariba

    2014-01-01

    Following the implementation of family physician program in 2004 in Iranian healthcare system, the understanding in changes in physicians' practice has become important. The objective of this study was to determine the level of family physicians' job satisfaction and its relationship with their performance level. A cross-sectional study was conducted among all 367 family physicians of East Azerbaijan province in during December 2009 to May 2011 using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire for job satisfaction. The performance scores of primary care physicians were obtained from health deputy of Tabriz Medical University. In this study, overall response rate was 64.5%. The average score of job satisfaction was 42.10 (±18.46), and performance score was 87.52 (±5.74) out of 100. There was significant relationships between working history and job satisfaction (P = 0.014), marital status (P = 0.014), and sex (P = 0.018) with performance among different personal and organizational variables. However, there was no significant relationship between job satisfaction and performance, but satisfied people had about three times better performance than their counterparts (all P performance and job satisfaction are obvious indications for more extensive research in identifying causes and finding mechanisms to improve the situation, especially in payment methods and work condition, in existing health system.

  6. Physician-Pharmacist collaboration in a pay for performance healthcare environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farley, T M; Izakovic, M

    2015-01-01

    Healthcare is becoming more complex and costly in both European (Slovak) and American models. Healthcare in the United States (U.S.) is undergoing a particularly dramatic change. Physician and hospital reimbursement are becoming less procedure focused and increasingly outcome focused. Efforts at Mercy Hospital have shown promise in terms of collaborative team based care improving performance on glucose control outcome metrics, linked to reimbursement. Our performance on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) post-operative glucose control metric for cardiac surgery patients increased from a 63.6% pass rate to a 95.1% pass rate after implementing interventions involving physician-pharmacist team based care.Having a multidisciplinary team that is able to adapt quickly to changing expectations in the healthcare environment has aided our institution. As healthcare becomes increasingly saturated with technology, data and quality metrics, collaborative efforts resulting in increased quality and physician efficiency are desirable. Multidisciplinary collaboration (including physician-pharmacist collaboration) appears to be a viable route to improved performance in an outcome based healthcare system (Fig. 2, Ref. 12).

  7. Difficulties faced by family physicians in primary health care centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sahar H Mumenah

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: The aim was to determine the difficulties faced by family physicians, and compare how satisfied those working with the Ministry of Health (MOH are with their counterparts who work at some selected non-MOH hospitals. Methods: An analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH and RC, and 40 MOH primary health care centers across Jeddah. A structured multi-item questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and information on the difficulties family physicians face. The physicians′ level of satisfaction and how it was affected by the difficulties was assessed. Results: Women constituted 71.9% of the sample. Problems with transportation formed one of the main difficulties encountered by physicians. Compared to non-MOH physician, a significantly higher proportion of MOH physicians reported unavailability of radiology technicians (P = 0.011 and radiologists (P < 0.001, absence of the internet and computer access (P < 0.001, unavailability of laboratory services (P = 0.004, reagents (P = 0.001, X-ray equipment (P = 0.027, ultrasound equipment (P < 0.001, an electronic medical records system (P < 0.001, insufficient laboratory tests (P = 0.0001, and poor building maintenance (P < 0.001. Family physicians with the MOH were less satisfied with their jobs compared with non-MOH physicians (P = 0.032. Conclusion: MOH family physicians encountered difficulties relating to staff, services, and infrastructure, which consequently affected their level of satisfaction.

  8. The impact of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Enhancement Act of 2004 on VA physicians' salaries and retention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, William B; Wallace, Tanner A; Wallace, Amy E

    2009-01-01

    To determine whether the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Enhancement Act (the Act), which was designed to achieve VA physician salary parity with American Academy of Medical Colleges (AAMC) Associate Professors and enacted in 2006, had achieved its goal. Using VA human resources datasets and data from the AAMC, we calculated mean VA physician salaries, with 95 percent confidence intervals, for 15 different medical specialties. For each specialty, we compared VA salaries to the median, 25th, and 75th percentile of AAMC Associate Professors' incomes. The Act's passage resulted in a $20,000 annual increase in VA physicians' salaries. VA primary care physicians, medical subspecialists, and psychiatrists had salaries that were comparable to their AAMC counterparts prior to and after enactment of the Act. However, VA surgical specialists', anesthesiologists', and radiologists' salaries lagged their AAMC counterparts both before and after the Act's enactment. Income increases were negatively correlated with full-time workforce changes. VA does not appear to provide comparable salaries for physicians necessary for surgical care. In certain cases, VA should consider outsourcing surgical services.

  9. Overweight and Obesity Among Wage-Earners and the Demand for Primary Physician Care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Datta Gupta, Nabanita; Greve, Jane

    -earners aged 25-60 years drawn from the National Health Interview (NHI) survey 2000 and merged to Danish register data, we compare differences in the impact of being overweight or obese relative to being normal weight on the demand for primary physician care. Estimated bodyweight effects vary across latent...

  10. Sports medicine in The Netherlands: consultation with a sports physician without referral by a general practitioner

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Bruijn, Matthijs C; Kollen, Boudewijn J; Baarveld, Frank

    2013-01-01

    Background In The Netherlands, sports medicine physicians are involved in the care of about 8% of all sports injuries that occur each year. Some patients consult a sports physician directly, without being referred by a general practitioner. This study aims to determine how many patients consult a sports physician directly, and to explore differences in the profiles of these patients compared with those who are referred. Methods This was an exploratory cross-sectional study in which all new patients presenting with an injury to a regional sports medical center during September 2010 were identified. The characteristics of patients who self-referred and those who were referred by other medical professionals were compared. Results A total of 234 patients were included (mean age 33.7 years, 59.1% male). Most of the injuries occurred during soccer and running, particularly injuries of the knee and ankle. In this cohort, 39.3% of patients consulted a sports physician directly. These patients were significantly more often involved in individual sports, consulted a sports physician relatively rapidly after the onset of injury, and had received significantly less care before this new event from medical professionals compared with patients who were referred. Conclusion In this study, 39.3% of patients with sports injuries consulted a sports physician directly without being referred by another medical professional. The profile of this group of patients differed from that of patients who were referred. The specific roles of general practitioners and sports physicians in medical sports care in The Netherlands needs to be defined further. PMID:24379706

  11. Anticipating and Training the Physician of the Future: The Importance of Caring in an Age of Artificial Intelligence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, S Claiborne

    2018-02-13

    Artificial intelligence and other forms of information technology are only just beginning to change the practice of medicine. The pace of change is expected to accelerate as tools improve and as demands for analyzing a rapidly growing body of knowledge and array of data increase. The medical students of today will practice in a world where information technology is sophisticated and omnipresent. In this world, the tasks of memorization and analysis will be less important to them as practicing physicians. On the other hand, the non-analytical, humanistic aspects of medicine-most importantly, the art of caring-will remain a critical function of the physician, and facility with improving systems of care will be required. Communication, empathy, shared decision making, leadership, team building, and creativity are all skills that will continue to gain importance for physicians. These skills should be further prioritized in medical school curricula to produce an even more effective physician for the future.

  12. The effect of financial incentives on the quality of health care provided by primary care physicians.

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    Scott, Anthony; Sivey, Peter; Ait Ouakrim, Driss; Willenberg, Lisa; Naccarella, Lucio; Furler, John; Young, Doris

    2011-09-07

    The use of blended payment schemes in primary care, including the use of financial incentives to directly reward 'performance' and 'quality' is increasing in a number of countries. There are many examples in the US, and the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) for general practitioners (GPs) in the UK is an example of a major system-wide reform. Despite the popularity of these schemes, there is currently little rigorous evidence of their success in improving the quality of primary health care, or of whether such an approach is cost-effective relative to other ways to improve the quality of care. The aim of this review is to examine the effect of changes in the method and level of payment on the quality of care provided by primary care physicians (PCPs) and to identify:i) the different types of financial incentives that have improved quality;ii) the characteristics of patient populations for whom quality of care has been improved by financial incentives; andiii) the characteristics of PCPs who have responded to financial incentives. We searched the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Trials Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychLIT, and ECONLIT. Searches of Internet-based economics and health economics working paper collections were also conducted. Finally, studies were identified through the reference lists of retrieved articles, websites of key organisations, and from direct contact with key authors in the field. Articles were included if they were published from 2000 to August 2009. Randomised controlled trials (RCT), controlled before and after studies (CBA), and interrupted time series analyses (ITS) evaluating the impact of different financial interventions on the quality of care delivered by primary healthcare physicians (PCPs). Quality of care was defined as patient reported outcome

  13. Use of spirometry among chest physicians and primary care physicians in India.

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    Vanjare, Nitin; Chhowala, Sushmeeta; Madas, Sapna; Kodgule, Rahul; Gogtay, Jaideep; Salvi, Sundeep

    2016-07-07

    Although spirometry is the gold-standard diagnostic test for obstructive airways diseases, it remains poorly utilised in clinical practice. We aimed to investigate the use of spirometry across India, the change in its usage over a period of time and to understand the reasons for its under-utilisation. Two nationwide surveys were conducted in the years 2005 and 2013, among four groups of doctors: chest physicians (CPs), general physicians (GenPs), general practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians (Ps). A total of 1,000 physicians from each of the four groups were randomly selected from our database in the years 2005 and 2013. These surveys were conducted in 52 cities and towns across 15 states in India. A questionnaire was administered to the physicians, which captured information about their demographic details, type of practice and use of spirometry. The overall response rates of the physicians in 2005 and 2013 were 42.8% and 54.9%, respectively. Spirometry was reported to be used by 55% CPs, 20% GenPs, 10% GPs and 5% Ps in 2005, and this increased by 30.9% among CPs (P value spirometry varied between 2005 and 2013. In all, 32.2% of physicians were unaware of which predicted equation they were using. The use of spirometry in India is low, although it seems to have improved over the years. The reasons identified in this study for under-utilisation should be used to address initiatives to improve the use of spirometry in clinical practice.

  14. Physicians' perceptions of autonomy across practice types: Is autonomy in solo practice a myth?

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    Lin, Katherine Y

    2014-01-01

    Physicians in the United States are now less likely to practice in smaller, more traditional, solo practices, and more likely to practice in larger group practices. Though older theory predicts conflict between bureaucracy and professional autonomy, studies have shown that professions in general, and physicians in particular, have adapted to organizational constraints. However, much work remains in clarifying the nature of this relationship and how exactly physicians have adapted to various organizational settings. To this end, the present study examines physicians' autonomy experiences in different decision types between organization sizes. Specifically, I ask: In what kinds of decisions do doctors perceive autonomous control? How does this vary by organizational size? Using stacked "spell" data constructed from the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Physician Survey (1996-2005) (n = 16,519) I examine how physicians' perceptions of autonomy vary between solo/two physician practices, small group practices with three to ten physicians, and large practices with ten or more physicians, in two kinds of decisions: logistic-based and knowledge-based decisions. Capitalizing on the longitudinal nature of the data I estimate how changes in practice size are associated with perceptions of autonomy, accounting for previous reports of autonomy. I also test whether managed care involvement, practice ownership, and salaried employment help explain part of this relationship. I find that while physicians practicing in larger group practices reported lower levels of autonomy in logistic-based decisions, physicians in solo/two physician practices reported lower levels of autonomy in knowledge-based decisions. Managed care involvement and ownership explain some, but not all, of the associations. These findings suggest that professional adaptation to various organizational settings can lead to varying levels of perceived autonomy across different kinds of decisions. Copyright © 2013

  15. Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide: An American College of Physicians Position Paper.

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    Snyder Sulmasy, Lois; Mueller, Paul S

    2017-10-17

    Calls to legalize physician-assisted suicide have increased and public interest in the subject has grown in recent years despite ethical prohibitions. Many people have concerns about how they will die and the emphasis by medicine and society on intervention and cure has sometimes come at the expense of good end-of-life care. Some have advocated strongly, on the basis of autonomy, that physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option at the end of life. As a proponent of patient-centered care, the American College of Physicians (ACP) is attentive to all voices, including those who speak of the desire to control when and how life will end. However, the ACP believes that the ethical arguments against legalizing physician-assisted suicide remain the most compelling. On the basis of substantive ethics, clinical practice, policy, and other concerns articulated in this position paper, the ACP does not support legalization of physician-assisted suicide. It is problematic given the nature of the patient-physician relationship, affects trust in the relationship and in the profession, and fundamentally alters the medical profession's role in society. Furthermore, the principles at stake in this debate also underlie medicine's responsibilities regarding other issues and the physician's duties to provide care based on clinical judgment, evidence, and ethics. Society's focus at the end of life should be on efforts to address suffering and the needs of patients and families, including improving access to effective hospice and palliative care. The ACP remains committed to improving care for patients throughout and at the end of life.

  16. Closing the circle of care: implementation of a web-based communication tool to improve emergency department discharge communication with family physicians.

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    Hunchak, Cheryl; Tannenbaum, David; Roberts, Michael; Shah, Thrushar; Tisma, Predrag; Ovens, Howard; Borgundvaag, Bjug

    2015-03-01

    Postdischarge emergency department (ED) communication with family physicians is often suboptimal and negatively impacts patient care. We designed and piloted an online notification system that electronically alerts family physicians of patient ED visits and provides access to visitspecific laboratory and diagnostic information. Nine (of 10 invited) high-referring family physicians participated in this single ED pilot. A prepilot chart audit (30 patients from each family physician) determined the baseline rate of paper-based record transmission. A webbased communication portal was designed and piloted by the nine family physicians over 1 year. Participants provided usability feedback via focus groups and written surveys. Review of 270 patient charts in the prepilot phase revealed a 13% baseline rate of handwritten chart and a 44% rate of any information transfer between the ED and family physician offices following discharge. During the pilot, participant family physicians accrued 880 patient visits. Seven and two family physicians accessed online records for 74% and 12% of visits, respectively, an overall 60.7% of visits, corresponding to an overall absolute increase in receipt of patient ED visit information of 17%. The postpilot survey found that 100% of family physicians reported that they were ''often'' or ''always'' aware of patient ED visits, used the portal ''always'' or ''regularly'' to access patients' health records online, and felt that the web portal contributed to improved actual and perceived continuity of patient care. Introduction of a web-based ED visit communication tool improved ED-family physician communication. The impact of this system on improved continuity of care, timeliness of follow-up, and reduced duplication of investigations and referrals requires additional study.

  17. Primary care physician decision making regarding referral for bariatric surgery: a national survey.

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    Stolberg, Charlotte Røn; Hepp, Nicola; Juhl, Anna Julie Aavild; B C, Deepti; Juhl, Claus B

    2017-05-01

    Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severe obesity. It results in significant and sustained weight loss and reduces obesity-related co-morbidities. Despite an increasing prevalence of severe obesity, the number of bariatric operations performed in Denmark has decreased during the past years. This is only partly explained by changes in the national guidelines for bariatric surgery. The purpose of the cross-sectional study is to investigate referral patterns and possible reservations regarding bariatric surgery among Danish primary care physicians (PCPs). Primary care physicians in Denmark METHODS: A total of 300 Danish PCPs were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey regarding experiences with bariatric surgery, reservations about bariatric surgery, attitudes to specific patient cases, and the future treatment of severe obesity. Most questions required a response on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, and strongly agree) and frequency distributions were calculated. 133 completed questionnaires (44%) were returned. Most physicians found that they had good knowledge about the national referral criteria for bariatric surgery. With respect to the specific patient cases, a remarkably smaller part of physicians would refer patients on their own initiative, compared with the patient's initiative. Fear of postoperative surgical complications and medical complications both influenced markedly the decision to refer patients for surgery. Only 9% of the respondents indicated that bariatric surgery should be the primary treatment option for severe obesity in the future. Danish PCPs express severe concerns about surgical and medical complications following bariatric surgery. This might, in part, result in a low rate of referral to bariatric surgery. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Bariatric Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Personal characteristics associated with resident physicians' self perceptions of preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Lenny; Vranceanu, Ana-Maria; Cohen, Amy P; Betancourt, Joseph; Weissman, Joel S

    2008-12-01

    Recent reports from the Institute of Medicine emphasize patient-centered care and cross-cultural training as a means of improving the quality of medical care and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities. To determine whether, controlling for training received in medical school or during residency, resident physician socio-cultural characteristics influence self-perceived preparedness and skill in delivering cross-cultural care. National survey of resident physicians. A probability sample of residents in seven specialties in their final year of training at US academic health centers. Nine resident characteristics were analyzed. Differences in preparedness and skill were assessed using the chi(2) statistic and multivariate logistic regression. Fifty-eight percent (2047/3500) of residents responded. The most important factor associated with improved perceived skill level in performing selected tasks or services believed to be useful in treating culturally diverse patients was having received cross-cultural skills training during residency (OR range 1.71-4.22). Compared with white residents, African American physicians felt more prepared to deal with patients with distrust in the US healthcare system (OR 1.63) and with racial or ethnic minorities (OR 1.61), Latinos reported feeling more prepared to deal with new immigrants (OR 1.88) and Asians reported feeling more prepared to deal with patients with health beliefs at odds with Western medicine (1.43). Cross-cultural care skills training is associated with increased self-perceived preparedness to care for diverse patient populations providing support for the importance of such training in graduate medical education. In addition, selected resident characteristics are associated with being more or less prepared for different aspects of cross-cultural care. This underscores the need to both include medical residents from diverse backgrounds in all training programs and tailor such programs to individual resident needs in

  19. Regional Supply of Chiropractic Care and Visits to Primary Care Physicians for Back and Neck Pain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Matthew A.; Yakusheva, Olga; Gottlieb, Daniel J.; Bynum, Julie P.W.

    2015-01-01

    Background Whether availability of chiropractic care affects use of primary care physician (PCP) services is unknown. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 17.7 million older adults who were enrolled in Medicare from 2010 to 2011. We examined the relationship between regional supply of chiropractic care and PCP services using Spearman correlation. Generalized linear models were used to examine the association between regional supply of chiropractic care and number of annual visits to PCPs for back and/or neck pain. Results We found a positive association between regional supply of chiropractic care and PCP services (rs = 0.52; P neck pain was apparent. The number of PCP visits for back and/or neck pain was 8% lower (rate ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.91–0.92) in the quintile with the highest supply of chiropractic care compared to the lowest quintile. We estimate chiropractic care is associated with a reduction of 0.37 million visits to PCPs nationally, at a cost of $83.5 million. Conclusions Greater availability of chiropractic care in some areas may be offsetting PCP services for back and/or neck pain among older adults. (J Am Board Fam Med 2015;28:000–000.) PMID:26152439

  20. Effort-reward imbalance and perceived quality of patient care: a cross-sectional study among physicians in Germany

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    Adrian Loerbroks

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Work stress may impair physicians’ ability to provide high quality patient care. Prior research remains however sparse and has insufficiently explored explanations for this relationship. It has been suggested that physicians’ poor mental health is one potential explanatory factor. We drew on a well-established model to measure work stress (the effort-reward imbalance [ERI] model in order to test this hypothesis. Further, to address another research gap and to potentially inform the development of better-targeted interventions, we aimed to examine associations of individual ERI constructs with the quality of care. Methods We used cross-sectional data, which had been collected in 2014 among 416 physicians in Germany. ERI constructs (i.e. effort, reward, the ERI ratio, and overcommitment were measured by the established 23-item questionnaire. Physicians’ perceptions of quality of care were assessed by a six-item instrument inquiring after poor care practices or attitudes. Physicians’ mental health was operationalized by the state scale of the Spielberger's State-Trait Depression Scales. We used both continuous and categorized dependent and independent variables in multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses. Results Both an increasing ERI ratio and increasing effort were associated with poorer quality of care while increasing rewards were related to better care. Physicians’ depressive symptoms did not affect these associations substantially. Associations with overcommitment were weak and attenuated to non-significant levels by correction for depressive symptoms. The level of overcommitment did not modify associations between the ERI ratio and quality of care. Conclusions Our study suggests that high work-related efforts and low rewards are associated with reports of poorer patient care among physicians, irrespectively of physicians’ depressive symptoms. Quality of patient care may thus be improved by

  1. Self-reported smoking cessation activities among Swiss primary care physicians

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    Ruffieux Christiane

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Individual counselling, pharmacotherapy, and group therapy are evidence-based interventions that help patients stop smoking. Acupuncture, hypnosis, and relaxation have no demonstrated efficacy on smoking cessation, whereas self-help material may only have a small benefit. The purpose of this study is to assess physicians' current clinical practice regarding smokers motivated to stop smoking. Methods The survey included 3385 Swiss primary care physicians. Self-reported use of nine smoking cessation interventions was scored. One point was given for each positive answer about practicing interventions with demonstrated efficacy, i.e. nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, counselling, group therapy, and smoking cessation specialist. No points were given for the recommendation of acupuncture, hypnosis, relaxation, and self-help material. Multivariable logistic analysis was performed to identify factors associated with a good practice score, defined as ≥ 2. Results The response rate was 55%. Respondents were predominately over the age of 40 years (88%, male (79%, and resided in urban areas (74%. Seventeen percent reported being smokers. Most of the physicians prescribed nicotine replacement therapy (84%, bupropion (65%, or provided counselling (70%. A minority of physicians recommended acupuncture (26%, hypnosis (8%, relaxation (7%, or self-help material (24%. A good practice score was obtained by 85% of respondents. Having attended a smoking cessation-training program was the only significant predictor of a good practice score (odds ratio: 6.24, 95% CI 1.95–20.04. Conclusion The majority of respondents practice recommended smoking cessation interventions. However, there is room for improvement and implementing an evidence-based smoking cessation-training program could provide additional benefit.

  2. Supporting frail seniors through a family physician and Home Health integrated care model in Fraser Health

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    Grace Haeson Park

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: A major effort is underway to integrate primary and community care in Canada's western province of British Columbia and in Fraser Health, its largest health authority. Integrated care is a critical component of Fraser Health's planning, to meet the challenges of caring for a growing, elderly population that is presenting more complex and chronic medical conditions. Description of integrated practice: An integrated care model partners family physicians with community-based home health case managers to support frail elderly patients who live at home. It is resulting in faster response times to patient needs, more informed assessments of a patient's state of health and pro-active identification of emerging patient issues. Early results: The model is intended to improve the quality of patient care and maintain the patients’ health status, to help them live at home confidently and safely, as long as possible. Preliminary pilot data measuring changes in home care services is showing positive trends when it comes to extending the length of a person's survival/tenure in the community (living in their home vs. admitted to residential care or deceased. Conclusion: Fraser Health's case manager–general practitioner partnership model is showing promising results including higher quality, appropriate, coordinated and efficient care; improved patient, caregiver and physician interactions with the system; improved health and prevention of acute care visits by senior adult patients.

  3. Using simulation to isolate physician variation in intensive care unit admission decision making for critically ill elders with end-stage cancer: a pilot feasibility study.

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    Barnato, Amber E; Hsu, Heather E; Bryce, Cindy L; Lave, Judith R; Emlet, Lillian L; Angus, Derek C; Arnold, Robert M

    2008-12-01

    To determine the feasibility of high-fidelity simulation for studying variation in intensive care unit admission decision making for critically ill elders with end-stage cancer. Mixed qualitative and quantitative analysis of physician subjects participating in a simulation scenario using hospital set, actors, medical chart, and vital signs tracings. The simulation depicted a 78-yr-old man with metastatic gastric cancer, life-threatening hypoxia most likely attributable to cancer progression, and stable preferences to avoid intensive care unit admission and intubation. Two independent raters assessed the simulations and subjects completed a postsimulation web-based survey and debriefing interview. Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation Education and Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Twenty-seven hospital-based attending physicians, including 6 emergency physicians, 13 hospitalists, and 8 intensivists. Outcomes included qualitative report of clinical verisimilitude during the debriefing interview, survey-reported diagnosis and prognosis, and observed treatment decisions. Independent variables included physician demographics, risk attitude, and reactions to uncertainty. All (100%) reported that the case and simulation were highly realistic, and their diagnostic and prognostic assessments were consistent with our intent. Eight physicians (29.6%) admitted the patient to the intensive care unit. Among the eight physicians who admitted the patient to the intensive care unit, three (37%) initiated palliation, two (25%) documented the patient's code status (do not intubate/do not resuscitate), and one intubated the patient. Among the 19 physicians who did not admit the patient to the intensive care unit, 13 (68%) initiated palliation and 5 (42%) documented code status. Intensivists and emergency physicians (p = 0.048) were more likely to admit the patient to the intensive care unit. Years since medical school graduation were inversely associated with the

  4. Tethered to the EHR: Primary Care Physician Workload Assessment Using EHR Event Log Data and Time-Motion Observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, Brian G; Beasley, John W; Watkinson, Michelle D; Temte, Jonathan L; Tuan, Wen-Jan; Sinsky, Christine A; Gilchrist, Valerie J

    2017-09-01

    Primary care physicians spend nearly 2 hours on electronic health record (EHR) tasks per hour of direct patient care. Demand for non-face-to-face care, such as communication through a patient portal and administrative tasks, is increasing and contributing to burnout. The goal of this study was to assess time allocated by primary care physicians within the EHR as indicated by EHR user-event log data, both during clinic hours (defined as 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday) and outside clinic hours. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 142 family medicine physicians in a single system in southern Wisconsin. All Epic (Epic Systems Corporation) EHR interactions were captured from "event logging" records over a 3-year period for both direct patient care and non-face-to-face activities, and were validated by direct observation. EHR events were assigned to 1 of 15 EHR task categories and allocated to either during or after clinic hours. Clinicians spent 355 minutes (5.9 hours) of an 11.4-hour workday in the EHR per weekday per 1.0 clinical full-time equivalent: 269 minutes (4.5 hours) during clinic hours and 86 minutes (1.4 hours) after clinic hours. Clerical and administrative tasks including documentation, order entry, billing and coding, and system security accounted for nearly one-half of the total EHR time (157 minutes, 44.2%). Inbox management accounted for another 85 minutes (23.7%). Primary care physicians spend more than one-half of their workday, nearly 6 hours, interacting with the EHR during and after clinic hours. EHR event logs can identify areas of EHR-related work that could be delegated, thus reducing workload, improving professional satisfaction, and decreasing burnout. Direct time-motion observations validated EHR-event log data as a reliable source of information regarding clinician time allocation. © 2017 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

  5. Addressing domestic violence in primary care: what the physician needs to know

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    Usta, Jinan; Taleb, Rim

    2014-01-01

    Domestic violence (DV) is quite prevalent and negatively impacts the health and mental wellbeing of those affected. Victims of DV are frequent users of health service, yet they are infrequently recognized. Physicians tend to treat the presenting complaints without addressing the root cause of the problem. Lack of knowledge on adequately managing cases of DV and on appropriate ways to help survivors is commonly presented as a barrier. This article presents the magnitude of the problem of DV in the Arab world, highlights the role of the primary care physician in addressing this problem, and provides practical steps that can guide the clinician in the Arab world in giving a comprehensive and culturally sensitive service to the survivors of DV. PMID:24647277

  6. WHO 2009 GUIDELINES FOR ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPHY: ITS IMPLICATION FOR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN

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    KOH KC

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available -The HIV epidemic in Malaysia is slowing down but has now spread to spouses and sexual partners of traditional at risk populations, via heterosexual transmission. -The WHO 2009 guideline advocates starting HAART at CD4 level of 350 cells/mm3, marking a significant departure from starting at CD4 level of 200 cells/mm3 previously. -The WHO 2009 guideline recommended replacing stavudine with either zidovudine or tenofovir as part of the first line HAART regimen due to the former’s adverse effects. -Early detection of HIV infection and earlier initiation of HAART translates into better quality of life and lower risk of Tuberculosis co-infection. -Earlier detection of HIV infection requires picking up on subtle signs of the infection as well as employing a host of available diagnostic tests in cases where HIV infection is strongly suspected. -HIV test should be offered as a part of a routine health check screening. This facilitates early detection of HIV infection and early referral to the hospital for further management. -Collaboration and communications with non-governmental organizations involved in care of HIV infected people can be a good mean of providing support and counselling to newly diagnosed HIV infected individuals. -Asymptomatic undiagnosed HIV infected patients may pose a risk for disease transmission to health care workers in the primary care setting. Steps must be taken to minimize the risk of transmission and easy access to post-exposure prophylaxis. -The primary care physician should be well versed with the many possible drug interactions between HAART and other commonly used medications for other illnesses in order to avoid potentially fatal adverse reactions or treatment failure in patients taking HAART.

  7. Physicians' leadership styles in rural primary medical care: how are they perceived by staff?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hana, Jan; Kirkhaug, Rudi

    2014-03-01

    This study investigates which leadership styles can be identified among general practice lead physicians and how they are associated with and predicted by staff and context characteristics like profession, gender, age, work experience, and team size. METHOD/MATERIAL: In a cross-sectional study self-administered questionnaires were distributed to staff physicians (42% females) and support staff (98% females) at 101 primary health care centres in North Norway. A total of 127 and 222, respectively, responded (response rate 59%). Items were ranked on Likert scales (range 1-5). Analysis revealed three significantly different styles (mean scores/Cronbach's alpha): change style (3.36/0.898), task style (3.17/0.885), and relation style (2.88/0.900). The lead physicians were perceived as practising change style the most and relation style the least. Males experienced significantly more of all three styles. Support staff scored lowest for all styles. Age was negatively correlated with relation style and change style, while work experience was negatively correlated with change style. No significant association was found between styles and team size. Leadership in rural general practice can be identified in terms of task, relation, and change styles. Change style is the most perceived style. Males seem to be most attentive to leadership styles. However, within the staff physician group, there is less difference between genders. Support staff scores lowest for all styles; this might indicate either less need for leadership or dissatisfaction with leadership. Age and work experience seem to reduce employees' attention to relation and change styles, indicating that maturity reduces needs for these leadership styles. Due to growing demands for leaders to take care of efficiency and change in general practice, more young female physicians, and more diverse staff groups, these findings may be useful to understand leadership and leadership training for general practice.

  8. Screening mammography beliefs and recommendations: a web-based survey of primary care physicians

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    Yasmeen Shagufta

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of screening mammography (SM for women younger than 50 and older than 74 years is debated in the clinical research community, among health care providers, and by the American public. This study explored primary care physicians' (PCPs perceptions of the influence of clinical practice guidelines for SM; the recommendations for SM in response to hypothetical case scenarios; and the factors associated with perceived SM effectiveness and recommendations in the US from June to December 2009 before the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF recently revised guidelines. Methods A nationally representative sample of 11,922 PCPs was surveyed using a web-based questionnaire. The response rate was 5.7% (684; (41% 271 family physicians (FP, (36% 232 general internal medicine physicians (IM, (23% 150 obstetrician-gynaecologists (OBG, and (0.2% 31 others. Cross-sectional analysis examined PCPs perceived effectiveness of SM, and recommendation for SM in response to hypothetical case scenarios. PCPs responses were measured using 4-5 point adjectival scales. Differences in perceived effectiveness and recommendations for SM were examined after adjusting for PCPs specialty, race/ethnicity, and the US region. Results Compared to IM and FP, OBG considered SM more effective in reducing breast cancer mortality among women aged 40-49 years (p = 0.003. Physicians consistently recommended mammography to women aged 50-69 years with no differences by specialty (p = 0.11. However, 94% of OBG "always recommended" SM to younger and 86% of older women compared to 81% and 67% for IM and 84% and 59% for FP respectively (p = p = Conclusions A majority of physicians, especially OBG, favour aggressive breast cancer screening for women from 40 through 79 years of age, including women with short life expectancy. Policy interventions should focus on educating providers to provide tailored recommendations for

  9. Effects of systematic asymmetric discounting on physician-patient interactions: a theoretical framework to explain poor compliance with lifestyle counseling

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    Fleischer Alan B

    2002-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This study advances the use of a utility model to model physician-patient interactions from the perspectives of physicians and patients. Presentation of the hypothesis In cases involving acute care, patient counseling involves a relatively straightforward transfer of information from the physician to a patient. The patient has less information than the physician on the impact the condition and its treatment have on utility. In decisions involving lifestyle changes, the patient may have more information than the physician on his/her utility of consumption; moreover, differences in discounting future health may contribute significantly to differences between patients' preferences and physicians' recommendations. Testing the hypothesis The expectation of differences in internal discount rate between patients and their physicians is discussed. Implications of the hypothesis This utility model provides a conceptual basis for the finding that educational approaches alone may not effect changes in patient behavior and suggests other economic variables that could be targeted in the attempt to produce healthier behavior.

  10. Fly-By medical care: Conceptualizing the global and local social responsibilities of medical tourists and physician voluntourists

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Medical tourism is a global health practice where patients travel abroad to receive health care. Voluntourism is a practice where physicians travel abroad to deliver health care. Both of these practices often entail travel from high income to low and middle income countries and both have been associated with possible negative impacts. In this paper, we explore the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists to identify commonalities and distinctions that can be used to develop a wider understanding of social responsibility in global health care practices. Discussion Social responsibility is a responsibility to promote the welfare of the communities to which one belongs or with which one interacts. Physicians stress their social responsibility to care for the welfare of their patients and their domestic communities. When physicians choose to travel to another county to provide medical care, this social responsibility is expanded to this new community. Patients too have a social responsibility to use their community's health resources efficiently and to promote the health of their community. When these patients choose to go abroad to receive medical care, this social responsibility applies to the new community as well. While voluntourists and medical tourists both see the scope of their social responsibilities expand by engaging in these global practices, the social responsibilities of physician voluntourists are much better defined than those of medical tourists. Guidelines for engaging in ethical voluntourism and training for voluntourists still need better development, but medical tourism as a practice should follow the lead of voluntourism by developing clearer norms for ethical medical tourism. Summary Much can be learned by examining the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists when they engage in global health practices. While each group needs better guidance for engaging in responsible forms of these practices

  11. Fly-By medical care: Conceptualizing the global and local social responsibilities of medical tourists and physician voluntourists

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    Crooks Valorie A

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Medical tourism is a global health practice where patients travel abroad to receive health care. Voluntourism is a practice where physicians travel abroad to deliver health care. Both of these practices often entail travel from high income to low and middle income countries and both have been associated with possible negative impacts. In this paper, we explore the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists to identify commonalities and distinctions that can be used to develop a wider understanding of social responsibility in global health care practices. Discussion Social responsibility is a responsibility to promote the welfare of the communities to which one belongs or with which one interacts. Physicians stress their social responsibility to care for the welfare of their patients and their domestic communities. When physicians choose to travel to another county to provide medical care, this social responsibility is expanded to this new community. Patients too have a social responsibility to use their community's health resources efficiently and to promote the health of their community. When these patients choose to go abroad to receive medical care, this social responsibility applies to the new community as well. While voluntourists and medical tourists both see the scope of their social responsibilities expand by engaging in these global practices, the social responsibilities of physician voluntourists are much better defined than those of medical tourists. Guidelines for engaging in ethical voluntourism and training for voluntourists still need better development, but medical tourism as a practice should follow the lead of voluntourism by developing clearer norms for ethical medical tourism. Summary Much can be learned by examining the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists when they engage in global health practices. While each group needs better guidance for engaging in

  12. Fly-By medical care: Conceptualizing the global and local social responsibilities of medical tourists and physician voluntourists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Jeremy; Dharamsi, Shafik; Crooks, Valorie A

    2011-04-06

    Medical tourism is a global health practice where patients travel abroad to receive health care. Voluntourism is a practice where physicians travel abroad to deliver health care. Both of these practices often entail travel from high income to low and middle income countries and both have been associated with possible negative impacts. In this paper, we explore the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists to identify commonalities and distinctions that can be used to develop a wider understanding of social responsibility in global health care practices. Social responsibility is a responsibility to promote the welfare of the communities to which one belongs or with which one interacts. Physicians stress their social responsibility to care for the welfare of their patients and their domestic communities. When physicians choose to travel to another county to provide medical care, this social responsibility is expanded to this new community. Patients too have a social responsibility to use their community's health resources efficiently and to promote the health of their community. When these patients choose to go abroad to receive medical care, this social responsibility applies to the new community as well. While voluntourists and medical tourists both see the scope of their social responsibilities expand by engaging in these global practices, the social responsibilities of physician voluntourists are much better defined than those of medical tourists. Guidelines for engaging in ethical voluntourism and training for voluntourists still need better development, but medical tourism as a practice should follow the lead of voluntourism by developing clearer norms for ethical medical tourism. Much can be learned by examining the social responsibilities of medical tourists and voluntourists when they engage in global health practices. While each group needs better guidance for engaging in responsible forms of these practices, patients are at a

  13. Satisfaction with electronic health records is associated with job satisfaction among primary care physicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine D Jones

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective To evaluate the association between electronic health record (EHR satisfaction and job satisfaction in primary care physicians (PCPs.Method Cross-sectional survey of PCPs at 825 primary care practices in North Carolina.Results Surveys were returned from 283 individuals across 214 practices (26% response rate for practices, of whom 122 were physicians with EHRs and no missing information. We found that for each point increase in EHR satisfaction, job satisfaction increased by ~0.36 points both in an unadjusted and an adjusted model (β 0.359 unadjusted, 0.361 adjusted; p < 0.001 for both models.Conclusion We found that EHR satisfaction was associated with job satisfaction in a cross-sectional survey of PCPs. Our conclusions are limited by suboptimum survey response rate, but if confirmed may have substantial implications for how EHR vendors develop their product to support the needs of PCPs.

  14. Developing physician-leaders: a call to action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoller, James K

    2009-07-01

    The many challenges in health care today create a special need for great leadership. However, traditional criteria for physicians' advancement to leadership positions often regard academic and/or clinical accomplishments rather than the distinctive competencies needed to lead. Furthermore, physicians' training can handicap their developing leadership skills. In this context, an emerging trend is for health-care institutions to offer physician-leadership programs. This paper reviews the rationale for developing physician-leaders. Factors that underscore this need include: (1) physicians may lack inclinations to collaborate and to follow, (2) health-care organizations pose challenging environments in which to lead (e.g., because of silo-based structures, etc.), (3) traditional criteria for advancement in medicine regard clinical and/or academic skills rather than leadership competencies, and (4) little attention is currently given to training physicians regarding leadership competencies. Definition of these competencies of ideal physician-leaders will inform the curricula and format of emerging physician leadership development programs.

  15. Non-physician providers as clinical providers in cystic fibrosis: survey of U.S. programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Rebekah F; Willey-Courand, Donna Beth; George, Cindy; McMullen, Ann; Dunitz, Jordan; Slovis, Bonnie; Perkett, Elizabeth

    2013-04-01

    Non-physician providers (NPPs) including nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are important members of CF care teams, but limited data exist about the extent NPPs are involved in CF care. A subcommittee was established by the CF Foundation to gather information about current involvement of NPPs. Surveys were sent to adult, pediatric and affiliate CF program directors (PDs) and NPPs working in US CF programs. Responses were received from 108 PDs (49% pediatric, 34% adult, 17% affiliate). Overall, 53% of the 108 programs had NPPs and 70% had or planned to hire NPPs. Reasons for NPP use included ideal clinical role (75%), expansion of services (72%), and physician shortage (40%). The survey collected 73 responses from NPPs (96% NPs, 4% PAs) who worked in pediatric (49%), adult (29%), affiliate (3%), or multiple programs (19%). Training occurred on the job in 88% and from prior CF experience in 21%. NPPs provided coverage in outpatient clinics (82%), inpatient care (64%), and weekend and/or night call (22%). In addition to clinical roles, NPPs are involved in education (95%), research (81%), and leadership (55%). The major obstacle reported by PDs and NPPs was billing with only 12% of programs reporting NPP salaries covered by billing revenue alone. Salary support included hospital support (67%), billing (39%), center grant (35%), and other grant/contract (25%). NPPs bill for outpatient and inpatient care in 65% and 28% of programs, respectively. NPPs are working with physicians in many centers and have the potential to help meet the increasing clinical workforce demands. Further evaluation of financial issues is indicated to continue the support of NPP jobs in CF. Roles and expectations need to be clearly defined. Initial and ongoing training standards and opportunities should be explored. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Physician's sociodemographic profile and distribution across public and private health care: an insight into physicians' dual practice in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miotto, Bruno Alonso; Guilloux, Aline Gil Alves; Cassenote, Alex Jones Flores; Mainardi, Giulia Marcelino; Russo, Giuliano; Scheffer, Mário César

    2018-04-23

    The intertwined relation between public and private care in Brazil is reshaping the medical profession, possibly affecting the distribution and profile of the country's medical workforce. Physicians' simultaneous engagement in public and private services is a common and unregulated practice in Brazil, but the influence played by contextual factors and personal characteristics over dual practice engagement are still poorly understood. This study aimed at exploring the sociodemographic profile of Brazilian physicians to shed light on the links between their personal characteristics and their distribution across public and private services. A nation-wide cross-sectional study using primary data was conducted in 2014. A representative sample size of 2400 physicians was calculated based  on the National Council of Medicine database registries; telephone interviews were conducted to explore physicians' sociodemographic characteristics and their engagement with public and private services. From the 2400 physicians included, 51.45% were currently working in both the public and private services, while 26.95% and 21.58% were working exclusively in the private and public sectors, respectively. Public sector physicians were found to be younger (PR 0.84 [0.68-0.89]; PR 0.47 [0.38-0.56]), less experienced (PR 0.78 [0.73-0.94]; PR 0.44 [0.36-0.53]) and predominantly female (PR 0.79 [0.71-0.88]; PR 0.68 [0.6-0.78]) when compared to dual and private practitioners; their income was substantially lower than those working exclusively for the private (PR 0.58 [0.48-0.69]) and mixed sectors (PR 0.31 [0.25-0.37]). Conversely, physicians from the private sector were found to be typically senior (PR 1.96 [1.58-2.43]), specialized (PR 1.29 [1.17-1.42]) and male (PR 1.35 [1.21-1.51]), often working less than 20 h per week (PR 2.04 [1.4-2.96]). Dual practitioners were mostly middle-aged (PR 1.3 [1.16-1.45]), male specialists with 10 to 30 years of medical practice (PR 1.23 [1

  17. Attitudes of Bedouin and Jewish Physicians Towards the Medical Care for Persons with Intellectual Disability in the Bedouin Negev Community. A Pilot Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Morad

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Change in the attitudes of staff or the public towards people with intellectual disability (ID can impact their life and health, but that change has not been studied among physicians who belong to an ethnic minority undergoing dramatic social and economic transition. The goal of this study was to explore the change of attitudes of Negev Bedouin physicians serving their community and their satisfaction with policy, care, and knowledge in the field of ID. Seventeen community physicians (7 Bedouins and 10 Jewish were interviewed using a simple questionnaire that consisted of items measuring attitude and satisfaction. The vast majority of the Bedouin and Jewish physicians had positive attitudes toward inclusion of those in the community with ID and were ready to provide the care needed in the community with special assistance. There was a need for further education in ID and more resources. There was a belief that there is discrimination between the Bedouin and Jewish community in the provision of care to people with ID. General dissatisfaction was expressed about the policy, resources, care provision, and expertise offered to Bedouins with ID. More efforts must be directed to empower the physicians with knowledge, expertise, and resources to handle the care of Bedouins with ID in a culturally appropriate way.

  18. Administrative Costs Associated With Physician Billing and Insurance-Related Activities at an Academic Health Care System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Phillip; Kaplan, Robert S; Richman, Barak D; Shah, Mahek A; Schulman, Kevin A

    2018-02-20

    Administrative costs in the US health care system are an important component of total health care spending, and a substantial proportion of these costs are attributable to billing and insurance-related activities. To examine and estimate the administrative costs associated with physician billing activities in a large academic health care system with a certified electronic health record system. This study used time-driven activity-based costing. Interviews were conducted with 27 health system administrators and 34 physicians in 2016 and 2017 to construct a process map charting the path of an insurance claim through the revenue cycle management process. These data were used to calculate the cost for each major billing and insurance-related activity and were aggregated to estimate the health system's total cost of processing an insurance claim. Estimated time required to perform billing and insurance-related activities, based on interviews with management personnel and physicians. Estimated billing and insurance-related costs for 5 types of patient encounters: primary care visits, discharged emergency department visits, general medicine inpatient stays, ambulatory surgical procedures, and inpatient surgical procedures. Estimated processing time and total costs for billing and insurance-related activities were 13 minutes and $20.49 for a primary care visit, 32 minutes and $61.54 for a discharged emergency department visit, 73 minutes and $124.26 for a general inpatient stay, 75 minutes and $170.40 for an ambulatory surgical procedure, and 100 minutes and $215.10 for an inpatient surgical procedure. Of these totals, time and costs for activities carried out by physicians were estimated at a median of 3 minutes or $6.36 for a primary care visit, 3 minutes or $10.97 for an emergency department visit, 5 minutes or $13.29 for a general inpatient stay, 15 minutes or $51.20 for an ambulatory surgical procedure, and 15 minutes or $51.20 for an inpatient surgical procedure. Of

  19. Patient and family involvement in contemporary health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angood, Peter; Dingman, Jennifer; Foley, Mary E; Ford, Dan; Martins, Becky; O'Regan, Patti; Salamendra, Arlene; Sheridan, Sue; Denham, Charles R

    2010-03-01

    The objective of this article was to provide a guide to health care providers on patient and family involvement in health care. This article evaluated the latest published studies for patient and family involvement and reexamined the objectives, the requirements for achieving these objectives, and the evidence of how to involve patients and families. Critical components for patient safety include changing the organizational culture; including patients and families on teams; listening to patients and families; incorporating their input into leadership structures and systems; providing full detail about treatment, procedures, and medication adverse effects; involving them on patient safety and performance improvement committees; and disclosing medical errors. The conclusion of this article is that, for the future, patient and family involvement starts with educating patients and families and ends with listening to them and taking them seriously. If patient and family input is emphatically built into systems of performance improvement, and if patients and families are taken seriously and are respected for their valuable perspectives about how care can be improved, then organizations can improve at improving. Resources in health care are in short supply, yet the resources of patient and family help and time are almost limitless, are ready to be tapped, and can have a huge impact on improving the reliability and overall success for any health care organization.

  20. Prevalence of chronic pancreatitis: Results of a primary care physician-based population study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capurso, Gabriele; Archibugi, Livia; Pasquali, Piera; Aceti, Alessandro; Balducci, Paolo; Bianchi, Patrizia; Buono, Francesco; Camerucci, Stefano; Cantarini, Rosanna; Centofanti, Sergio; Colantonio, Patrizia; Cremaschi, Riccarda; Crescenzi, Sergio; Di Mauro, Caterina; Di Renzi, Davide; Filabozzi, Andrea; Fiorillo, Alfonso; Giancaspro, Giuseppe; Giovannetti, Paola; Lanna, Giuseppe; Medori, Claudio; Merletti, Emilio; Nunnari, Enzo; Paris, Francesca; Pavone, Marco; Piacenti, Angela; Rossi, Almerindo; Scamuffa, Maria Cristina; Spinelli, Giovanni; Taborchi, Marco; Valente, Biagio; Villanova, Antonella; Chiriatti, Alberto; Delle Fave, Gianfranco

    2017-05-01

    Data on chronic pancreatitis prevalence are scanty and usually limited to hospital-based studies. Investigating chronic pancreatitis prevalence in primary care. Participating primary care physicians reported the prevalence of chronic pancreatitis among their registered patients, environmental factors and disease characteristics. The data were centrally reviewed and chronic pancreatitis cases defined according to M-ANNHEIM criteria for diagnosis and severity and TIGAR-O classification for etiology. Twenty-three primary care physicians participated in the study. According to their judgment, 51 of 36.401 patients had chronic pancreatitis. After reviewing each patient data, 11 turned out to have definite, 5 probable, 19 borderline and 16 uncertain disease. Prevalence was 30.2/100.000 for definite cases and 44.0/100.000 for definite plus probable cases. Of the 16 patients with definite/probable diagnosis, 8 were male, with mean age of 55.6 (±16.7). Four patients had alcoholic etiology, 5 post-acute/recurrent pancreatitis, 6 were deemed to be idiopathic. Four had pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, 10 were receiving pancreatic enzymes, and six had pain. Most patients had initial stage and non-severe disease. This is the first study investigating the prevalence of chronic pancreatitis in primary care. Results suggest that the prevalence in this context is higher than in hospital-based studies, with specific features, possibly representing an earlier disease stage. Copyright © 2016 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Supplementary physicians' fees: a sustainable system?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calcoen, Piet; van de Ven, Wynand P M M

    2018-01-25

    In Belgium and France, physicians can charge a supplementary fee on top of the tariff set by the mandatory basic health insurance scheme. In both countries, the supplementary fee system is under pressure because of financial sustainability concerns and a lack of added value for the patient. Expenditure on supplementary fees is increasing much faster than total health expenditure. So far, measures taken to curb this trend have not been successful. For certain categories of physicians, supplementary fees represent one-third of total income. For patients, however, the added value of supplementary fees is not that clear. Supplementary fees can buy comfort and access to physicians who refuse to treat patients who are not willing to pay supplementary fees. Perceived quality of care plays an important role in patients' willingness to pay supplementary fees. Today, there is no evidence that physicians who charge supplementary fees provide better quality of care than physicians who do not. However, linking supplementary fees to objectively proven quality of care and limiting access to top quality care to patients able and willing to pay supplementary fees might not be socially acceptable in many countries. Our conclusion is that supplementary physicians' fees are not sustainable.

  2. Using internal communication as a marketing strategy: gaining physician commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heine, R P

    1990-01-01

    In the ambulatory care industry, increased competition and promotional costs are pressuring managers to design more creative and effective marketing strategies. One largely overlooked strategy is careful monitoring of the daily communication between physicians and ambulatory care staff providing physician services. Satisfying physician communication needs is the key to increasing physician commitment and referrals. This article outlines the steps necessary to first monitor, then improve the quality of all communication provided to physicians by ambulatory care personnel.

  3. Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Intensive Care Unit: A Dialogue on Core Ethical Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goligher, Ewan C.; Ely, E. Wesley; Sulmasy, Daniel P.; Bakker, Jan; Raphael, John; Volandes, Angelo E.; Patel, Bhavesh M.; Payne, Kate; Hosie, Annmarie; Churchill, Larry; White, Douglas B.; Downar, James

    2016-01-01

    Objective Many patients are admitted to the intensive care unit at or near the end of their lives. Consequently, the increasingly common debate regarding physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia (PAS/E) holds implications for the practice of critical care medicine. The objective of this manuscript is to explore core ethical issues related to PAS/E from the perspective of healthcare professionals and ethicists on both sides of the debate. Synthesis We identified four issues highlighting the key areas of ethical tension central to evaluating PAS/E in medical practice: (1) the benefit or harm of death itself, (2) the relationship between PAS/E and withholding or withdrawing life support, (3) the morality of a physician deliberately causing death, and (4) the management of conscientious objection related to PAS/E in the critical care setting. We present areas of common ground as well as important unresolved differences. Conclusions We reached differing positions on the first three core ethical questions and achieved significant agreement on how critical care clinicians should manage conscientious objections related to PAS/E. The alternative positions presented in this paper may serve to promote open and informed dialogue within the critical care community. PMID:28098622

  4. Workforce ethnic diversity and culturally competent health care: the case of Arab physicians in Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popper-Giveon, Ariela; Liberman, Ido; Keshet, Yael

    2014-01-01

    In recent years, a growing body of literature has been calling for ethnic diversity in health systems, especially in multicultural contexts. Ethnic diversity within the health care workforce is considered to play an important role in reducing health disparities among different ethnic groups. The present study explores the topic using quantitative data on participation of Arab employees in the Israeli health system and qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with Arab physicians working in the predominantly Jewish Israeli health system. We show that despite the underrepresentation of Arabs in the Israeli health system, Arab physicians who hold positions in Israeli hospitals do not perceive themselves as representatives of the Arab sector; moreover, they consider themselves as having broken through the 'glass ceiling' and reject stereotyping as Arab 'niche doctors.' We conclude that minority physicians may prefer to promote culturally competent health care through integration and advocacy of interaction with the different cultures represented in the population, rather than serving as representatives of their own ethnic minority population. These findings may concern various medical contexts in which issues of ethnic underrepresentation in the health system are relevant, as well as sociological contexts, especially those regarding minority populations and professions.

  5. Physician choice making and characteristics associated with using physician-rating websites: cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emmert, Martin; Meier, Florian; Pisch, Frank; Sander, Uwe

    2013-08-28

    Over the past decade, physician-rating websites have been gaining attention in scientific literature and in the media. However, little knowledge is available about the awareness and the impact of using such sites on health care professionals. It also remains unclear what key predictors are associated with the knowledge and the use of physician-rating websites. To estimate the current level of awareness and use of physician-rating websites in Germany and to determine their impact on physician choice making and the key predictors which are associated with the knowledge and the use of physician-rating websites. This study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. An online panel was consulted in January 2013. A questionnaire was developed containing 28 questions; a pretest was carried out to assess the comprehension of the questionnaire. Several sociodemographic (eg, age, gender, health insurance status, Internet use) and 2 health-related independent variables (ie, health status and health care utilization) were included. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and t tests. Binary multivariate logistic regression models were performed for elaborating the characteristics of physician-rating website users. Results from the logistic regression are presented for both the observed and weighted sample. In total, 1505 respondents (mean age 43.73 years, SD 14.39; 857/1505, 57.25% female) completed our survey. Of all respondents, 32.09% (483/1505) heard of physician-rating websites and 25.32% (381/1505) already had used a website when searching for a physician. Furthermore, 11.03% (166/1505) had already posted a rating on a physician-rating website. Approximately 65.35% (249/381) consulted a particular physician based on the ratings shown on the websites; in contrast, 52.23% (199/381) had not consulted a particular physician because of the publicly reported ratings. Significantly higher likelihoods for being aware of the websites could be

  6. Can complexity science inform physician leadership development?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grady, Colleen Marie

    2016-07-04

    Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe research that examined physician leadership development using complexity science principles. Design/methodology/approach Intensive interviewing of 21 participants and document review provided data regarding physician leadership development in health-care organizations using five principles of complexity science (connectivity, interdependence, feedback, exploration-of-the-space-of-possibilities and co-evolution), which were grouped in three areas of inquiry (relationships between agents, patterns of behaviour and enabling functions). Findings Physician leaders are viewed as critical in the transformation of healthcare and in improving patient outcomes, and yet significant challenges exist that limit their development. Leadership in health care continues to be associated with traditional, linear models, which are incongruent with the behaviour of a complex system, such as health care. Physician leadership development remains a low priority for most health-care organizations, although physicians admit to being limited in their capacity to lead. This research was based on five principles of complexity science and used grounded theory methodology to understand how the behaviours of a complex system can provide data regarding leadership development for physicians. The study demonstrated that there is a strong association between physician leadership and patient outcomes and that organizations play a primary role in supporting the development of physician leaders. Findings indicate that a physician's relationship with their patient and their capacity for innovation can be extended as catalytic behaviours in a complex system. The findings also identified limiting factors that impact physicians who choose to lead, such as reimbursement models that do not place value on leadership and medical education that provides minimal opportunity for leadership skill development. Practical Implications This research provides practical

  7. Burnout among physicians

    OpenAIRE

    Romani, Maya; Ashkar, Khalil

    2014-01-01

    Burnout is a common syndrome seen in healthcare workers, particularly physicians who are exposed to a high level of stress at work; it includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Burnout among physicians has garnered significant attention because of the negative impact it renders on patient care and medical personnel. Physicians who had high burnout levels reportedly committed more medical errors. Stress management programs that range from relaxation to ...

  8. Medicaid Primary Care Physician Fees and the Use of Preventive Services among Medicaid Enrollees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atherly, Adam; Mortensen, Karoline

    2014-01-01

    Objective The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) increases Medicaid physician fees for preventive care up to Medicare rates for 2013 and 2014. The purpose of this paper was to model the relationship between Medicaid preventive care payment rates and the use of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)–recommended preventive care use among Medicaid enrollees. Data Sources/Study Session We used data from the 2003 and 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a national probability sample of the U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population, linked to Kaiser state Medicaid benefits data, including the state Medicaid-to-Medicare physician fee ratio in 2003 and 2008. Study Design Probit models were used to estimate the probability that eligible individuals received one of five USPSF-recommended preventive services. A difference-in-difference model was used to separate out the effect of changes in the Medicaid payment rate and other factors. Data Collection/Extraction Methods Data were linked using state identifiers. Principal Findings Although Medicaid enrollees had a lower rate of use of the five preventive services in univariate analysis, neither Medicaid enrollment nor changes in Medicaid payment rates had statistically significant effects on meeting screening recommendations for the five screenings. The results were robust to a number of different sensitivity tests. Individual and state characteristics were significant. Conclusions Our results suggest that although temporary changes in primary care provider payments for preventive services for Medicaid enrollees may have other desirable effects, they are unlikely to substantially increase the use of these selected USPSTF-recommended preventive care services among Medicaid enrollees. PMID:24628495

  9. Total expenditures per patient in hospital-owned and physician-owned physician organizations in California.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, James C; Miller, Kelly

    Hospitals are rapidly acquiring medical groups and physician practices. This consolidation may foster cooperation and thereby reduce expenditures, but also may lead to higher expenditures through greater use of hospital-based ambulatory services and through greater hospital pricing leverage against health insurers. To determine whether total expenditures per patient were higher in physician organizations (integrated medical groups and independent practice associations) owned by local hospitals or multihospital systems compared with groups owned by participating physicians. Data were obtained on total expenditures for the care provided to 4.5 million patients treated by integrated medical groups and independent practice associations in California between 2009 and 2012. The patients were covered by commercial health maintenance organization (HMO) insurance and the data did not include patients covered by commercial preferred provider organization (PPO) insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Total expenditures per patient annually, measured in terms of what insurers paid to the physician organizations for professional services, to hospitals for inpatient and outpatient procedures, to clinical laboratories for diagnostic tests, and to pharmaceutical manufacturers for drugs and biologics. Annual expenditures per patient were compared after adjusting for patient illness burden, geographic input costs, and organizational characteristics. Of the 158 organizations, 118 physician organizations (75%) were physician-owned and provided care for 3,065,551 patients, 19 organizations (12%) were owned by local hospitals and provided care for 728,608 patients, and 21 organizations (13%) were owned by multihospital systems and provided care for 693,254 patients. In 2012, physician-owned physician organizations had mean expenditures of $3066 per patient (95% CI, $2892 to $3240), hospital-owned physician organizations had mean expenditures of $4312 per patient (95% CI, $3768 to $4857), and

  10. Empathy Is a Protective Factor of Burnout in Physicians: New Neuro-Phenomenological Hypotheses Regarding Empathy and Sympathy in Care Relationship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thirioux, Bérangère; Birault, François; Jaafari, Nematollah

    2016-01-01

    Burnout is a multidimensional work-related syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization-or cynicism-and diminution of personal accomplishment. Burnout particularly affects physicians. In medicine as well as other professions, burnout occurrence depends on personal, developmental-psychodynamic, professional, and environmental factors. Recently, it has been proposed to specifically define burnout in physicians as "pathology of care relationship." That is, burnout would arise, among the above-mentioned factors, from the specificity of the care relationship as it develops between the physician and the patient. Accordingly, experimental studies and theoretical approaches have suggested that burnout and empathy, which is one of the most important skills in physicians, are closely linked. However, the nature of the relation between burnout and empathy remains not yet understood, as reflected in the variety of theoretical and contradictory hypotheses attempting to causally relate these two phenomena. Firstly, we here question the epistemological problem concerning the modality of the burnout-empathy link. Secondly, we hypothesize that considering the multidimensional features of both burnout and empathy, on one hand, and on the other hand, the distinction between empathy and sympathy enables to overcome these contradictions and, consequently, gives a better understanding of the relationship between burnout and empathy in physicians. Thirdly, we propose that clarifying the link between burnout, empathy and sympathy would enable developing specific training in medical students and continuous professional formation in senior physicians and would potentially contribute to the prevention of burnout in medical care.

  11. Empathy is a protective factor of burnout in physicians: new neuro-phenomenological hypotheses regarding empathy and sympathy in care relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Berangere eTHIRIOUX

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Burnout is a multidimensional work-related syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization – or cynicism – and diminution of personal accomplishment. Burnout particularly affects physicians. In medicine as well as other professions, burnout occurrence depends on personal, developmental-psychodynamic, professional and environmental factors. Recently, it has been proposed to specifically define burnout in physicians as pathology of care relationship. That is, burnout would arise, among the above-mentioned factors, from the specificity of the care relationship as it develops between the physician and the patient. Accordingly, experimental studies and theoretical approaches have suggested that burnout and empathy, which is one of the most important skills in physicians, are closely linked. However, the nature of the relation between burnout and empathy remains not yet understood, as reflected in the variety of theoretical and contradictory hypotheses attempting to causally relate these two phenomena. Firstly, we here question the epistemological problem concerning the modality of the burnout-empathy link. Secondly, we hypothesize that considering the multidimensional features of both burnout and empathy, on one hand, and on the other hand, the distinction between empathy and sympathy enables to overcome these contradictions and, consequently, gives a better understanding of the relationship between burnout and empathy in physicians. Thirdly, we propose that clarifying the link between burnout, empathy and sympathy would enable developing specific training in medical students and continuous professional formation in senior physicians and would potentially contribute to the prevention of burnout in medical care.

  12. Empathy Is a Protective Factor of Burnout in Physicians: New Neuro-Phenomenological Hypotheses Regarding Empathy and Sympathy in Care Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thirioux, Bérangère; Birault, François; Jaafari, Nematollah

    2016-01-01

    Burnout is a multidimensional work-related syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization—or cynicism—and diminution of personal accomplishment. Burnout particularly affects physicians. In medicine as well as other professions, burnout occurrence depends on personal, developmental-psychodynamic, professional, and environmental factors. Recently, it has been proposed to specifically define burnout in physicians as “pathology of care relationship.” That is, burnout would arise, among the above-mentioned factors, from the specificity of the care relationship as it develops between the physician and the patient. Accordingly, experimental studies and theoretical approaches have suggested that burnout and empathy, which is one of the most important skills in physicians, are closely linked. However, the nature of the relation between burnout and empathy remains not yet understood, as reflected in the variety of theoretical and contradictory hypotheses attempting to causally relate these two phenomena. Firstly, we here question the epistemological problem concerning the modality of the burnout-empathy link. Secondly, we hypothesize that considering the multidimensional features of both burnout and empathy, on one hand, and on the other hand, the distinction between empathy and sympathy enables to overcome these contradictions and, consequently, gives a better understanding of the relationship between burnout and empathy in physicians. Thirdly, we propose that clarifying the link between burnout, empathy and sympathy would enable developing specific training in medical students and continuous professional formation in senior physicians and would potentially contribute to the prevention of burnout in medical care. PMID:27303328

  13. Changes in Payer Mix and Physician Reimbursement After the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Christine D.; Scott, Serena J.; Anoff, Debra L.; Pierce, Read G.; Glasheen, Jeffrey J.

    2015-01-01

    Although uncompensated care for hospital-based care has fallen dramatically since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, the changes in hospital physician reimbursement are not known. We evaluated if payer mix and physician reimbursement by encounter changed between 2013 and 2014 in an academic hospitalist practice in a Medicaid expansion state. This was a retrospective cohort study of all general medicine inpatient admissions to an academic hospitalist group in 2013 and 2014. The proportion of encounters by payer and reimbursement/inpatient encounter were compared in 2013 versus 2014. A sensitivity analysis determined the relative contribution of different factors to the change in reimbursement/encounter. Among 37 540 and 40 397 general medicine inpatient encounters in 2013 and 2014, respectively, Medicaid encounters increased (17.3% to 30.0%, P reimbursement/encounter increased 4.2% from $79.98/encounter in 2013 to $83.36/encounter in 2014 (P reimbursement for encounter type by payer accounted for −0.7%, 0.8%, 2.0%, and 2.3% of the reimbursement change, respectively. From 2013 to 2014, Medicaid encounters increased, and uninsured and private payer encounters decreased within our hospitalist practice. Reimbursement/encounter also increased, much of which could be attributed to a change in payer mix. Further analyses of physician reimbursement in Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states would further delineate reimbursement changes that are directly attributable to Medicaid expansion. PMID:26310500

  14. Perceived Nurse-Physician Communication in Patient Care and Associated Factors in Public Hospitals of Jimma Zone, South West Ethiopia: Cross Sectional Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fikadu Balcha Hailu

    Full Text Available Nurse-physician communication has been shown to have a significant impact on the job satisfaction and retention of staff. In areas where it has been studied, communication failure between nurses and physicians was found to be one of the leading causes of preventable patient injuries, complications, death and medical malpractice claims.The objective of this study is to determine perception of nurses and physicians towards nurse-physician communication in patient care and associated factors in public hospitals of Jimma zone, southwest Ethiopia.Institution based cross-sectional survey was conducted from March 10 to April 16, 2014 among 341 nurses and 168 physicians working in public hospitals in Jimma zone. Data was collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire; entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0 for analysis. Factor analysis was carried out. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, linear regression and one way analysis of variance were used. Variables with P-value < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.The response rate of the study was 91.55%. The mean perceived nurse-physician communication scores were 50.88±19.7% for perceived professional respect and satisfaction, and 48.52±19.7% for perceived openness and sharing of patient information on nurse-physician communication. Age, salary and organizational factors were statistically significant predictors for perceived respect and satisfaction. Whereas sex, working hospital, work attitude individual factors and organizational factors were significant predictors of perceived openness and sharing of patient information in nurse-physician communication during patient care.Perceived level of nurse-physician communication mean score was low among nurses than physicians and it is attention seeking gap. Hence, the finding of our study suggests the need for developing and implementing nurse-physician

  15. Physician views on practicing professionalism in the corporate age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castellani, B; Wear, D

    2000-07-01

    Arnold Relman argues that medical education does not prepare students and residents to practice their profession in today's corporate health care system. Corporate health care administrators agree: Physicians enter the workforce unskilled in contract negotiation, evidence-based medicine, navigating bureaucratic systems, and so forth. What about practicing physicians? Do they agree as well? According to this study, they do. Feeling like decentered double agents and unprepared, physicians find themselves professionally lost, struggling to balance issues of cost and care and expressing lots of negativity toward the cultures of medicine and managed care. However, physicians are resilient. A group of physicians, who may be called proactive, are meeting the professional demands of corporate health care by becoming sophisticated about its bureaucratic organization and the ways in which their professional and personal commitments fit within the system. Following the lead of proactive physicians, the authors support Relman's thesis and education for both students and physicians requires a major overhaul.

  16. Mental health in young adults and adolescents - supporting general physicians to provide holistic care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurewicz, Izabela

    2015-04-01

    In the era of an ageing population, young adults on medical wards are quite rare, as only 12% of young adults report a long-term illness or disability. However, mental health problems remain prevalent in the younger population. In a recent report, mental health and obesity were listed as the most common problems in young adults. Teams set up specifically for the needs of younger adults, such as early intervention in psychosis services are shown to work better than traditional care and have also proven to be cost effective. On the medical wards, younger patients may elicit strong emotions in staff, who often feel protective and may identify strongly with the young patient's suffering. In order to provide holistic care for young adults, general physicians need to recognise common presentations of mental illness in young adults such as depression, deliberate self-harm, eating disorders and substance misuse. Apart from treating illness, health promotion is particularly important for young adults. © 2015 Royal College of Physicians.

  17. National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: terrorism preparedness among office-based physicians, United States, 2003-2004.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niska, Richard W; Burt, Catharine W

    2007-07-24

    This investigation describes terrorism preparedness among U.S. office-based physicians and their staffs in identification and diagnosis of terrorism-related conditions, training methods and sources, and assistance with diagnosis and reporting. The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is an annual national probability survey of approximately 3,000 U.S. nonfederal, office-based physicians. Terrorism preparedness items were added in 2003 and 2004. About 40 percent of physicians or their staffs received training for anthrax or smallpox, but less than one-third received training for any of the other exposures. About 42.2 percent of physicians, 13.5 percent of nurses, and 9.4 percent of physician assistants and nurse practitioners received training in at least one exposure. Approximately 56.2 percent of physicians indicated that they would contact state or local public health officials for diagnostic assistance more frequently than federal agencies and other sources. About 67.1 percent of physicians indicated that they would report a suspected terrorism-related condition to the state or local health department, 50.9 percent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 27.5 percent to the local hospital, and 1.8 percent to a local elected official's office. Approximately 78.8 percent of physicians had contact information for the local health department readily available. About 53.7 percent had reviewed the diseases reportable to health departments since September 2001, 11.3 percent had reviewed them before that month, and 35 percent had never reviewed them.

  18. Psychosocial challenges facing physicians of today.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnetz, B B

    2001-01-01

    Fundamental changes in the organization, financing, and delivery of health care have added new stressors or opportunities to the medical profession. These new potential stressors are in addition to previously recognized external and internal ones. The work environment of physicians poses both psychosocial, ergonomic, and physico-chemical threats. The psychosocial work environment has, if anything, worsened. Demands at work increase at the same time as influence over one's work and intellectual stimulation from work decrease. In addition, violence and the threat of violence is another major occupational health problem physicians increasingly face. Financial constraint, managed care and consumerism in health care are other factors that fundamentally change the role of physicians. The rapid deployment of new information technologies will also change the role of the physician towards being more of an advisor and information provider. Many of the minor health problems will increasingly be managed by patients themselves and by non-physician professionals and practitioners of complementary medicine. Finally, the economic and social status of physicians are challenged which is reflected in a slower salary increase compared to many other professional groups. The picture painted above may be seen as uniformly gloomy. In reality, that is not the case. There is growing interest in and awareness of the importance of the psychosocial work environment for the delivery of high quality care. Physicians under stress are more likely to treat patients poorly, both medically and psychologically. They are also more prone to make errors of judgment. Studies where physicians' work environment in entire hospitals has been assessed, results fed-back, and physicians and management have worked with focused improvement processes, have demonstrated measurable improvements in the ratings of the psychosocial work environment. However, it becomes clear from such studies that quality of the

  19. Exploring dementia management attitudes in primary care: a key informant survey to primary care physicians in 25 European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrazzuoli, Ferdinando; Vinker, Shlomo; Koskela, Tuomas H; Frese, Thomas; Buono, Nicola; Soler, Jean Karl; Ahrensberg, Jette; Asenova, Radost; Foguet Boreu, Quintí; Ceyhun Peker, Gülsen; Collins, Claire; Hanževački, Miro; Hoffmann, Kathryn; Iftode, Claudia; Kurpas, Donata; Le Reste, Jean Yves; Lichtwarck, Bjørn; Petek, Davorina; Pinto, Daniel; Schrans, Diego; Streit, Sven; Tang, Eugene Yee Hing; Tatsioni, Athina; Torzsa, Péter; Unalan, Pemra C; van Marwijk, Harm; Thulesius, Hans

    2017-09-01

    Strategies for the involvement of primary care in the management of patients with presumed or diagnosed dementia are heterogeneous across Europe. We wanted to explore attitudes of primary care physicians (PCPs) when managing dementia: (i) the most popular cognitive tests, (ii) who had the right to initiate or continue cholinesterase inhibitor or memantine treatment, and (iii) the relationship between the permissiveness of these rules/guidelines and PCP's approach in the dementia investigations and assessment. Key informant survey. Primary care practices across 25 European countries. Four hundred forty-five PCPs responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Two-step cluster analysis was performed using characteristics of the informants and the responses to the survey. Two by two contingency tables with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the association between categorical variables. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to assess the association of multiple variables (age class, gender, and perceived prescription rules) with the PCPs' attitude of "trying to establish a diagnosis of dementia on their own." Discrepancies between rules/guidelines and attitudes to dementia management was found in many countries. There was a strong association between the authorization to prescribe dementia drugs and pursuing dementia diagnostic work-up (odds ratio, 3.45; 95% CI 2.28-5.23). Differing regulations about who does what in dementia management seemed to affect PCP's engagement in dementia investigations and assessment. PCPs who were allowed to prescribe dementia drugs also claimed higher engagement in dementia work-up than PCPs who were not allowed to prescribe.

  20. Determination of death after circulatory arrest by intensive care physicians: A survey of current practice in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wind, Jentina; van Mook, Walther N K A; Dhanani, Sonny; van Heurn, Ernest W L

    2016-02-01

    Determination of death is an essential part of donation after circulatory death (DCD). We studied the current practices of determination of death after circulatory arrest by intensive care physicians in the Netherlands, the availability of guidelines, and the occurrence of the phenomenon of autoresuscitation. The Determination of Cardiac Death Practices in Intensive Care Survey was sent to all intensive care physicians. Fifty-five percent of 568 Dutch intensive care physicians responded. Most respondents learned death determination from clinical practice. The most commonly used tests for death determination were flat arterial line tracing, flat electrocardiogram (standard 3-lead electrocardiogram), and fixed and dilated pupils. Rarely used tests were absence pulse by echo Doppler, absent blood pressure by noninvasive monitoring, and unresponsiveness to painful stimulus. No diagnostic test or procedure was uniformly performed, but 80% of respondents perceived a need for standardization of death determination. Autoresuscitation was witnessed by 37%, after withdrawal of treatment or after unsuccessful resuscitation. Extensive variability in the practice of determining death after circulatory arrest exists, and a need for guidelines and standardization, especially if organ donation follows death, is reported. Autoresuscitation is reported; this observation requires attention in further prospective observational studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Integrating clinical performance improvement across physician organizations: the PhyCor experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loeppke, R; Howell, J W

    1999-02-01

    There is a paucity of literature describing the implementation of clinical performance improvement (CPI) efforts across geographically dispersed multispecialty group practices and independent practice associations. PhyCor, a physician management company based in Nashville, Tennessee, has integrated CPI initiatives into its operating infrastructure. PhyCor CPI INITIATIVES: The strategic framework guiding PhyCor's CPI initiatives is built around a physician-driven, patient-centered model. Physician/administrator leadership teams develop and implement a clinical and financial strategic plan for performance improvement; adopt local clinical and operational performance indicators; and agree on and gain consensus with local physician champions to engage in CPI initiatives. The area/regional leadership councils integrate and coordinate regional medical management and CPI initiatives among local groups and independent practice associations. In addition to these councils and a national leadership council, condition-specific care management councils have also been established. These councils develop condition-specific protocols and outcome measures and lead the implementation of CPI initiatives at their own clinics. Key resources supporting CPI initiatives include information/knowledge management, education and training, and patient education and consumer decision support. Localized efforts in both the asthma care and diabetes management initiatives have led to some preliminary improvements in quality of care indicators. Physician leadership and strategic vision, CPI-oriented organizational infrastructure, broad-based physician involvement in CPI, providing access to performance data, parallel incentives, and creating a sense of urgency for accelerated change are all critical success factors to the implementation of CPI strategies at the local, regional, and national levels.

  2. Cost-effectiveness of a nurse practitioner-family physician model of care in a nursing home: controlled before and after study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lacny, Sarah; Zarrabi, Mahmood; Martin-Misener, Ruth; Donald, Faith; Sketris, Ingrid; Murphy, Andrea L; DiCenso, Alba; Marshall, Deborah A

    2016-09-01

    To examine the cost-effectiveness of a nurse practitioner-family physician model of care compared with family physician-only care in a Canadian nursing home. As demand for long-term care increases, alternative care models including nurse practitioners are being explored. Cost-effectiveness analysis using a controlled before-after design. The study included an 18-month 'before' period (2005-2006) and a 21-month 'after' time period (2007-2009). Data were abstracted from charts from 2008-2010. We calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios comparing the intervention (nurse practitioner-family physician model; n = 45) to internal (n = 65), external (n = 70) and combined internal/external family physician-only control groups, measured as the change in healthcare costs divided by the change in emergency department transfers/person-month. We assessed joint uncertainty around costs and effects using non-parametric bootstrapping and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. Point estimates of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio demonstrated the nurse practitioner-family physician model dominated the internal and combined control groups (i.e. was associated with smaller increases in costs and emergency department transfers/person-month). Compared with the external control, the intervention resulted in a smaller increase in costs and larger increase in emergency department transfers. Using a willingness-to-pay threshold of $1000 CAD/emergency department transfer, the probability the intervention was cost-effective compared with the internal, external and combined control groups was 26%, 21% and 25%. Due to uncertainty around the distribution of costs and effects, we were unable to make a definitive conclusion regarding the cost-effectiveness of the nurse practitioner-family physician model; however, these results suggest benefits that could be confirmed in a larger study. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Unproven stem cell-based interventions & physicians' professional obligations; a qualitative study with medical regulatory authorities in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarzeczny, Amy; Clark, Marianne

    2014-10-14

    The pursuit of unproven stem cell-based interventions ("stem cell tourism") is an emerging issue that raises various concerns. Physicians play different roles in this market, many of which engage their legal, ethical and professional obligations. In Canada, physicians are members of a self-regulated profession and their professional regulatory bodies are responsible for regulating the practice of medicine and protecting the public interest. They also provide policy guidance to their members and discipline members for unprofessional conduct. We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with representatives from six different provincial Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada to discuss their experiences and perspectives regarding stem cell tourism. Our focus was on exploring how different types of physician involvement in this market would be viewed by physicians' professional regulatory bodies in Canada. When considering physicians' professional obligations, participants drew analogies between stem cell tourism and other areas of medical tourism as well as with some aspects of complementary alternative medicine where existing policies, codes of ethics and regulations provide some guidance. Canadian physicians are required to act in the best interests of their patients, respect patient autonomy, avoid conflicts of interest and pursue evidence-based practice in accordance with accepted standards of care. Physicians who provide unproven treatments falling outside the standard of care, not in the context of an approved research protocol, could be subject to professional discipline. Other types of problematic conduct include referrals involving financial conflict of interest and failure to provide urgent medically necessary care. Areas of ambiguity include physicians' obligations when asked for information and advice about seeking unproven medical treatments, in terms of providing non-urgent follow-up care, and when asked to support efforts to go abroad by

  4. Client Involvement in Home Care Practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Glasdam, Stinne; Henriksen, Nina; Kjær, Lone

    2013-01-01

    , political and administrative frames that rule home- care practice. Client involvement is shown within four constructed analytical categories: ‘Structural conditions of providing and receiving home care’; ‘Client involvement inside the home: performing a professional task and living an everyday life......’; ‘Client involvement outside the home: liberal business and mutual goal setting’; and ‘Converting a home to a working place: refurnishing a life’. The meaning of involvement is depending on which position it is viewed from. On the basis of this analysis, we raise the question of the extent to which...

  5. Improving dementia diagnosis and management in primary care: a cohort study of the impact of a training and support program on physician competency, practice patterns, and community linkages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lathren, Christine R; Sloane, Philip D; Hoyle, Joseph D; Zimmerman, Sheryl; Kaufer, Daniel I

    2013-12-10

    Primary care physicians routinely provide dementia care, but may lack the clinical skills and awareness of available resources to provide optimal care. We conducted a community-based pilot dementia training intervention designed to both improve clinical competency and increase utilization of local dementia care services. Physicians (N = 29) and affiliated staff (N = 24) participated in a one-day training program on dementia screening, diagnosis and management that included direct engagement with local support service providers. Questionnaires about their dementia care competency and referral patterns were completed before and 6 months after the training intervention. Physicians reported significantly higher overall confidence in their dementia care competency 6 months post-training compared to pre-training. The largest reported improvements were in their ability to educate patients and caregivers about dementia and making appropriate referrals to community care services. Participants also reported markedly increased use of cognitive screening tools in providing care. Community service providers recorded approximately 160 physician-initiated referrals over a 2 year-period post-training, compared to few beforehand. Combining a targeted physician practice-based educational intervention with community service engagement improves dementia care competency in clinicians and promotes linkages between clinical and community dementia care providers.

  6. Strategies for Aligning Physicians to System Redesign Goals at Eight Safety-Net Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zallman, Leah; Bearse, Adriana; Neal, Natasha; VanDeusen Lukas, Carol; Hacker, Karen

    2014-12-01

    Facing recent economic and regulatory pressures, safety-net systems (SNSs) are redesigning their organizations to improve care delivery, remain financially viable, and maintain competitive positions. Aligning physicians with redesign goals is a priority, particularly as many SNSs shift toward patient-centered, population health-focused models. No previous work has examined efforts to align physicians to safety net redesign efforts. This qualitative study, conducted at eight SNSs, examined challenges faced in a changing health care environment, as well as strategies and resources to address them. Strategies clustered in two categories: physician role definition and organizational infrastructure. Physician role definition strategies were (1) changing payment and employment arrangements, (2) changing clinical roles, (3) increasing physician involvement in quality improvement, and (4) strengthening physician leadership in clinical and quality roles. Organizational infrastructure strategies were (1) ensuring medical center leadership support and integration, (2) utilizing data to drive physician behavior, and (3) addressing competing allegiances with academia. All sites reported multifaceted approaches but differed in specific strategies employed, facilitators noted, and challenges encountered. The findings highlight the need to implement multiple strategies to align physicians in redesign efforts. They suggest that all health systems, whether SNSs or not, can capitalize on qualities of physicians and existing infrastructural and leadership elements to achieve physician alignment. However, they must contend with and address challenges of competing allegiance (for example, academic, physician organization, hospital), as well as resistance to changing clinical roles and payment structures.

  7. Principles of effective communication with patients who have intellectual disability among primary care physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, S; Yalon-Chamovitz, S; Tenne Rinde, M; Heymann, A D

    2017-07-01

    Examine physicians' implementation of effective communication principles with patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) and its predictors. Focus groups helped construct a quantitative questionnaire. The questionnaire (completed by 440 physicians) examined utilization of effective communication principles, attitudes toward individuals with ID, subjective knowledge and number of patients with ID. Subjective knowledge of ID and more patients with ID increased utilization of effective communication principles. Provision of knowledge that allows patients to make their own medical decisions was predicted by more patients with ID, lower attitudes that treatment of this population group is not desirable, less negative affect and greater perception that treatment of this group is part of the physician's role. Effective preparation of patients with ID for treatment was predicted by higher perception of treatment of this group as part of the physician's role, lower perception of this field as undesirable and higher perception of these individuals as unable to make their own choice. Simplification of information was predicted by a greater perception of treatment of this group as part of the physician's role and more negative affect. Greater familiarity may enhance care for these patients. Increase exposure to patients with ID within training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. A profile of solo/two-physician practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Doohee; Fiack, Kelly James; Knapp, Kenneth Michael

    2014-01-01

    Understanding practice behaviors of solo/dual physician ownership and associated factors at the national level is important information for policymakers and clinicians in response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, but poorly understood in the literature. We analyzed nationally representative data (n = 4,720). The study results reveal nearly 33% of the sample reported solo/two-physician practices. Male/minority/older physicians, psychiatrists, favor small practices. Greater market competition was perceived and less charity care was given among solo/two-physician practitioners. The South region was favored by small physician practitioners. Physicians in solo or two-person practices provided fewer services to chronic patients and were dissatisfied with their overall career in medicine. Small practices were favored by international medical graduates (IMGs) and primary care physicians (PCPs). Overall our data suggest that the role of solo/dual physician practices is fading away in the delivery of medicine. Our findings shed light on varied characteristics and practice behaviors of solo/two-physician practitioners, but more research may be needed to reevaluate the potential role of small physician practitioners and find a way to foster a private physician practice model in the context of the newly passed ACA of 2010.

  9. The Attitudes of Indian Palliative-Care Nurses and Physicians toward Pain Control and Palliative Sedation

    OpenAIRE

    Gielen, Joris; Gupta, Harmala; Rajvanshi, Ambika; Bhatnagar, Sushma; Mishra, Seema; Chaturvedi, Arvind K.; Van den Branden, Stef; Broeckaert, Bert

    2011-01-01

    Aim: We wanted to assess Indian palliative-care nurses and physicians’ attitudes toward pain control and palliative sedation. Materials and Methods: From May to September 2008, we interviewed 14 physicians and 13 nurses working in different palliative-care programs in New Delhi, using a semi-structured questionnaire, and following grounded-theory methodology (Glaser and Strauss). Results: The interviewees did not consider administration of painkillers in large doses an ethical problem, ...

  10. The attitudes of Indian palliative-care nurses and physicians to pain control and palliative sedation

    OpenAIRE

    Joris Gielen; Harmala Gupta; Ambika Rajvanshi; Sushma Bhatnagar; Seema Mishra; Arvind K Chaturvedi; Stef Van den Branden; Bert Broeckaert

    2011-01-01

    Aim: We wanted to assess Indian palliative-care nurses and physicians′ attitudes toward pain control and palliative sedation. Materials and Methods: From May to September 2008, we interviewed 14 physicians and 13 nurses working in different palliative-care programs in New Delhi, using a semi-structured questionnaire, and following grounded-theory methodology (Glaser and Strauss). Results: The interviewees did not consider administration of painkillers in large doses an ethical problem...

  11. Caring for the forensic population: recognizing the educational needs of emergency department nurses and physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Elizabeth; Harada, Nahoko; Amar, Angela

    2012-12-01

    The Emergency Department (ED) is a point of contact for victims of violence after an act of criminal activity has occurred. Hence, ED clinicians are in a key position to have a significant impact on both the medical and legal outcomes of the forensic patient population. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare forensic knowledge, practice, and experiences of ED nurses and physicians. Specific aims were to (1) describe experiences of nurses and physicians related to forensic practice; (2) compare clinical forensic knowledge and experience between nurses and physicians; and (3) describe forensic learning needs. This descriptive, correlational study utilized a survey questionnaire completed by 134 ED nurses and physicians. Results of the survey revealed no significant differences in the education, knowledge, and confidence with forensic patients between ED nurses and physicians. However, just over half of the sample reported feeling confident in managing forensic patients indicating a need for increased forensic education. Practice implications indicate that forensic education is needed and desired among ED nurses and physicians within the clinical setting. Further studies must be done to gain a more in depth understanding of existing forensic practices and protocols to elevate the level of care received by forensic patients within the ED setting. © 2012 International Association of Forensic Nurses.

  12. Issues for the Traveling Team Physician.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaeding, Christopher C; Borchers, James

    2016-07-01

    This article outlines the value of having the team physician traveling with athletes to away venues for competitions or training sessions. At present, this travel presents several issues for the team physician who crosses state lines for taking care of the athletes. In this article, these issues and their possible remedies are discussed. A concern for the travelling team physician is practicing medicine while caring for the team in a state where the physician is not licensed. Another issue can be the transportation of controlled substances in the course of providing optimal care for the team athletes. These two issues are regulatory and legislative issues at both the state and federal levels. On the practical side of being a team physician, the issues of emergency action plans, supplies, and when to transport injured or ill patients are also reviewed. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  13. Primary care physician management, referral, and relations with specialists concerning patients at risk for cancer due to family history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, M E; Flynn, B S; Stockdale, A

    2013-01-01

    Risk stratification based on family history is a feature of screening guidelines for a number of cancers and referral guidelines for genetic counseling/testing for cancer risk. Our aim was to describe primary care physician perceptions of their role in managing cancer risk based on family history. Structured interviews were conducted by a medical anthropologist with primary care physicians in 3 settings in 2 north-eastern states. Transcripts were systematically analyzed by a research team to identify major themes expressed by participants. Forty interviews were conducted from May 2003 through May 2006. Physicians provided a diversity of views on roles in management of cancer risk based on family history, management practices and patient responses to risk information. They also provided a wide range of perspectives on criteria used for referral to specialists, types of specialists referred to and expected management roles for referred patients. Some primary care physicians appeared to make effective use of family history information for cancer risk management, but many in this sample did not. Increased focus on efficient assessment tools based on recognized guidelines, accessible guides to management options, and patient education and decision aids may be useful directions to facilitate broader use of family history information for cancer risk management. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  14. Management of pelvic inflammatory disease by primary care physicians. A comparison with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hessol, N A; Priddy, F H; Bolan, G; Baumrind, N; Vittinghoff, E; Reingold, A L; Padian, N S

    1996-01-01

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published recommendations for clinicians on the management of pelvic inflammatory disease, but it is unknown if providers are aware of the guidelines or follow them. To compare pelvic inflammatory disease screening, diagnosis, treatment, and reporting practices among primary care physicians with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for pelvic inflammatory disease. A weighted random sample of California primary care physicians surveyed in November 1992 and January 1993. Of the 1,165 physicians surveyed, 553 (48%) returned completed questionnaires. Among respondents, 302 (55%) reported having treated a case of pelvic inflammatory disease during the last 12 months, and of these, 52% answered that they were unsure of or do not follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for pelvic inflammatory disease. Pediatricians and those with more years since residency were less likely to deviate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for pelvic inflammatory disease, and family practitioners were more likely to deviate from the guidelines. Pelvic inflammatory disease is commonly encountered by primary care physicians in California. Training and experience were important predictors of compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations; however, substantial divergence from the guidelines occurs.

  15. First and foremost, physicians: the clinical versus leadership identities of physician leaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Joann Farrell; Perelli, Sheri

    2016-06-20

    Purpose - Physicians are commonly promoted into administrative and managerial roles in US hospitals on the basis of clinical expertise and often lack the skills, training or inclination to lead. Several studies have sought to identify factors associated with effective physician leadership, yet we know little about how physician leaders themselves construe their roles. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - Phenomenological interviews were performed with 25 physicians at three organizational levels with physicians affiliated or employed by four hospitals within one health care organization in the USA between August and September 2010. A rigorous comparative methodology of data collection and analysis was employed, including the construction of analytic codes for the data and its categorization based on emergent ideas and themes that are not preconceived and logically deduced hypotheses, which is characteristic of grounded theory. Findings - These interviews reveal differences in how part- vs full-time physician leaders understand and value leadership roles vs clinical roles, claim leadership status, and identify as physician leaders on individual, relational and organizational basis. Research limitations/implications - Although the physicians in the sample were affiliated with four community hospitals, all of them were part of a single not-for-profit health care system in one geographical locale. Practical implications - These findings may be of interest to hospital administrators and boards seeking deeper commitment and higher performance from physician leaders, as well as assist physicians in transitioning into a leadership role. Social implications - This work points to a broader and more fundamental need - a modified mindset about the nature and value of physician leadership. Originality/value - This study is unique in the exploration of the nature of physician leadership from the perspective of the physician on an individual, peer

  16. (Re)disclosing physician financial interests: rebuilding trust or making unreasonable burdens on physicians?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sperling, Daniel

    2017-06-01

    Recent professional guidelines published by the General Medical Council instruct physicians in the UK to be honest and open in any financial agreements they have with their patients and third parties. These guidelines are in addition to a European policy addressing disclosure of physician financial interests in the industry. Similarly, In the US, a national open payments program as well as Federal regulations under the Affordable Care Act re-address the issue of disclosure of physician financial interests in America. These new professional and legal changes make us rethink the fiduciary duties of providers working under new organizational and financial schemes, specifically their clinical fidelity and their moral and professional obligations to act in the best interests of patients. The article describes the legal changes providing the background for such proposals and offers a prima facie ethical analysis of these evolving issues. It is argued that although disclosure of conflicting interest may increase trust it may not necessarily be beneficial to patients nor accord with their expectations and needs. Due to the extra burden associated with disclosure as well as its implications on the medical profession and the therapeutic relationship, it should be held that transparency of physician financial interest should not result in mandatory disclosure of such interest by physicians. It could lead, as some initiatives in Europe and the US already demonstrate, to voluntary or mandatory disclosure schemes carried out by the industry itself. Such schemes should be in addition to medical education and the address of the more general phenomenon of physician conflict of interest in ethical codes and ethical training of the parties involved.

  17. Parental involvement and kangaroo care in European neonatal intensive care units

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pallás-Alonso, Carmen R; Losacco, Valentina; Maraschini, Alice

    2012-01-01

    To compare, in a large representative sample of European neonatal intensive care units, the policies and practices regarding parental involvement and holding babies in the kangaroo care position as well as differences in the tasks mothers and fathers are allowed to carry out....

  18. Survey of the knowledge and management of transient ischemic attacks among primary care physicians and nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purroy, F; Cruz Esteve, I; Galindo Ortego, M G; Marsal Mora, J R; Oró, M; Plana, A

    2011-05-01

    Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) patients often report that Primary Care physicians (PCPs) and nurses are their main medical contacts after onset of symptoms in our health area. There are few studies on the knowledge and management of TIA among Community and Family Medicine professionals. Our aim was to study the current knowledge and practice in the management of TIA patients among Primary Care physicians and nurses. A cross-sectional survey with seven questions about TIA was conducted among 640 PCPs and nurses from Primary Care centres in our health area. In total, 285 (46.7% PCPs) took participate in the study. Of these, 239 (83.9%) participants knew the duration of a TIA. However only 40 (14%) recognised all clinical symptoms. An urgent neuroimaging was preferred by 67%. Only 42.5% agreed that an urgent cervical duplex would be useful in these patients. Transcranial Doppler was recognised by only 35.4%. A majority (78.2%) of participants agreed that TIA patients must be admitted to hospital. PCPs had the best knowledge of TIA (odds ratio [OR] 2.138; 95% CI 1.124-4.067; P = 0.021) but there were no differences between physicians and nurses on the management of these patients. Nurses from rural Primary Care centers had the worst level of knowledge (OR 0.410; 95% CI 0.189-0.891; P = 0.024). TIA was well recognized as a medical emergency. However, knowledge of clinical symptoms of TIA must be improved. Copyright © 2010 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  19. Ethical challenges in the neonatal intensive care units: perceptions of physicians and nurses; an Iranian experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadivar, Maliheh; Mosayebi, Ziba; Asghari, Fariba; Zarrini, Pari

    2015-01-01

    The challenging nature of neonatal medicine today is intensified by modern advances in intensive care and treatment of sicker neonates. These developments have caused numerous ethical issues and conflicts in ethical decision-making. The present study surveyed the challenges and dilemmas from the viewpoint of the neonatal intensive care personnel in the teaching hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in the capital of Iran. In this comparative cross-sectional study conducted between March 2013 and February 2014, the physicians' and nurses' perceptions of the ethical issues in neonatal intensive care units were compared. The physicians and nurses of the study hospitals were requested to complete a 36-item questionnaire after initial accommodations. The study samples consisted of 284 physicians (36%) and nurses (64%). Content validity and internal consistency calculations were used to examine the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation, t-test, ANOVA, and linear regression using SPSS v. 22. Respecting patients' rights and interactions with parents were perceived as the most challenging aspects of neonatal care. There were significant differences between sexes in the domains of the perceived challenges. According to the linear regression model, the perceived score would be reduced 0.33 per each year on the job. The results of our study showed that the most challenging issues were related to patients' rights, interactions with parents, communication and cooperation, and end of life considerations respectively. It can be concluded, therefore, that more attention should be paid to these issues in educational programs and ethics committees of hospitals.

  20. Postgraduate Education of Allied Physicians for Innovation Technologies for Nursery Care, Diagnostics and Pathology Treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.M. Klimenko

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The possibilities and positive results of the postgraduate education of allied physicians on neonatology at the specialized department as well as studying innovation techno­logies of caring, diagnostics and treatment of newborn patho­logy are considered.