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Biomedical subjects

Kathryn L Moseley

Publications and source records attributed to Kathryn L Moseley.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Primary care physicians' attitudes regarding follow-up care for children with positive newborn screening results.

BACKGROUND: Although primary care physicians are responsible for providing follow-up care after a positive newborn screen, little is known about their willingness or ability to do so. METHODS: A national mail survey of a random sample of 350 general pediatricians and 350 family physicians was conducted from April to June 2006. RESULTS: The response rate was 63% among pediatricians and 50% among family physicians. Most pediatricians (89.7%) and nearly one half of family physicians (44.1%) had had a patient with a positive newborn screen within the past 5 years. Most respondents thought that primary care physicians should be responsible for informing families about a positive newborn screen (73.2%), arranging confirmatory testing (66.0%), and coordinating subspecialty referral (85.3%). However, more than one half (56.2%) would prefer newborn screening programs to provide the initial evaluation of positive newborn screening results. Some respondents (but fewer pediatricians than family physicians) reported that they were not competent to discuss conditions included in newborn screening panels (eg, 22.6% of pediatricians and 53.2% of family physicians for phenylketonuria and 8.8% of pediatricians and 40.4% of family physicians for congenital hypothyroidism). More than one half (58.3%) thought that families with a child diagnosed as having congenital hypothyroidism should receive formal genetic counseling. Respondents were less likely to think that families with a child with sickle cell trait, compared with families with a child who is a cystic fibrosis carrier, should receive formal genetic counseling (69.3% vs 84.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Many primary care physicians are not prepared to manage the follow-up care of children with a positive newborn screen, including initial counseling, diagnosis, and subspecialty referral. New strategies are needed to ensure appropriate and equitable health care delivery.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

After Flexner: the challenge.

In his article, "Abraham Flexner and the Black Medical Schools," Todd Savitt, MD critically describes how the Flexner Report effectively decimated African-American medical education as it existed at the beginning of the 20th century. We are now in the 21st century, and there are still few black physicians and medical students.

Black or African American↗

Futility in evolution.

Must health care professionals provide treatments or interventions that they consider futile? Although much of the past and current debate about futility has centered on how to best define futility, it is the application of the concept in clinical decision making that is of central concern. Most physicians feel confident that they know futile treatment when they see it, but despite years of debate in scholarly journals, professional meetings, and popular media, consensus on a precise definition eludes us still. This article reviews numerous definitions of futility to illustrate the general lack of consensus over this concept. It also provides a flexible definition of futility that is patient centered and reliant on goals of care as the morally preferable definition. In short, the concept of futility as a means to resolve disputes over treatment decisions may, itself, be futile.

Advance Care Planning↗

The relationship between motivation to volunteer, gender, cultural mistrust, and willingness to donate organs among Blacks.

The relationship between motivation to volunteer, gender, cultural mistrust, and the willingness of blacks to donate their organs, as well as the organs of relatives, was explored. Participants consisted of 107 black students attending a university located in the southwest. All participants were given the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI), Organ Donation Questionnaire (ODQ), and a background information questionnaire. It was found that individuals with low scores on the VFI and high scores on the CMI were less willing to consent to donating their organs. Also, females and individuals with high CMI scores were less willing to permit the recovery of organs from relatives. Some theoretical and applied implications for mental health professionals are suggested.

Black or African American↗

End-of-life choices for African-American and white infants in a neonatal intensive-care unit: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: African-American adults are more likely than white adults to desire the continuation of life-sustaining medical treatment (LSMT) at the end of life. No studies have examined racial differences in parental end-of-life decisions for neonates. OBJECTIVE: To collect preliminary data to determine whether differences exist in the choices made by parents of African-American and white infants when a physician has recommended withholding or withdrawing LSMT from their infant to develop hypotheses for future work. DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective chart review of African-American and white infants who died in an urban neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) over a two-year period. Charts were abstracted for demographics, cause of death, and documentation of meetings where the physician recommended withholding or withdrawing LSMT. RESULTS: Thirty-eight infant charts met study criteria (58% African-American, 42% white). Documentation of physician recommendations to limit LSMT was present in 61% of charts. Approached families of white infants agreed to limit LSMT 80% of the time compared to 62% of the families of African-American infants. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, parents of African-American and white infants appeared to make different end-of-life choices for their children. A larger study is needed to confirm these findings and further explore contributing factors such as mistrust, religiosity, and perceived discrimination.

Adolescent↗

Parents' trust in their child's physician: using an adapted Trust in Physician Scale.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the performance of the Pediatric Trust in Physician Scale (Pedi-TiPS) that refers to a child's physician and is a modified version of the Trust in Physician Scale (TiPS), and to explore the association of trust to demographic variables. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey of parents in pediatric specialty and primary care sites. Parents completed an anonymous questionnaire that included the Pedi-TiPS. Our main outcome variable was total Pedi-TiPS score (higher scores = higher trust). Reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha. Bivariate comparisons and linear regression modeling explored potential associations between demographic variables and total score. RESULTS: Five hundred twenty-six parents completed surveys (73% response rate). The mean total score was 45.4 (SD 6), with good internal consistency (alpha = .84). In bivariate analysis, lower scores were associated with being a father (P = 0.03), older parent age (P = 0.02), private insurance status (P < 0.01), parent education greater than high school (P = 0.04), and not having a child age <3 years (P = 0.03). In a regression model adjusted for other factors, parents who were either African American (P = 0.05), or "other" race (P < 0.01), parents with private insurance (P = 0.02), and parents who had no children <3 years of age (P = 0.04) had lower trust. CONCLUSIONS: The Pedi-TiPS has properties similar to the original instrument. We found associations between trust and demographic factors that should be confirmed with further studies.

Adult↗