Reform in medical education: a health of the public perspective.
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Clinical Competence↗
Biomedical subjects
T S Inui
Publications and source records attributed to T S Inui.
What are the sciences of relationship-centered primary care.
From a nature watcher's perspective, primary care is best understood as a dynamic health-relevant process involving many interrelated forces, actions, persons, and contexts of meaning. The scientific basis of primary care should take into consideration various and diverse traditions of systematic inquiry, since our understanding of meaning and context is as important as our understanding of cause and effect in the work of primary care.
Attitude to Health↗
Evaluating generalist education programs: a conceptual framework. Generalist program evaluation working group.
This paper provides and applies a conceptual framework and a list of guiding principles for evaluation of generalist education programs. Programs are systematic efforts to achieve specified objectives. Evaluations gather data in order to improve or appraise programs and have a continuum of purposes and methods. Descriptive evaluations characterize the structures, processes, and outcomes of programs; research evaluations definitively assess the effectiveness of a program in terms of outcomes. Intermediate outcomes are changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills of program participants; conclusive outcomes reflect the quality of performance of graduates in actual clinical situations. Outcomes are affected by inputs--the qualities of students entering the program. Guiding principles of program evaluation ensure that data gathered are useful. The authors illustrate the guiding principles with an actual pilot study that determined that expert pediatricians, general internists, and family practitioners could agree on key generalist competencies and that explores evaluation design based on these competencies. Finally, they consider the implications of undertaking generalist education evaluation.
Adult↗
The "teaching HMO": a new academic partner.
Health care reform is a potential threat to the academic missions of medical schools and academic health centers. But managed care, the source of much of their concern, may also represent a way for medical schools to improve their future academic outcomes. Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Community Health Plan, a large health maintenance organization (HMO) in greater Boston, recently formed the first medical school department to be based in a freestanding HMO. This arrangement is an example of a model that replicates, in a managed care organization, the long-standing and highly successful teaching hospital academic structure in academic medical centers. The authors describe this model in detail, show how the Harvard collaboration works, and explain the benefits each institution saw in creating a joint entity, the rationale for making that new entity an academic department, and the implications for other academic health centers. They conclude that the Harvard experience shows that alliances between medical schools and large HMOs can create vibrant practice settings for teaching and research in academic areas (such as prevention and primary care medicine) that have been relatively neglected in recent times, and that the "teaching HMO" may have the potential to transform academic medicine in the next century just as the teaching hospital transformed it in this century.
Academic Medical Centers↗
The central role of case managers in early discharge planning for hospitalized persons with AIDS.
Case managers can play a pivotal role in the hospital discharge planning process for medically complex patients. This is particularly true for persons with AIDS. This prospective study quantifies the importance of this role by examining the ability of case managers, nurses, and physicians to predict (at the time of admission) whether hospitalized AIDS patients would be appropriate for transfer to long-term care facilities after their hospital stays. We studied 120 AIDS patients and their primary providers; 38 (32%) patients were found to be appropriate for discharge to long-term care facilities at the end of their hospital stays. Physicians and nurses had similar accuracy in predicting eventual appropriateness for long-term care (75% and 73% correct, respectively); however, case managers were far more accurate than the physicians and nurses (93% correct, p < .05). This finding highlights the unique ability of case managers to facilitate discharge planning early on in the hospital stays of these complex patients. In this study, case managers were more accurate than physicians or nurses in predicting appropriateness for long-term care of hospitalized persons with AIDS. Case managers should play an integral role in coordinating discharge planning of persons with AIDS; this planning should be part of the hospital admission process.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
Use of peer ratings to evaluate physician performance.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility and measurement characteristics of ratings completed by professional associates to evaluate the performance of practicing physicians. DESIGN: The clinical performance of physicians was evaluated using written questionnaires mailed to professional associates (physicians and nurses). Physician-associates were randomly selected from lists provided by both the subjects and medical supervisors, and detailed information was collected concerning the professional and social relationships between the associate and the subject. Responses were analyzed to determine factors that affect ratings and measurement characteristics of peer ratings. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Physician-subjects were selected from among practicing internists in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania who received American Board of Internal Medicine certification 5 to 15 years previously. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Physician performance as assessed by peers. RESULTS: Peer ratings are not biased substantially by the method of selection of the peers or the relationship between the rater and the subject. Factor analyses suggest a two-dimensional conceptualization of clinical skills: one factor represents cognitive and clinical management skills and the other factor represents humanistic qualities and management of psychosocial aspects of illness. Ratings from 11 peer physicians are needed to provide a reliable assessment in these two areas. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that it is feasible to obtain assessments from professional associates of practicing physicians in areas such as clinical skills, humanistic qualities, and communication skills. Using a shorter version of the questionnaire used in this study, peer ratings provide a practical method to assess clinical performance in areas such as humanistic qualities and communication skills that are difficult to assess with other measures.
Clinical Competence↗
The effect of coordinated, multidisciplinary ambulatory care on service use, charges, quality of care and patient satisfaction in the elderly.
This study evaluated a multidisciplinary care center, the Pike Market Clinic (PMC), whose physicians provide and coordinate inpatient and outpatient care for downtown low-income elderly in Seattle. We interviewed users of PMC and their near-neighbors with a 206 item questionnaire to compare their medical and social service use, quality of care, and satisfaction. We then estimated mean annual charges/person for inpatient, outpatient and emergency room services in the two groups. Demographic and health status characteristics were similar in the two groups. PMC patients made significantly more annual visits than neighbors to their primary physicians. Visits to non-primary physicians occurred at the same rate in both groups, but PMC patients were referred more often by their primary physicians. Both emergency room and inpatient use were higher in the neighbor group. Social services were used at the same rate by PMC patients and neighbors. Various indices suggested that quality of care and satisfaction were comparable or superior among PMC patients. Using utilization data, we estimated that neighbors generated charges over $1000/person/year greater than PMC patients. Coordination by PMC providers rather than the availability of multidisciplinary services may be largely responsible for utilization differences between PMC patients and their neighbors.
Aged↗
The Seattle appropriate level of care survey: health status and health services use in ambulatory persons with AIDS.
We surveyed 77 persons with AIDS, their physicians and their social workers during the autumn of 1987 to ascertain health status and to quantify use of health services in Seattle, Washington. Participants included the majority (59%) of persons living with AIDS in the area. Information was gathered regarding demography, health status, functional status, medical history and the use of health services. The validity of self-assessed general health was corroborated by the physician-rated Karnovsky score (kappa = 0.59), by social worker assessment (kappa = 0.41), and by correlation with functional status (r = 0.6-0.8). We found more frequent use of health services (categorized into skilled services, chore services and physician services) among AIDS patients who were dependent in basic and instrumental daily activities, had low income, had poor self-assessed general health, lived alone or lacked an available support person at home. These associations persisted in multivariate analyses, and accounted for 6-23% of the variability in service use. We conclude that health and functional status of persons with AIDS can be estimated via mailed questionnaires and accounts for a modest amount of the variability in use of health services.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
When a house is not a home: exploring the meaning of shelter among chronically homeless older men.
This study explored the world of 35 chronically homeless older men in downtown Seattle, with special attention to their experience of shelter and its effect on health-seeking behavior. We found that their experience of shelter is intertwined with their perceptions of self and use of alcohol. For many, the public shelter provides safety, support, community, and an opportunity to regain sobriety--attributes of shelter often unattainable in single-room occupancy hotels--but only temporarily.
Aged↗
Physician frustration in communicating with patients.
In this study, the nature of practicing physicians' "frustrating" visits was explored and a guide to help physicians identify problems in communicating with patients was developed. The study included 1,076 practicing physicians who attended a voluntary workshop on physician-patient communication. The physicians were from multiple specialties and diverse work settings geographically dispersed throughout the United States. The method included development of a preliminary item pool (descriptions of frustrating patients and occasions) by experienced physicians and teachers of medical communication, additions/deletions/revisions of items within the pool, empirical analyses to reduce redundancy and group-like items, and construct validation of the final 25-item questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify subscales. Physicians most often attributed communication problems to the patient rather than to their own limitations. Seven types of communication problems (subscales) were identified, including: 1) lack of trust/agreement, 2) too many problems, 3) feeling distressed, 4) lack of understanding, 5) lack of adherence, 6) demanding/controlling patient, and 7) special problems. Primary care physicians reported greater problems than specialists on four subscales. Physicians practicing in health maintenance organizations reported greater problems than physicians in fee-for-service practice on five subscales. Seven sources of frustration physicians experience in their work with patients were identified. Understanding these frustrations will allow physicians to reflect on their own experiences and potentially improve the quality of their patient visits.
Adult↗
The meaning of death to adolescents in an American Indian community.
BACKGROUND: A high rate of premature death exists among young Native Americans in North America. To understand the qualitative effect of this phenomenon, we undertook this study to explore the meaning of death to adolescents in a Salish American Indian community. METHODS: Standard methods of ethnography were employed: community entry, open-ended in-depth interviews using key informant sampling, audiotape and field note transcription, review of field notes for key themes, and community feedback. Interviews were conducted with seven elders and 21 adolescents in a Pacific Northwestern American Indian community selected by key informants. Probe questions and narrative accounts primarily focused on personal experience with premature death among family and peers. RESULTS: The primary themes in the study were the subjects' personal exposure to death, alcohol and drugs. Spirit Sickness (a culturally defined illness experience), and healing. CONCLUSIONS: There are persistent beliefs in Spirit Sickness among adolescents and young adults in the Salish Indian community. Personal exposure to death is a precipitant of this potentially fatal illness experience. Clinicians working with Salish Native Americans should recognize potential beliefs in this illness experience among the youths.
Adolescent↗
Implications of the Adult Day Health Care Evaluation Study for program revision and research.
With no additional effort to revise adult day health care (ADHC) services or the types of patients who receive them, it would appear that adding an ADHC program to a VA Medical Center would not achieve the desired objectives. The authors discuss here the advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility of 2 options for program revision. The first is to target ADHC to those types of patients who may be most likely to benefit. A targeting scheme should use the most objective criteria possible and may need to be implemented as part of a case-managed package of community-based services. The second option for program revision is to reduce the costs of ADHC services. A cost model developed as a part of the study demonstrated the effect of possible revisions, including increasing enrollment, reducing staffing costs, decreasing length of stay in ADHC, and increasing substitution of ADHC for other services. These changes differ in the level of administrative support and clinician behavior change needed for their implementation. This report then concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for implementation of VA-ADHC versus contract ADHC, and a discussion of possible directions for future research.
Adult↗
Overview and patient recruitment in the Adult Day Health Care Evaluation Study.
Although Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) is increasingly prominent in the continuum of long-term care services, the results from previous studies of the effects of ADHC are mixed. The objectives of the ADHC Evaluation Study were to determine the effect of ADHC on health status, utilization, and cost of care. The first phase was a randomized controlled trial evaluating ADHC provided directly by the VA. Patients at four medical centers (n = 826) were randomly assigned to receive either ADHC or customary care, and outcomes were compared for the two groups. The second phase was a prospective cohort study evaluating ADHC provided under contract to community agencies in which patients at four additional medical centers (n = 163) were assigned to contract ADHC programs. Outcomes were compared with those of similar patients in the randomized trial. Patients and care givers were assessed at intake and 6 and 12 months after intake. To be admitted to the study, patients must have met one of the following criteria: residence in a nursing home; dependence in ambulation, dressing, or toileting; bowel incontinence; or significant cognitive impairment. Patients at intake demonstrated major impairment in function and high levels of prior use of health care services.
Adult↗
Summary and discussion of methods and results of the Adult Day Health Care Evaluation Study.
This article summarizes the study results and presents an evaluative summary of the implementation of study methods designed to provide guidance in the degree of confidence with which the results may be accepted and generalized to other situations. Patients who were offered VA-ADHC services in the first phase of this study had significantly higher VA health care costs on average than patients assigned to customary care, with no apparent incremental health benefit to themselves or their care givers. One can have a high level of confidence in these results. The ADHC clinical services were implemented as planned, the randomized controlled trial was implemented successfully, and such threats to validity as insufficient numbers of patients and differential attrition were not present. Certain subgroups of patients assigned to VA-ADHC had VA costs of care that were not significantly higher than those assigned to customary care, although these results must be interpreted with caution. The findings of the second phase of the study evaluating contract ADHC provide no support for choosing to provide either contract ADHC or VA-ADHC over the other. The nonrandomized design and smaller sample size suggest that inferences from the contract ADHC evaluation should be drawn with more caution than those from the VA-ADHC evaluation.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Tinkering or real reform? The choice is ours.
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Curriculum↗
Do we still need primary care tracks?
Primary care tracks in internal medicine residency programs were initiated in the late 1970s in response to the need for more primary care physicians. These programs have shown that internists can be trained effectively in ambulatory settings. Graduates of primary care tracks are more likely to choose careers in general internal medicine than are other internal medicine graduates. Primary care internist training has been accompanied by the growth of academic general internal medicine divisions and by the enhancement of the scientific base for ambulatory care practice and medical education. Expanded ambulatory training opportunities, modeled after current primary care tracks, should be offered to all residents in internal medicine. At the same time, primary care tracks should be revised to address deficiencies in current ambulatory training. These tracks should be designed to commit most resident time to ambulatory care settings, to involve residents in community-based and interdisciplinary health care, and to expose residents to conditions outside of the medical sector that affect health. Revised primary care tracks can serve as pathfinder programs for ongoing reform in internal medicine residency training. Three models for organizing and funding such reform are presented.
Curriculum↗
A 1992 manifesto for primary physicians.
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Curriculum↗
Geriatric preventive care. Counseling techniques in practice settings.
Counseling patients in preventive health measures may be considerably more difficult for the clinician than managing acute illnesses. It requires medical knowledge and assiduousness on the part of both patient and physician, facilitative systems, the cooperation of significant others, and longitudinal good communication between all of these persons to facilitate the kind of objective-setting necessary to make preventive medicine work. The spectrum of clinical preventive care for the elderly is considerable, and the breadth of communication competencies required for optimal effectiveness somewhat daunting. All are within the scope of activities of the active clinician, however, given time and reflective experience. In this broad domain, what is most important to elderly patients may not be primary prevention (avoidance of onset of new diseases) but tertiary prevention (avoidance of impaired function from diseases already in existence) and avoidance of iatrogenesis. Ironically, the final acts of geriatric clinical prevention are those designed to assure appropriate end-of-life care.
Aged↗