The Role of Physician Assistants in Rural Health Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Purpose: A literature review was performed to assess the role of physician assistants (PAs) in rural health care. Four categories were examined: scope of practice, physician perceptions, community perceptions, and retention/recruitment. Methods: A search of the literature from 1974 to 2008 was undertaken by probing the electronic bibliographic databases of English language literature. Criterion for inclusion was original data published on rural PAs. Each paper was assessed and assigned to the four categories. Findings: A total of 51 papers were identified; 28 papers had a primary focus on research and specified PAs in a rural setting. Generally, the literature suggests that PAs provide cost‐efficient and supplemental medical services to underserved rural populations and that these services are valued. It also appears that rural PAs possess a larger scope of practice than urban PAs. This broad range of skills and procedures may be necessary to match the extensive health care needs of underserved rural populations. Over a 35‐year period of examination, the literature improved in numbers of PAs studied and the quality of research. However, the lack of longitudinal studies was considered a shortcoming of rural health PA observational research. Conclusions: Through this review, some insights about the role of PAs emerged. Overall, they seem well adapted to rural health. Important issues regarding the recruitment and retention of PAs to rural populations also emerged. Improvement in enabling legislation contributes to the utilization of PAs in America.     

Cancer Risk Assessment Tools in Primary Care: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

PURPOSE

We conducted this review to identify published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cancer risk assessment tools used in primary care and to determine their impact on clinical utility (clinicians), screening uptake (patients), and psychosocial outcomes (patients).

METHODS

We searched EMBASE, PubMed and the Cochrane databases for RCTs of cancer risk assessment tools in primary care up to May 2014. Only studies set in primary care, with patients eligible for screening, and English-language articles were included.

RESULTS

The review included 11 trials of 7 risk tools. The trials were heterogeneous with respect to type of tool that was used, type(s) of cancer assessed, and outcomes measured. Evidence suggested risk tools improved patient risk perception, knowledge, and screening intentions, but not necessarily screening behavior. Overall, uptake of a tool was greater if initiated by patients, if used by a dedicated clinician, and when combined with decision support. There was no increase in cancer worry. Health promotion messages within the tool had positive effects on behavior change. Trials were limited by low-recruitment uptake, and the heterogeneity of the findings necessitated a narrative review rather than a meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Risk tools may increase intentions to have cancer screening, but additional interventions at the clinician or health system levels may be needed to increase risk-appropriate cancer screening behavior.     

Enhancing Mammography Referral in Primary Care

Background.This 1-year randomized trial tested the efficacy of behavioral techniques for increasing mammography referrals by primary care physicians in small, community practices.Methods.Sixty-one practices were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) education-only control, (2) education plus cue enhancement using mammography chart stickers, and (3) education plus cue enhancement plus feedback and token rewards. Quarterly chart audits of a defined sample (N= 11,716) of women patients 50 years of age or older were conducted to document mammography referrals, completions, and compliance.Results.Referral and completion rates increased from baseline to first quarter and gradually declined thereafter. Overall, these rates were higher in the cuing conditions than in the control condition. In contrast, compliance rates in both experimental conditions increased over the year while remaining static in the control condition, demonstrating a strong and continuing effect for cue enhancement. Compliance increases were greatest for physicians who were older, nonwhite, with a second speciality, in solo practice, not members of the AMA, not residency trained, and not board certified.Conclusions.Chart stickers can significantly increase mammography utilization in small, community practices. These practices are an efficient route to reaching large numbers of older women in need of mammography screening.     

Successful Implementation of Integrated Care in Slovenian Primary Care

For the purpose of celebrating the 40th anniversary of Alma Ata declaration, the WHO published a successful model of integrated patient care being performed in Slovenia. After two years, the WHO experts evaluated the success in practise during a visit to the Slovenian primary care environment. This report showed that Slovenia was a notable exception regarding developing effective primary care systems. The country has an impressive primary care which performs very well.     

An Evidence Roadmap for Implementation of Integrated Behavioral Health under the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created incentives and opportunities to redesign health care to better address mental and behavioral health needs. The integration of behavioral health and primary care is increasingly viewed as an answer to address such needs, and it is advisable that evidence-based models and interventions be implemented whenever possible with fidelity. At the same time, there are few evidence-based models, especially beyond depression and anxiety, and thus further research and evaluation is needed. Resources being allocated to adoption of models of integrated behavioral health care (IBHC) should include quality improvement, evaluation, and translational research efforts using mixed methodology to enhance the evidence base for IBHC in the context of health care reform. This paper covers six key aspects of the evidence for IBHC, consistent with mental and behavioral health elements of the ACA related to infrastructure, payments, and workforce. The evidence for major IBHC models is summarized, as well as evidence for targeted populations and conditions, education and training, information technology, implementation, and cost and sustainability.     

The Role of Primary Care in Improving Population Health

Policy Points

• Systems based on primary care have better population health, health equity, and health care quality, and lower health care expenditure.
• Primary care can be a boundary-spanning force to integrate and personalize the many factors from which population health emerges.
• Equitably advancing population health requires understanding and supporting the complexly interacting mechanisms by which primary care influences health, equity, and health costs.

     

居民就医选择与基层医疗机构的竞争性分析

目的探索影响城乡居民选择基层医疗机构就诊的影响因素,并为基层医疗机构发展提出建议。方法采用Logistic回归对中国健康与营养调查2009年截面数据进行分析。结果疾病严重程度、医疗保险状况、有无工作以及户籍是影响居民选择基层医疗机构就诊的关键因素。结论应当针对这些方面对目前政策做出调整以增强基层医疗机构竞争力。     

Integrated Primary Care and Behavioral Health Services for Latinos: A Blueprint and Research Agenda

ABSTRACT

Disparities in Latino utilization of mental health services have been documented for some years. Factors such as stigma, low rates of health insurance, paucity of culturally competent providers, and linguistic inaccessibility have contributed to this underutilization. The documented tendency of many Latinos to experience the mind and body as a unified whole, often referred to as “non-dualism,” provides a unique opportunity to address these disparities in utilization. This article advocates a specific model of engagement of Latinos into a continuum of needed behavioral health services via the primary care clinic, and suggests a variety of clinical and administrative outcome measures for evaluating the effectiveness of the model. The model centers on the inclusion of a behavioral health specialist who is “nested” within the primary care team. The preparation and perspectives of clinically trained social workers make them ideal for this role.     

初级卫生保健的内涵及其在我国的发展回顾

由世界卫生组织及其成员国于1978年《阿拉木图宣言》提出的“初级卫生保健”,是指最基本的、人人都能得到的、体现社会平等权利的、人民群众和政府都能负担得起的卫生保健服务。初级卫生保健所反映的核心价值观是社会公平,所信奉的理论是“健康乃人类的基本权利”,所追求的目标是“人人享有健康”,所采用的技术是适宜技术。中国初级卫生保健实践始于建国之初,20世纪50年代初确定的“面向工农兵、预防为主、团结中西医、卫生工作与群众运动相结合”四大方针,已包含了初级卫生保健的基本思想和内容。建国后的前30年取得的成就为国际上形成初级卫生保健策略奠定了实证基础,随后20年是我国初级卫生保健发展阶段,政府承诺实现2000年人人享有卫生保健的目标,但取得的健康效果有限。21世纪以来,政府仍然把初级卫生保健作为农村卫生的中心任务,但是可持续性问题还没有解决。     

基层卫生服务人员满意度研究综述

近年来,我国政府对基层卫生日益重视,投入不断增加。要将政府的基层卫生投入转变为有效的服务,基层卫生服务人员的行为至关重要,而满意度是影响其行为的重要因素。总结了目前国内对于基层卫生服务人员满意度的相关研究,为制定适宜的基层卫生服务人员激励机制提供依据。     

Professional Competencies and Training Needs of Professional Social Workers in Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care

The Affordable Care Act has led to a widespread movement to integrate behavioral health services into primary care settings. Integrated behavioral health (IBH) holds promise for treating mild to moderate psychiatric disorders in a manner that more fully addresses the biopsychosocial spectrum of needs of individuals and families in primary care, and for reducing disparities in accessing behavioral health care. For behavioral health practitioners, IBH requires a shift to a brief, outcome-driven, and team-based model of care. Despite the fact that social workers comprise the majority of behavioral health providers in IBH settings, little research has been done to assess the extent to which social workers are prepared for effective practice in fast-paced primary care. We conducted a survey of social workers (N = 84) in IBH settings to assess the following: (1) Key competency areas for social work practice in IBH settings and (2) Self-rated preparedness for effective practice in IBH settings. Online snowball sampling methods were used over a period of 1 month. Results indicate that social workers feel prepared for general practice in IBH settings, but would benefit from additional training in IBH-specific competency areas identified in the survey. Findings can help guide social work training to improve workforce preparedness for practice in IBH settings in the wake of health care reform.     

A Model for Sustaining Health at the Primary Care Level

As the healthcare industry in USA is changing from a fee-for-service to a value-based system, the need for a shift in how patients are treated is evident. Healthcare organizations are reimbursed based on value and quality of service. The system shift recognizes that each patient possesses differing medical needs moving care from generalized medical treatments to individualistic care. To deal with this change and attempt to increase quality and value, many healthcare organizations are adopting a team care approach through the development of Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH). In many examples of the team approach, the Primary Care Practitioner (PCP) is viewed as the main coordinator of care. Having this responsibility can create added stress for practitioners, which can lead to a decrease in the quality of care. The proposed model, in this article, outlines an example of how individualistic care can be achieved and assembled in the PCMH with the PCP as the main coordinator of care to sustain patient health.     

Sustainability for Planetary Health: A Seventh Domain of Quality in Primary Care

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to public health. Sustainability is characterized by using resources wisely in a way that protects finite resources and the environment, and takes into account the needs of our planets’ inhabitants in the future. Sustainability in health care should be considered as a seventh domain of quality, as it can lead to improvement of patient outcomes, and more capacity for health care workers to engage in quality improvement and thereby improve the quality of care.The carbon footprint of primary care is high, mainly due to prescribing medication, but also due to the transport of patients to hospitals and primary care services for interventions requested by family medicine. Other causes are the transport of staff and supplies, consumables and staff involved in laboratory analysis and radiation, medical and non-medical equipment, clinical and non-clinical waste, heating and cooling systems and other activities. Small adjustments in these areas could significantly decrease the carbon footprint of primary care practices. The suggested steps for primary care to achieve a more sustainable practice are fostering research, raising awareness, reducing the burden on primary care, engaging in quality improvement, and leadership and advocacy.Each individual primary care practice has the potential to be a leader and role model for sustainable health care. With the implementation of interventions to reduce carbon footprints, primary care could set an example within the health sector and for patients. This could significantly raise the awareness of the public about the need to take actions for a greener health system.     

Annals Journal Club: Health Care Assistants in Primary Care Depression Management: Role Perception,Burdening Factors,and Disease Conception

PURPOSE In primary care, the involvement of health care assistants (HCAs) in clinical depression management is an innovative approach. Little is known, however, about how HCAs experience their new tasks. We wanted to describe the perceptions and experiences of HCAs who provided case management to patients with depression in small primary care practices.METHODS This qualitative study was nested in the Primary Care Monitoring for Depressive Patients Trial on case management in Germany. We used a semi-structured instrument to interview 26 HCAs and undertook content analysis. We focussed on 3 key aspects: role perception, burdening factors, and disease conception.RESULTS Most HCAs said their new role provided them with personal and professional enrichment, and they were interested in improving patient-communication skills. They saw their major function as interacting with the patient and considered support for the family physician to be of less importance. Even so, some saw their role as a communication facilitator between family physician and patient. Burdening factors implementing the new tasks were the increased workload, the work environment, and difficulties interacting with depressed patients. HCAs’ disease conception of depression was heterogeneous. After 1 year HCAs believed they were sufficiently familiar with their duties as case managers in depression management.CONCLUSION HCAs were willing to extend their professional responsibilities from administrative work to more patient-centred work. Even if HCAs perform only monitoring tasks within the case management concept, the resulting workload is a limiting factor.     

Village-Based Primary Health Care in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

This paper describes the first year of an ongoing village health care and economic development project in the Krong Buk district of Dak Lak province in Vietnam's Central Highlands. The project serves 21 villages with a total population of just over 15,000. Most belong to ethnic minority groups. Physicians from the province capital of Boun Me Thuot were trained by a multi-disciplinary team of American health care workers to be trainers and supervisors of 21 village health care workers (VHWs). Two months later, a VHW from each village was trained in primary and preventive health care by the physician-supervisors. Since this initial training, each VHW has been provided with materials, medicines and monthly supervision by the physician-supervisors. The health care component has been complemented by an economic development project based on a system of small loans. Data from the first year of monthly reports and from a baseline survey are presented in this paper.