Chemistry--a scientific model for family medicine?

The academic basis of family medicine is currently undergoing reexamination. Some would have the specialty leave the academic arena and pursue a biopsychosocial mode of practice in the community. Others would have family medicine aggressively pursue academic research, apparently by abandoning the biopsychosocial approach to medical care. Chemistry as an academic discipline and as applied in community practice has solved many of the problems facing family medicine today. This paper suggests that one may learn much from chemistry. Four basic principles of applied science are presented from the point of view of a chemist: (1) science has an important but strictly limited contribution to make to medical practice; the humanistic goals of family medicine are philosophical decisions, and science is used to attain these goals; (2) observations are the basic reality of science; theory, to be useful, must explain and predict observations; (3) there is a basic unity in science; and (4) there is no hierarchy in scientific understanding. A model based on these four principles is presented that defines family medicine as the central, coordinating discipline in modern academic and community medical practice.     

Access to obstetric care in rural areas: effect on birth outcomes.

Hospital discharge data from 33 rural hospital service areas in Washington State were categorized by the extent to which patients left their local communities for obstetrical services. Women from communities with relatively few obstetrical providers in proportion to number of births were less likely to deliver in their local community hospital than women in rural communities with greater numbers of physicians practicing obstetrics in proportion to number of births. Women from these high-outflow communities had a greater proportion of complicated deliveries, higher rates of prematurity, and higher costs of neonatal care than women from communities where most patients delivered in the local hospital.     

Availability of Rural Minnesota Obstetric Services: Is It a Problem?

In the late 1980s several published articles predicted a crisis in the availability of obstetric care due to declining numbers of rural obstetrical providers. Several state and national studies documented the adverse impact of malpractice and time demands on both urban and rural physicians. But only limited information is available to document current trends in rural obstetrical practice and assess whether or not the predicted crisis occurred. This study sought to provide that updated information for rural Minnesota. A telephone survey of all rural Minnesota obstetrical providers was used to document the number, location, and specialty of rural obstetrical providers, their practice limitations, and plans for future practice. This data was combined with state perinatal statistics for each county to further assess obstetrical care availability and perinatal outcomes. All rural Minnesota obstetricians and certified nurse midwives provide obstetrical care as did 69 percent of all rural family physicians. Only 27 percent of rural obstetrical providers put any type of restrictions on their obstetrical practices. During the past year, 67 currently practicing rural physicians have stopped providing obstetrical care while 55 new obstetrical providers have begun rural practice. Two to 3 percent of current rural providers plan to retire or discontinue obstetrical services during the next five years. The provider demographics from the survey identified eight counties with no prenatal providers, and 12 additional communities of decreased provider availability. However, only two of the counties with no prenatal providers and five of the counties with areas of limited providers had increased percentages of adverse prenatal outcomes such as low birthweight or late prenatal care. This study concluded that Minnesota does not have a serious statewide problem with availability of rural obstetrical providers. However, a few isolated regions of the state have limited provider availability, including limited availability of local high-risk services and consultants.     

Professional relationships between midwives and physicians: collaboration or conflict?

This study examines the professional relationships between midwives and physicians providing obstetrical care in Washington State. Four hundred ninety-six randomly sampled family physicians and obstetrician-gynecologists and 211 certified nurse, licensed, and lay midwives were surveyed to learn more about midwife/physician consulting relationships. Only certified nurse midwives have forged mutually satisfactory relationships with the physician community. Increased hospital-based training and practice opportunities are needed before licensed midwives can improve their professional relationships with physicians.     

The effect of malpractice insurance costs on family physicians' hospital practices

One hundred fifty-two family physicians responded to a questionnaire about malpractice insurance from the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians. Physicians were asked whether they had limited their hospital privileges, by choice, because of the cost of malpractice insurance. One hundred thirty-eight (90.8 percent) of the physicians had a hospital practice. Of these, 36 (26.1 percent) reported that they had restricted their hospital practice because of the cost of insurance. Most commonly, restricted activities involved the discontinuation (38.7 percent of the 36 physicians) or limitation (22.2 percent) of obstetrical activities. Other physicians had eliminated general abdominal surgery (24.9 percent) and other surgical and radiologic procedures. The tendency of family physicians to limit their practices because of the cost of insurance premiums has important implications for health care in rural areas. It also may affect the scope and practice patterns of family physicians and other primary care physicians.     

The regionalization of perinatal care in Wales and Washington State.

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to compare perinatal regionalization and neonatal mortality in Wales and Washington State. METHODS. The 28 hospitals in Wales and the 80 hospitals in Washington State that offered maternity services and the 218,326 births that occurred in these hospitals in 1989 and 1990 were studied. Surveys were used to identify the neonatal technology and the referral policies of each hospital, and linked data from birth and death certificates were used to examine birthweight-specific neonatal mortality rates for all babies born in these hospitals. RESULTS. Welsh district general hospitals (broadly equivalent to Level II perinatal centers in the United States) have more sophisticated neonatal technology than their Washington State counterparts and appear less likely to refer small or preterm babies to regional or subregional centers. Neonatal mortality rates were quite similar in the two settings. CONCLUSIONS. Perinatal care in Wales appears to be less regionalized than in a similar region in the United States. The relative lack of perinatal regionalization in Wales may contribute to duplication and underutilization of expensive neonatal technologies. National health care systems do not, in and of themselves, lead to optimal regionalization of services.     

Community medicine in the training of family physicians.

Family practice residency programs are encouraged to include community medicine training in their curriculum, but there is little agreement as to what community medicine is or what would constitute appropriate training. Community medicine is most commonly defined as a discipline concerned with the identification and solution of health care problems of communities or other defined populations. The inclusion of training experiences in the identification and solution of health care problems of communities has two basic advantages for family practice residency programs: it fosters a contextual approach in the care of individual patients and it builds knowledge and skills for those who will work with communities in future practices. An example of curricular content is included. A survey was conducted in order to determine what residency programs teach in the field of community medicine. The results show that few of the responding programs include the areas which most clearly relate to community medicine. It is hoped that the report of these results, the rationale presented for including community medicine in the training of family physicians, and the suggested outline of curricular content will further encourage and assist family practice residency programs to incorporate such training in their curricula.     

The alternative birth movement in the United States: history and current status

The alternative birth movement is a consumer reaction to paternalistic and mechanistic medical obstetrical practices which developed in the United States early in this century. Alternative birth settings developed as single labor-delivery-recovery rooms in the hospital or as free-standing birth centers. Both alternatives offer family-centered, home-like, low technological maternity care. In order to overcome physician resistance to non-traditional maternity care, alternative birth center policies eliminate all women who are expected to have a complicated pregnancy or delivery. Physician resistance to alternative birthing is publicly based on the issue of maternal and infant safety. Additional issues, however, are that physicians fear economic competition and resist loss of control over obstetric practice. This paper (1) traces the historical antecedents and social factors leading to the alternative birth movement, (2) describes the types of alternative birthing methods, and (3) describes ways in which the obstetrical community has maintained and rationalized dominance over the birthing process.     

Euthanasia and Palliative Care in the Netherlands: An Analysis of the Latest Developments

This article discusses the latest developments regarding euthanasia and palliative care in The Netherlands. On the one hand, a legally codified practice of euthanasia has been established. On the other hand, there has been a strong development of palliative care. The combination of these simultaneous processes seems to be rather unique. This contribution first focuses on these remarkable developments. Subsequently, the analysis concentrates on the question of how these new developments have influenced the ethical debate.     

The Alternative Birth Movement in the United States: History and Current Status

The alternative birth movement is a consumer reaction to paternalistic and mechanistic medical obstetrical practices which developed in the United States early in this century. Alternative birth settings developed as single labor-delivery-recovery rooms in the hospital or as free-standing birth centers. Both alternatives offer family-centered, home-like, low technological maternity care. In order to overcome physician resistance to non-traditional maternity care, alternative birth center policies eliminate all women who are expected to have a complicated pregnancy or delivery. Physician resistance to alternative birthing is publicly based on the issue of maternal and infant safety. Additional issues, however, are that physicians fear economic competition and resist loss of control over obstetric practice. This paper (1) traces the historical antecedents and social factors leading to the alternative birth movement, (2) describes the types of alternative birthing methods, and (3) describes ways in which the obstetrical community has maintained and rationalized dominance over the birthing process.     

重视新生儿窒息防治工作 降低围产新生儿死亡率

目的　实现中国儿童发展规划纲要中降低婴儿死亡率的首要目标 ,提高生命质量。方法　自 1996年起 ,吉林省妇幼保健院行政部门将做好新生儿窒息的防治工作作为评价产、儿科工作质量的重要指标 ,产、儿科合作 ,对胎儿宫内缺氧早期诊断及处理 ,同时全面实施新生儿窒息新法复苏技术。结果　新生儿窒息病死率下降 10 0 %。新生儿窒息发生率、重度窒息发生率 ,窒息儿病死率、围产新生儿死亡率等经 SPSS统计软件处理显示差异有显著或极显著意义。结论　全面做好新生儿窒息防治工作是围产医学系统工程管理的重要组成部分 ,行政部门从理论到实践的高度重视 ,加强科学管理 ,是坚持推广普及应用新技术 ,实现降低新生儿窒息的发生率、病死率和围产新生儿死亡率的关键。     

Relationship of infant mortality to the availability of obstetrical care in Indiana.

BACKGROUND. Projects that are currently under way in Indiana to improve access to obstetrical care have not addressed the availability of these services in nonmetropolitan areas. This study was designed to identify all physicians who were providing obstetrical services in every county throughout the state to determine if there is a correlation between the availability of these services and the infant mortality rate in nonmetropolitan counties. METHODS. A state-wide physician profile maintained by the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians was cross-referenced with a telephone survey of all hospitals in the state to identify those physicians providing obstetrical services within each county in Indiana. The number of physicians in each county was then compared with the number of births per year by mothers from that county to determine whether nonmetropolitan counties had sufficient physicians to provide obstetrical services. Finally, these findings were compared with the most recent infant mortality rate for each nonmetropolitan county. RESULTS. A total of 610 family physicians, 311 obstetricians, and 75 general practitioners were providing obstetrical care in Indiana. There were 10 counties that did not have a physician who delivered babies practicing in that county. Thirty-two counties had more women who needed obstetrical care than the current number of physicians could serve. There was a negative correlation between physician availability and infant mortality in Indiana's nonmetropolitan counties (r = -.38; P less than .02). CONCLUSIONS. Access to care for pregnant patients is a major problem in rural Indiana and hampers Indiana's ability to reduce its current infant mortality rate.     

Impact of Physicians'' Perceptions of Malpractice and Adaptive Changes on Intention to Cease Obstetrical Practice

Physicians who provide obstetrical care in rural areas face exposure to liability action and confront a critical decision--whether to continue to offer these services. This paper draws upon social-psychological and decision theories to investigate this decision. Ninety-four percent of all obstetricians and family and general physicians practicing in the 12 nonmetropolitan counties of one state responded to a mail survey that asked about their intention to continue or discontinue obstetrical practice, two dimensions of subjective risk (perceived likelihood of threats in the malpractice environment and perceived magnitude of negative consequences from being sued), and adaptive changes to protect against malpractice. The results suggest that (a) perceived extent of negative consequences (but not perceived likelihood of malpractice threats) drives intention to leave obstetrics, (b) the professional and reputational impacts of a suit--not the dollar amount of award or settlement--predicts intention to stop practicing obstetrics, and (c) physicians planning to continue providing obstetrical care in the future have made recent practice changes that may further exacerbate access problems.     

The impact of obstetrical liability on access to perinatal care in the rural United States.

Liability issues have caused large numbers of obstetrical providers, particularly family and general practitioners, to discontinue offering perinatal care in rural areas. Losses of even small numbers of rural obstetrical providers can severely limit access to care for large geographic areas. A lack of access to local obstetrical care can result in less than adequate prenatal care and in potential delays in the diagnosis and care of acute perinatal complications. Women who live in these underserved rural communities suffer increased adverse birth outcomes, leading to significantly higher medical costs. Proposed solutions to the problem include risk management programs associated with reduced liability premiums; increased Medicaid reimbursement for obstetrical care; health department subsidies to offset insurance premiums for rural obstetrical care; and programs in predoctoral and residency training designed to identify, assess and address the health care needs of rural areas. Although some measure of success has resulted from these efforts, more systematic and comprehensive policy changes are needed to meet the challenge of this crisis.     

Family practice residencies in community health centers--an approach to cost and access concerns.

An inadequate number of trained primary care clinicians limits access to care at Community Health Centers. If family practice residents working in these centers can provide care to patients at a cost that is comparable to the center''s hiring its own physicians, then expansion of Family Practice Residency Programs into community centers can address both cost and access concerns. A cost-benefit analysis of the Family Practice Residency Program at the Fresno, CA, community center was performed; the community center is affiliated with the University of California at San Francisco. Costs included (a) residents'' salaries, (b) supervision of the family practice residents, (c) family practice program costs for educational activities apart from supervision at the community center, and (d) administrative costs attributable to family practice residents in the community center. Benefits were based on the number of patients that residents saw in the community center. Using this approach, a cost of $7,700 per resident per year was calculated. This cost is modest compared with the cost of training residents in inpatient settings. The added costs attributable to training residents in community health centers can be shared with agencies that are concerned with medical education, providing physicians to underserved communities, and increasing the supply of primary care physicians. Redirecting graduate medical education funding from hospitals to selected ambulatory care training centers of excellence would facilitate placing residents in community centers. This change would have the dual advantage of addressing the current imbalance between training in ambulatory care and hospital sites and increasing the capacity of community health centers to meet the health care needs of underserved populations.     

Prevention in Poland: health care system reform.

Despite the political and economic reforms that have swept Eastern Europe in the past 5 years, there has been little change in Poland''s health care system. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has targeted preventive care as a priority, yet the enactment of legislation to meet this goal has been slow. The process of reform has been hindered by political stagnation, economic crisis, and a lack of delineation of responsibility for implementing the reforms. Despite the delays in reform, recent developments indicate that a realistic, sustainable restructuring of the health care system is possible, with a focus on preventive services. Recent proposals for change have centered on applying national goals to limited geographic areas, with both local and international support. Regional pilot projects to restructure health care delivery at a community level, local health education and disease prevention initiatives, and a national training program for primary care and family physicians and nurses are being planned. Through regionalization, an increase in responsibility for both the physician and the patient, and redefinition of primary health care and the role of family physicians, isolated local movements and pilot projects have shown promise in achieving these goals, even under the current budgetary constraints.     

Perinatal care regionalization and acceptability by professionals in France

BACKGROUND: For twenty years, most of industrial countries developed recommendations on regionalization of perinatal care. Perinatal regionalization is particularly aimed at improving morbidity and mortality outcomes of low birth weight newborns by transferring pregnant women to the maternity units having a medical or neonatal environment suited to the risks incurred by mothers or babies. Perinatal regionalization cannot be effective without being well accepted by the majority of professionals. The objectives of this study were then to identify professionals'expectations and objections to perinatal regionalisation and to compare them from a professional group to another one. METHODS: Professionals of 3 French perinatal networks were under consideration: the Rh?ne, the Auvergne and the Gard-Lozère networks. The study included two stages: 1) a psychosociological qualitative study, based on professionals'interviews, aimed at identifying main concerns of professionals and developing a questionnaire; then 2) an epidemiological quantitative study, using this questionnaire within French networks. In the questionnaire, 8 dimensions explored the professionals'views: constraints related to regulation aspects and to the setting up of maternity units care levels, risk of loss of professionals' competence and prestige, consequences on medical practices, on inter-professional relationship, on work organization and financial aspects, and related to the new role of 'private practice'professionals, legal consequences. RESULTS: The response rate of the epidemiological study was 80%. The results permitted to construct 8 dimension scores describing the reasons of poor acceptability of regionalization. After taking into account the age, the sex, the network and the juridical status of the institution, the study revealed a significant poorer acceptability of regionalization by most of medical specialty groups (anesthetists, obstetricians, midwives and "private practice" professionals) compared with neonatologists, or by "private" professionals (professionals working in private clinics and "private practice" professionals) compared with professionals working in university or community hospitals. The study described also network setting up conditions related to its functioning. CONCLUSION: By identifying clearly professionals 'objections and expectations, this study should facilitate improvement in the organization of studied perinatal networks.     

Malpractice Burden, Rural Location, and Discontinuation of Obstetric Care: A Study of Obstetric Providers in Michigan

ABSTRACT:  Context: It has long been a concern that professional liability problems disproportionately affect the delivery of obstetrical services to women living in rural areas. Michigan, a state with a large number of rural communities, is considered to be at risk for a medical liability crisis. Purpose : This study examined whether higher malpractice burden on obstetric providers was associated with an increased likelihood of discontinuing obstetric care and whether there were rural-urban differences in the relationship. Methods : Data on 500 obstetrician-gynecologists and family physicians who had provided obstetric care at some point in their career (either currently or previously) were obtained from a statewide survey in Michigan. Statistical tests and multivariate regression analyses were performed to examine the interrelationship among malpractice burden, rural location, and discontinuation of obstetric care. Findings : After adjusting for other factors that might influence a physician's decision about whether to stop obstetric care, our results showed no significant impact of malpractice burden on physicians' likelihood to discontinue obstetric care. Rural-urban location of the practice did not modify the nature of this relationship. However, family physicians in rural Michigan had a nearly 4-fold higher likelihood of withdrawing obstetric care when compared with urban family physicians. Conclusions : The higher likelihood of rural family physicians to discontinue obstetric care should be carefully weighed in future interventions to preserve obstetric care supply. More research is needed to better understand the practice environment of rural family physicians and the reasons for their withdrawal from obstetric care.     

The OB hospitalist and the risk manager: Ready for prime time

In 1996, Wachter and Goldman described a new model of care in which hospital‐based physicians provided patients' inpatient care in lieu of the patient’s primary physician.(1) They termed these physicians hospitalists. The hospitalist movement had taken hold, and by 1999, 65% of internists had hospitalists in their community and 28% reported using them for inpatient care.(2) In 2003, Louis Weinstein, in an article entitled “The Laborist: A New Focus of Practice for the Obstetrician”(3) advocated for the adoption of the hospitalist model to obstetrical care. In a 2010 study, of 28,545 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) contacted in a national survey, 7,044 clinicians responded, which yielded a response rate of 25%. Of the respondents, 1,020 clinicians (15% of respondents, 3.6% of the entire sample) described themselves as obstetrics/gynecology hospitalists or laborists.(4) According to the web site www.obgynhospitalist.com, there are at least 115 hospitals in the country that utilize a laborist or OB hospitalist model of care.(5).