Electronic health records and support for primary care teamwork

Objective Consensus that enhanced teamwork is necessary for efficient and effective primary care delivery is growing. We sought to identify how electronic health records (EHRs) facilitate and pose challenges to primary care teams as well as how practices are overcoming these challenges.Methods Practices in this qualitative study were selected from those recognized as patient-centered medical homes via the National Committee for Quality Assurance 2011 tool, which included a section on practice teamwork. We interviewed 63 respondents, ranging from physicians to front-desk staff, from 27 primary care practices ranging in size, type, geography, and population size.Results EHRs were found to facilitate communication and task delegation in primary care teams through instant messaging, task management software, and the ability to create evidence-based templates for symptom-specific data collection from patients by medical assistants and nurses (which can offload work from physicians). Areas where respondents felt that electronic medical record EHR functionalities were weakest and posed challenges to teamwork included the lack of integrated care manager software and care plans in EHRs, poor practice registry functionality and interoperability, and inadequate ease of tracking patient data in the EHR over time.Discussion Practices developed solutions for some of the challenges they faced when attempting to use EHRs to support teamwork but wanted more permanent vendor and policy solutions for other challenges.Conclusions EHR vendors in the United States need to work alongside practicing primary care teams to create more clinically useful EHRs that support dynamic care plans, integrated care management software, more functional and interoperable practice registries, and greater ease of data tracking over time.     

Association of the time to first epinephrine administration and outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: SOS-KANTO 2012 study

Objective

This study assessed the association between the timing of first epinephrine administration (EA) and the neurological outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) with both initial shockable and non-shockable rhythms.

江苏省儿童专科夜间门诊诊察费定价政策成效分析

2019年5月20日,江苏省医保局推出调整了儿童专科夜间门诊诊察费收费标准举措。文章以江苏省某三甲综合医院为样本,围绕上述政策实施后儿科诊疗工作量、病人满意度、医院收入影响等方面进行了调查,结果表明,上述政策可满足儿科病人就诊差异化需求,合理分流病人,保障急诊优先的诊疗秩序。     

Pharmacy in transition: A work sampling study of community pharmacists using smartphone technology

Introduction

The nature of community pharmacy is changing, shifting from the preparation and distribution of medicines to the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS); however, often the provision of traditional services leaves little time for innovative services. This study investigated the time community pharmacists spend on the tasks and activities of daily practice and to what extent they are able to implement CPS-related services in daily practice.

Manipulation and free will in shared decision making

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on patient involvement in treatment planning in the health care system. To reduce the risk of the clinician moving towards paternalism, various methods have been introduced—shared decision making, among others. The goal of shared decision making is for the clinician and patient to share available evidence on the best treatment and to raise awareness on the needs and preferences of the patient as to make a genuinely informed choice. However, in the present article, we discuss to which degree paternalism can be avoided in light of the clinician's role as an authority with certain knowledge and expertise. Through the philosophical theory of reasons‐responsiveness, we discuss to which extend free will and control applies to the patient. Through theoretical analysis, we come to suggest that the clinician has a role as an ally rather than manipulator.     

The role of geriatric palliative care in hospitalized older adults

ABSTRACT

Take-Away Points:

1. Geriatric palliative care requires integrating the disciplines of hospital medicine and palliative care in pursuit of delivering comprehensive, whole-person care to aging patients with serious illnesses.

2. Older adults have unique palliative care needs compared to the general population, different prevalence and intensity of symptoms, more frequent neuropsychiatric challenges, increased social needs, distinct spiritual, religious, and cultural considerations, and complex medicolegal and ethical issues.

3. Hospital-based palliative care interdisciplinary teams can take many forms and provide high-quality, goal-concordant care to older adults and their families.     

Immunizations at Wisconsin Pharmacies: Results of a statewide vaccine registry analysis and pharmacist survey

BackgroundThere is currently limited data in the United States on the proportion of immunization doses given at pharmacies outside the influenza vaccine. This study aims to obtain baseline information on the percentage of vaccine doses administered at pharmacies in Wisconsin and to understand the immunization barriers for Wisconsin pharmacists, to inform interventions to increase immunization access at pharmacies.MethodsAggregated data from the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) was obtained for all vaccines administered at pharmacies to patients over the age of six from July 2017 through June 2018. In addition, a survey on attitudes towards and barriers to vaccination was sent to 2000 Wisconsin pharmacists with 236 respondents yielding a 12% response rate.ResultsWIR data demonstrates that zoster and influenza vaccines have the highest proportion of doses administered at pharmacies (39% and 20%, respectively). Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have the lowest proportion of doses at 0.2%. Pharmacy survey shows that 86% provide immunizations. Most stock influenza vaccines (84%), whereas much fewer stock HPV vaccines (21%). The greatest immunization barriers for the pharmacy respondents include billing and reimbursement challenges and competing demands for staff.ConclusionsDespite the barriers, community pharmacies have significant potential to address vaccination gaps. Physicians, patients, and legislative bodies are generally well-accepting of pharmacists as immunizers. Pharmacists, in order to be fully utilized as immunizers, must engage in active communication with patients and be willing to collaborate with physicians. Legislative policy and health insurance reimbursement reforms are also necessary to facilitate further pharmacist participation in immunization.     

多力视角下社会资本参与基层卫生服务的动力机制及优化策略研究

社会办医作为我国基层卫生服务的重要组成部分,可以弥补基层卫生机构发展总量与质量不足等问题,对于推进整个基层卫生服务高质量发展也是有着重大裨益。文章从物理学的"力"出发,运用支持力,推力,引力,阻力,摩擦力五种"力"探讨社会资本参与基层卫生服务的动力形成机制,并构建动力斜坡图,针对存在问题,提出加大支持力和引力,合理利用推力,减少摩擦力,消除阻力等优化建议,以期助力社会资本参与基层卫生服务建设平稳进行。     

Outcomes of low-vision services using optometric and multidisciplinary approaches: a non-randomized comparison

Consecutive patients (n = 215) who were referred to optometric (55%) or multidisciplinary (45%) low-vision services and above 50 years of age were recruited from four hospitals in the Netherlands. They completed two vision-related quality of life questionnaires, the Vision Quality of Life Core Measure (VCM1) and the Low Vision Quality of Life Questionnaire (LVQOL), before their first visit with low-vision services and 1 year later. At follow-up, patients referred to multidisciplinary low-vision services had lower scores on the mobility subscale of the LVQOL than patients referred to optometric low-vision services [5.3 points; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2-10.5]. Paired sample t-tests for the two groups of patients taken together show improvement for the VCM1 (3.1 points; 95% CI: 0.6-5.6) and deterioration for the basic aspects of vision (3.5 points; 95% CI: 1.1-5.9) and the mobility (6.6 points; 95% CI: 3.7-9.5) subscales of the LVQOL. In conclusion, people referred to optometric services showed less deterioration in mobility than those referred to multidisciplinary services. No differences were observed for any of the other subscales of the LVQOL and the VCM1. Future research in this field should include randomized controlled designs comparing low-vision services with no treatment or placebo.     

Stroke Unit care in Italy. Results from PROSIT (Project on Stroke Services in Italy). A nationwide study

Abstract The future challenge for improving stroke patients’ outcome will be to implement new Stroke Units (SUs) worldwide. However the best SU model remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the number of SUs and the quality characteristics of acute stroke care in Italy. We conducted a SU survey in Italy, interviewing the directors of the hospital wards that discharged at least 50 acute stroke patients a year. A SU was defined as an acute ward area with stroke-dedicated beds and staff. To compare the quality of care provided in SUs with that in general wards (GWs) we investigated the characteristics of five domains: hospital setting, unit setting, staffing, process of care and diagnostic investigations. We identified 68 SUs and 677 GWs. Multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that SUs compared to GWs had higher quality scores in unit setting (ROC area=0.9721), staffing (ROC area=0.8760) and care organisation (ROC area=0.7984). The hospital setting (ROC area=0.7033) and the availability of rapid diagnostic investigations (ROC area=0.7164) had lower power in discriminating SU from GW. In Italy in 2003/04 only 9% of the hospital services had organised SU care. The study demonstrated that SUs admitted more than 100 patients per year, had more monitoring equipment and staffing time, and practised multidisciplinary meetings and early mobilisation. The utility of these structural and performance characteristics needs validation from outcome studies.