Annals of family medicine
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2024
Primary Care Physician and Urologist Perspectives on Optimizing Active Surveillance for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer.
We conducted a study to understand primary care physician (PCP) and urologist perspectives on determinants of active surveillance care delivery for men with low-risk prostate cancer. ⋯ With patients increasingly involving their PCPs in their cancer care, our study presents factors both PCPs and urologists perceive (or identify) as affecting optimal active surveillance care delivery. We provide insights that can help inform multilevel supportive interventions for patients, physicians, and organizations to ensure the success of active surveillance as a management strategy for low-risk prostate cancer.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2024
A Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Model to Optimize Perinatal and Primary Care in the Community Health Setting.
Many maternal deaths occur beyond the acute birth encounter. There are opportunities for improving maternal health outcomes through facilitated quality improvement efforts in community settings, particularly in the postpartum period. We used a mixed methods approach to evaluate a collaborative quality improvement (QI) model in 6 Chicago Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) that implemented workflows optimizing care continuity in the extended postpartum period for high-risk prenatal patients. ⋯ Our findings show that a flexible and collaborative QI approach in the FQHC setting can help optimize care delivery. Future evaluations should incorporate the patient experience and patient-level data for comprehensive analysis.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2024
A Brief Tool to Screen Patients for Precarious Employment: A Validation Study.
Precarious employment, defined by temporary contracts, unstable employment, or job insecurity, is increasingly common and is associated with inconsistent access to benefits, lower income, and greater exposure to physical and psycholosocial hazards. Clinicians can benefit from a simple approach to screen for precarious employment to improve their understanding of a patient's social context, help with diagnoses, and inform treatment plans and intersectional interventions. Our objective was to validate a screening tool for precarious employment. ⋯ A 3-item screening tool can help identify precarious employment. Our tool is useful for starting a conversation about employment precarity and work conditions in clinical settings. Implementation of this screening tool in health settings could enable better targeting of resources for managing care and connecting patients to legal and employment support services.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2024
Communication and Birth Experiences Among Black Birthing People Who Experienced Preterm Birth.
Physically or psychologically distressing birth experiences can influence postpartum health, parenting efficacy, and future pregnancy plans. Communication deficits contribute to negative birth experiences. This qualitative analysis explored themes related to communication and negative birth experiences among Black birthing people who experienced preterm birth. ⋯ Themes from this sample of Black birthing people who experienced preterm birth suggest 3 ways health systems might intervene to improve communication to mitigate the consequences of negative birth experiences. Improvement efforts in these areas may improve postpartum health, future pregnancy outcomes, and long-term health.
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Gabapentinoids are commonly used medications for numerous off-label conditions. The 2002-2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) was used to investigate the proportion of the adult population who were gabapentinoid users, the ages of these users, medications and diagnoses associated with users, and the likelihood of starting, stopping, or continuing gabapentinoids. ⋯ Between 2017-2021, numerous chronic pain conditions were associated with gabapentinoid use. New gabapentinoid users clearly outnumbered gabapentinoid stoppers between 2011-2012 and 2017-2018, but this difference decreased in the most recent cohorts.