Journal of general internal medicine
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Functional status and patient satisfaction: a comparison of ischemic heart disease, obstructive lung disease, and diabetes mellitus.
To determine the extent to which chronic illness and disease severity affect patient satisfaction with their primary care provider in general internal medicine clinics. ⋯ Patient education and ability to cope with chronic conditions are more strongly associated with satisfaction with their primary care provider than disease severity. Further improvements in patient education and self-management may lead to improved satisfaction and quality of care.
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While the majority of adults are attempting weight loss at any given time, few engage in optimal diet and exercise. We examined factors associated with being in advanced stages of behavior change for weight loss, diet, and exercise. ⋯ A large proportion of primary care patients are at advanced stages of readiness to lose weight, improve diet, and increase exercise. Future studies should examine the effectiveness of primary care interventions to help patients optimize weight-related behavior.
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Multicenter Study
Perceived preparedness to provide preventive counseling: reports of graduating primary care residents at academic health centers.
To assess the perceived preparedness of residents in adult primary care specialties to counsel patients about preventive care and psychosocial issues. ⋯ Physicians completing residencies in adult primary care did not feel very well prepared to counsel patients about preventive and psychosocial issues. Significant differences exist among specialties, even after adjusting for differences in time spent in ambulatory settings. Increasing residency time in ambulatory settings may not alone be sufficient to ensure that residents emerge with adequate counseling skills.
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Multicenter Study
A survey of health care practitioners' knowledge of the QT interval.
To assess health care practitioners' ability to correctly measure the QT interval, and to identify factors and medications that may increase the risk of QT-interval prolongation and torsades de pointes. ⋯ The majority of health care practitioners cannot correctly measure the QT interval and cannot correctly identify factors and medications that can prolong the QT interval. Our findings suggest that greater attention to the QT interval is warranted to ensure safer use of QT prolonging medications.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proposed increasing the proportion of people who learn their HIV serostatus. The health care setting represents a logical site to accomplish this goal. However, little is known about factors that determine acceptability of HIV testing in health care settings, particularly patients' health literacy. ⋯ Low health literacy was shown to be a predictor of HIV test acceptance. Patients presenting to a UCC with poorer health literacy appear more willing to comply with health care providers' recommendations to undergo HIV testing than those with adequate health literacy when an "opt-out" strategy combined with a low-literacy brochure is used.