Journal of general internal medicine
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Given increasing numbers of people experiencing transitions in health insurance due to declines in employer-sponsored insurance and changes in health policy, the understanding and application of health insurance terms and concepts (health insurance literacy) may be important for navigating use of health care. The study objective was to systematically review evidence on the relationship between health insurance literacy and health care utilization. ⋯ The emerging literature in this area suggests that health insurance literacy is an important factor that can enable effective utilization of health care, including primary care and preventive services. However, the literature is limited by a paucity of studies using validated tools that broadly measure health insurance literacy (rather than testing knowledge of specific covered services). Improving health insurance literacy of the general public and increasing plain language communication of health insurance plan features at the point of health care navigation may encourage more effective and cost-conscious utilization.
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Observational Study
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health, Occupational Functioning, and Professional Retention Among Health Care Workers and First Responders.
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected front-line health care workers (HCW) and first responders (FR). The specific components of COVID-19 related occupational stressors (CROS) associated with psychiatric symptoms and reduced occupational functioning or retention remain poorly understood. ⋯ These results demonstrate potentially treatable psychiatric symptoms in HCW and FR experiencing CROS, impacting both wellbeing and the health care system. Mitigating CROS, particularly by addressing factors driving demoralization, may improve HCW and FR mental health, occupational functioning, and retention.
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Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is highly prevalent in older adults and long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) has been used to manage chronic pain. However, the safety of LTOT among older adults with CNCP is not well-established and there is a need to identify therapy-related risk factors of opioid-related adverse events among older adults. ⋯ Older adults receiving medically prescribed opioids at higher doses and those using LA and combination of LA and SA opioids are at increased risks for opioid-related adverse events, highlighting the need for close patient supervision.
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Residents and fellows receive little feedback on their clinical reasoning documentation. Barriers include lack of a shared mental model and variability in the reliability and validity of existing assessment tools. Of the existing tools, the IDEA assessment tool includes a robust assessment of clinical reasoning documentation focusing on four elements (interpretive summary, differential diagnosis, explanation of reasoning for lead and alternative diagnoses) but lacks descriptive anchors threatening its reliability. ⋯ The Revised-IDEA assessment tool is reliable and easy to use for feedback on clinical reasoning documentation in resident and fellow admission notes with descriptive anchors that facilitate a shared mental model for feedback.
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By 2030, the number of US adults age ≥65 will exceed 70 million. Their quality of life has been declared a national priority by the US government. ⋯ Interventions like ET may help improve quality of life and socio-emotional outcomes among older adults with more illness burden. Our next study focuses on this population.