Journal of general internal medicine
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Food is Medicine (FIM) programs to improve the accessibility of fruits and vegetables (FVs) or other healthy foods among patients with low income and diet-related chronic diseases are promising to improve food and nutrition security in the United States (US). However, FIM programs are relatively new and implementation guidance for healthcare settings using an implementation science lens is lacking. We used a narrative review to describe the evidence base on barriers and facilitators to FIM program integration in US healthcare settings following the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) Framework. ⋯ The most common barriers and facilitators to FIM programs were regarding Quality and Fidelity Monitoring and Support (e.g., use of electronic medical records for tracking and evaluation, strategies to support implementation) and Organizational Staffing Processes (e.g., clear delineation of staff roles and capacity); although, barriers and facilitators to FIM programs were identified among all EPIS Inner Context constructs. We synthesized barriers and facilitators to create an EPIS-informed implementation checklist for healthcare settings for use among healthcare organizations/providers, partner organizations, and technical assistance personnel. We discuss future directions to align FIM efforts with implementation science terminology and theories, models, and frameworks to improve the implementation evidence base and support FIM researchers and practitioners.
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Race dialogues, conversations about race and racism among individuals holding different racial identities, have been proposed as one component of addressing racism in medicine and improving the experience of racially minoritized patients. Drawing on work from several fields, we aimed to assess the scope of the literature on race dialogues and to describe potential benefits, best practices, and challenges of conducting such dialogues. Ultimately, our goal was to explore the potential role of race dialogues in medical education and clinical practice. ⋯ Supporting race dialogues within medicine has the potential to promote a more inclusive and justice-oriented workforce, strengthen relationships amongst colleagues, and improve care for patients with racially minoritized identities. Potential levers for supporting race dialogues include high-quality racial justice curricula at every level of medical education and valuation of racial consciousness in admissions and hiring processes. All efforts to support race dialogues must center and uplift those with racially minoritized identities.
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Workplace violence (WPV) is a commonly reported occupational hazard in healthcare and its prevalence is increasing. WPV occurs in all types of practice settings, but little is known about WPV in primary care settings in the United States (US). Because primary care practice settings differ from the inpatient settings, further examination of WPV in primary care is warranted. ⋯ Potential root causes for WPV could generally be categorized as patient-level, clinician-level, clinical encounter specific, and operational root causes. While most WPV was found to be non-physical, it still had significant emotional and job-related impacts on clinicians. These troubling results highlight the need for further studies to be conducted in the US.
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To evaluate the evidence on the relationship between delay discounting and clinical diabetes outcomes, identify current measures, and recommend areas for future work. ⋯ Evidence supports the relationship between delay discounting and diabetes-related outcomes and self-care behaviors across measures of delay discounting and type of diabetes. To understand delay discounting as a mechanism driving diabetes outcomes and to develop targeted interventions, additional work using a multidisciplinary approach is needed to validate the construct, identify pathways, and refine intervention approaches that can be tested to improve population health.
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States have implemented policies to decrease clinically unnecessary opioid prescribing, but few studies have examined how state policies affect opioid dispensing rate trends for surgical patients. ⋯ While we observed a slight increase in the rate of Medicare beneficiaries dispensed opioids perioperatively and a substantial decrease in MMED and days' supply for those receiving opioids, state policies examined had relatively modest effects on the main measures. Our findings suggest that these state policies may have a limited impact on opioid dispensing for a patient population that is commonly dispensed opioid analgesics to help control surgical pain, and as a result may have little direct effect on clinical outcomes for this population. Changes in opioid dispensing for this population may be the result of broader societal trends than such state policies.