J Am Board Fam Med
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Primary care is crucial to the health of individuals and communities, but it faces numerous structural and systemic challenges. Our study assessed the state of primary care in Virginia to prepare for Medicaid expansion. It also provides insight into the frontline of health care prior to an unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Primary care serves as the foundation of our health care system and is an essential service, but it is severely stressed, under-resourced, and overburdened in the best of times. Primary care needs strategic workforce planning, adequate access to resources, and financial investment to sustain its value and innovation.
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Methotrexate is a folate analog prescribed for varying disease with weekly administration as opposed to daily. Dosing errors can prove clinically significant and sometimes fatal. ⋯ Most methotrexate calls to our poison center resulted from taking the drug more often than prescribed. Efforts may focus on patient education, physician or pharmacist monitoring during initiation, improved dispensing devices, or weekly drug dispensing.
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Editorial Review
Research on the Issues Family Physicians Face Today: Controlled Substances, COVID-19, Hypertension, and "Slow Medicine," Among Many More Topics.
This issue of the JABFM features research on a broad array of clinical topics. The topics of 5 articles involve controlled substances, including a sobering article on the risks of amphetamines in older adults. An excellent quick reference guide for managing common COVID-19 symptoms is presented. ⋯ A review of the existing literature on "slow medicine" comes to important conclusions. Some health systems are partnering with local resources to practically address such social determinants as food insecurity. Not surprisingly, family physicians are filling gaps in emergency care around the country.
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Primary care practice in the United States suffers from short consultation duration and distracting electronic health record tasks. This leads to patient and physician dissatisfaction and physician burnout, as well as potentially unnecessary referrals and interventions. Slow medicine - providing longer and higher-quality consultations - has been proposed to improve medical care quality and patient outcomes. However, definitive outcome data for US settings are lacking. ⋯ With potentially significant health and financial benefits from slow medicine and little risk to subjects, randomized trials, natural experiments, and mixed methods evaluations are strongly indicated. We discuss the need for modified payment practices to facilitate a slow medicine approach.
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Post-COVID symptoms, defined as symptoms lasting >4 weeks postinfection, have been identified not only among those patients who were hospitalized with severe symptoms but also among those who were asymptomatic or with only mild symptoms. Primary care providers (PCPs) will often be the first point of contact for patients experiencing potential complications of post-COVID symptoms. The aim of this article is to present a post-COVID management tool for PCPs to use as a quick reference and guide to the initial workup and management of the most common post-COVID symptoms. ⋯ Data on long-term effects of COVID-19 are still emerging, and rapid dissemination of this data to front-line PCPs is crucial. This table was our effort to make the currently available evidence accessible for our PCPs in a simple, easy-to-use format.