J Am Board Fam Med
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This study examines the evolution of student and physician interest in primary care from medical school matriculation to practice, focusing on student factors that potentiate primary care (PC) practice. ⋯ Our study suggests that cultivating PC interest at any point during medical school may predict PC practice. Early and sustained interest in primary care was the most substantial predictor of PC practice in our study, highlighting the need for primary care education even before medical school matriculation.
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The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends out-of-office blood pressure (BP) measurement before making a new hypertension diagnosis and initiating treatment, using 24-hour ambulatory (ABPM) or home BP monitoring. However, this approach is not common. ⋯ System changes and interventions to increase use of evidence-based practices could improve hypertension diagnosis and outcomes.
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As part of their continuing efforts to create higher parity levels in the Family Medicine Certification Examination, the American Board of Family Medicine has established procedures to explore bias in certification examinations by establishing a differential item functioning (DIF) analysis process and panel review. The review panel consists of a diverse group of family physicians and a linguist who is charged with determining whether items from the examination contain bias unrelated to the practice of medicine. It is the objective of this commentary to explain the panel process itself and to promote the inclusion of a linguist in similar panels. I argue that the inclusion of a linguist on a DIF panel can aid in determining where language itself is the source of bias.
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People with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a higher risk of mortality from COVID-19 than the general population. Providers may assume that this is due to the burden of comorbidities for this population; however, the disparity in mortality persists even when controlling for comorbidities. ⋯ Due to this bias, poor outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We make recommendations to address the modifiable factors that are contributing to the higher level of mortality for people with intellectual disabilities who are infected with COVID-19, provide strategies to combat ableism within the medical field, and discuss the unique role of the primary care physician as an advocate.
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To explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected exercise habits, we hypothesized that participants' physical activity would have increased by at least 30 min/wk after the onset of the pandemic. ⋯ Most participants decreased physical activity during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, expanding our understanding of how exercise habits change during stressful life events.