Setting Up and Expanding a Home Dialysis Program: Is There a Recipe for Success?

Home dialysis modalities remain significantly underused in the United States despite similar overall survival in the modalities, and recent incentives to expand these modalities. Although the absolute number of patients using home modalities has grown, the proportion compared to in-center hemodialysis (ICHD) continues to remain quite low. Well known barriers to home dialysis utilization exist, and an organized and team-based approach is required to overcome these barriers. Herein, we describe our efforts at growing our home dialysis program at a large academic medical center, with the proportion of home dialysis patients growing from 12% to 21% over the past 9 years. We prioritized individualized education for patients and better training for physicians, with the help of existing resources, aimed at better utilization of home modalities; an example includes dedicated dialysis education classes taught twice monthly by an experienced nurse practitioner, as well as the utilization of the dialysis educator from a dialysis provider for inpatient education of patients with CKD. The nephrology fellowship curriculum was restructured with emphasis on home modalities, and participation in annual home dialysis conferences has been encouraged. For timely placement and troubleshooting of access for dialysis, we followed a complementary team approach using surgeons and interventional radiologists and nephrologists, driven by a standardized protocol developed at UAB, and comanaged by our access coordinators. A team-based approach, with emphasis on staff engagement and leadership opportunities for dialysis nurses as well as collaborative efforts from a team of clinical nephrologists and the dialysis provider helped maintain efficiency, kindle growth, and provide consistently high-quality clinical care in the home program. Lastly, efforts at reducing burden of disease such as decreased number of monthly visits as well as using innovative strategies, such as telenephrology and assisted PD and HHD, were instrumental in reducing attrition.

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Risk factors associated with physician trainee concern over missed educational opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-021-02665-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sunny S. Lou ◽

Charles W. Goss ◽

Bradley A. Evanoff ◽

Jennifer G. Duncan ◽

Thomas Kannampallil

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Medical Center ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Clinical Work ◽

Educational Opportunities ◽

Missed Opportunities ◽

Physician Trainee ◽

At Home

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a transformation of clinical care practices to protect both patients and providers. These changes led to a decrease in patient volume, impacting physician trainee education due to lost clinical and didactic opportunities. We measured the prevalence of trainee concern over missed educational opportunities and investigated the risk factors leading to such concerns. Methods All residents and fellows at a large academic medical center were invited to participate in a web-based survey in May of 2020. Participants responded to questions regarding demographic characteristics, specialty, primary assigned responsibility during the previous 2 weeks (clinical, education, or research), perceived concern over missed educational opportunities, and burnout. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between missed educational opportunities and the measured variables. Results 22% (301 of 1375) of the trainees completed the survey. 47% of the participants were concerned about missed educational opportunities. Trainees assigned to education at home had 2.85 [95%CI 1.33–6.45] greater odds of being concerned over missed educational opportunities as compared with trainees performing clinical work. Trainees performing research were not similarly affected [aOR = 0.96, 95%CI (0.47–1.93)]. Trainees in pathology or radiology had 2.51 [95%CI 1.16–5.68] greater odds of concern for missed educational opportunities as compared with medicine. Trainees with greater concern over missed opportunities were more likely to be experiencing burnout (p = 0.038). Conclusions Trainees in radiology or pathology and those assigned to education at home were more likely to be concerned about their missed educational opportunities. Residency programs should consider providing trainees with research or at home clinical opportunities as an alternative to self-study should future need for reduced clinical hours arise.

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Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder Management in Multicenter Community Practices: Clinicians’ Training, Current Practices and Perceived Strategies to Improve Future Implementation

Journal of Primary Care & Community Health ◽

10.1177/2150132721996888 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 215013272199688

Author(s):

Ajeng J. Puspitasari ◽

Dagoberto Heredia ◽

Elise Weber ◽

Hannah K Betcher ◽

Brandon J. Coombes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Health Services ◽

Behavioral Health ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Management Training ◽

The United States ◽

Behavioral Health Services ◽

Perinatal Women

Background: This study aimed to explore clinicians’ perspectives on the current practice of perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) management and strategies to improve future implementation. Methods: This study had a cross-sectional, descriptive design. A 35-item electronic survey was sent to clinicians (N = 118) who treated perinatal women and practiced at several community clinics at an academic medical center in the United States. Results: Among clinicians who provided care for perinatal women, 34.7% reported never receiving PMAD management training and 66.3% had less than 10 years of experience. Out of 10 patients who reported psychiatric symptoms, 47.8% of clinicians on average reported providing PMAD management to 1 to 3 patients and 40.7% noted that they conducted screening only when patient expresses PMAD symptoms. Suggested future improvements were providing training, developing a referral list, and establishing integrated behavioral health services. Conclusions: Results from this study indicated that while PMAD screening and management was implemented, improvements are warranted to meet established guidelines. Additionally, clinicians endorsed providing PMAD management to a small percentage of perinatal patients. Suggested strategies to increase adoption and implementation of PMAD management should be explored to improve access to behavioral health services for perinatal women.

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Communications and Screening for 2019 Novel Coronavirus at a Tertiary-Care Medical Center

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology ◽

10.1017/ice.2020.578 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. s84-s84

Author(s):

Lorinda Sheeler ◽

Mary Kukla ◽

Oluchi Abosi ◽

Holly Meacham ◽

Stephanie Holley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Screening Tool ◽

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

The United States ◽

World Health ◽

Communication Campaign ◽

Electronic Screening ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

The Impact

Background: In December of 2019, the World Health Organization reported a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 [SARS-CoV-2)]) causing severe respiratory illness originating in Wuhan, China. Since then, an increasing number of cases and the confirmation of human-to-human transmission has led to the need to develop a communication campaign at our institution. We describe the impact of the communication campaign on the number of calls received and describe patterns of calls during the early stages of our response to this emerging infection. Methods: The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is an 811-bed academic medical center with >200 outpatient clinics. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, we launched a communications campaign on January 17, 2020. Initial communications included email updates to staff and a dedicated COVID-19 webpage with up-to-date information. Subsequently, we developed an electronic screening tool to guide a risk assessment during patient check in. The screening tool identifies travel to China in the past 14 days and the presence of symptoms defined as fever >37.7°C plus cough or difficulty breathing. The screening tool was activated on January 24, 2020. In addition, university staff contacted each student whose primary residence record included Hubei Province, China. Students were provided with medical contact information, signs and symptoms to monitor for, and a thermometer. Results: During the first 5 days of the campaign, 3 calls were related to COVID-19. The number of calls increased to 18 in the 5 days following the implementation of the electronic screening tool. Of the 21 calls received to date, 8 calls (38%) were generated due to the electronic travel screen, 4 calls (19%) were due to a positive coronavirus result in a multiplex respiratory panel, 4 calls (19%) were related to provider assessment only (without an electronic screening trigger), and 2 calls (10%) sought additional information following the viewing of the web-based communication campaign. Moreover, 3 calls (14%) were for people without travel history but with respiratory symptoms and contact with a person with recent travel to China. Among those reporting symptoms after travel to China, mean time since arrival to the United States was 2.7 days (range, 0–11 days). Conclusion: The COVID-19 outbreak is evolving, and providing up to date information is challenging. Implementing an electronic screening tool helped providers assess patients and direct questions to infection prevention professionals. Analyzing the types of calls received helped tailor messaging to frontline staff.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

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An innovative resident-driven mortality case review curriculum to teach and drive system-based practice improvements in the United States

Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions ◽

10.3352/jeehp.2018.15.31 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

pp. 31

Author(s):

Nila S. Radhakrishnan ◽

Margaret C. Lo ◽

Rohit Bishnoi ◽

Subhankar Samal ◽

Robert Leverence ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Systems Of Care ◽

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

The United States ◽

Case Review ◽

Failure To Rescue ◽

Internal Medicine Residents ◽

Mortality Case

Purpose: Traditionally, the morbidity and mortality conference (M&MC) is a forum where possible medical errors are discussed. Although M&MCs can facilitate identification of opportunities for systemwide improvements, few studies have described their use for this purpose, particularly in residency training programs. This paper describes the use of M&MC case review as a quality improvement activity that teaches system-based practice and can engage residents in improving systems of care. Methods: Internal medicine residents at a tertiary care academic medical center reviewed 347 consecutive mortalities from March 2014 to September 2017. The residents used case review worksheets to categorize and track causes of mortality, and then debriefed with a faculty member. Selected cases were then presented at a larger interdepartmental meeting and action items were implemented. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the results. Results: The residents identified a possible diagnostic mismatch at some point from admission to death in 54.5% of cases (n= 189) and a possible need for improved management in 48.0% of cases. Three possible management failure themes were identified, including failure to plan, failure to communicate, and failure to rescue, which accounted for 21.9%, 10.7 %, and 10.1% of cases, respectively. Following these reviews, quality improvement initiatives proposed by residents led to system-based changes. Conclusion: A resident-driven mortality review curriculum can lead to improvements in systems of care. This novel type of curriculum can be used to teach system-based practice. The recruitment of teaching faculty with expertise in quality improvement and mortality case analyses is essential for such a project.

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Preparing Clinical Text for Use in Biomedical Research

Medical Informatics ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-050-9.ch159 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 2085-2095

Author(s):

John P. Pestian ◽

Lukasz Itert ◽

Charlotte Andersen

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Medical Center ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Clinical Text ◽

Delivery Of Care ◽

Radiology Reports ◽

Academic Medical ◽

Textual Data ◽

Regulatory Actions

Approximately 57 different types of clinical annotations construct a patient’s medical record. These annotations include radiology reports, discharge summaries, and surgical and nursing notes. Hospitals typically produce millions of text-based medical records over the course of a year. These records are essential for the delivery of care, but many are underutilized or not utilized at all for clinical research. The textual data found in these annotations is a rich source of insights into aspects of clinical care and the clinical delivery system. Recent regulatory actions, however, require that, in many cases, data not obtained through informed consent or data not related to the delivery of care must be made anonymous (as referred to by regulators as harmless), before they can be used. This article describes a practical approach with which Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), a large pediatric academic medical center with more than 761,000 annual patient encounters, developed open source software for making pediatric clinical text harmless without losing its rich meaning. Development of the software dealt with many of the issues that often arise in natural language processing, such as data collection, disambiguation, and data scrubbing.

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ACADEMIA’S ROLE TO DRIVE CHANGE IN THE ORTHOTICS AND PROSTHETICS PROFESSION

Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal ◽

10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.36673 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Géza Kogler ◽

Christopher Hovorka

Keyword(s):

Technology Use ◽

Clinical Training ◽

Clinical Decision Making ◽

New Technologies ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Clinical Decision ◽

The United States ◽

Academic Program ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Curricular Emphasis

This position paper outlines the important role of academia in shaping the orthotics and prosthetics (O&P) profession and preparing for its future. In the United States, most healthcare professions including O&P are under intense pressure to provide cost effective treatments and quantifiable health outcomes. Pivotal changes are needed in the way O&P services are provided to remain competitive. This will require the integration of new technologies and data driven processes that have the potential to streamline workflows, reduce errors and inform new methods of clinical care and device manufacturing. Academia can lead this change, starting with a restructuring in academic program curricula that will enable the next generation of professionals to cope with multiple demands such as the provision of services for an increasing number of patients by a relatively small workforce of certified practitioners delivering these services at a reduced cost, with the expectation of significant, meaningful, and measurable value. Key curricular changes will require replacing traditional labor-intensive and inefficient fabrication methods with the integration of newer technologies (i.e., digital shape capture, digital modeling/rectification and additive manufacturing). Improving manufacturing efficiencies will allow greater curricular emphasis on clinical training and education – an area that has traditionally been underemphasized. Providing more curricular emphasis on holistic patient care approaches that utilize systematic and evidence-based methods in patient assessment, treatment planning, dosage of O&P technology use, and measurement of patient outcomes is imminent. Strengthening O&P professionals’ clinical decision-making skills and decreasing labor-intensive technical fabrication aspects of the curriculum will be critical in moving toward a digital and technology-centric practice model that will enable future practitioners to adapt and survive. Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/article/view/36673/28349 How To Cite: Kogler GF, Hovorka CF. Academia’s role to drive change in the orthotics and prosthetics profession. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.21. https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.36673 Corresponding Author: Géza F. KoglerOrthotics and Prosthetics Unit, Kennesaw State University.E-Mail: [email protected] ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0212-5520

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Development of an Abstraction Tool to Assess Palliative Care Components

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine® ◽

10.1177/10499091211061724 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 104990912110617

Author(s):

Meredith A. MacMartin ◽

Amber E. Barnato

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Medical Center ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Physical Symptoms ◽

Future Research ◽

Clinical Documentation ◽

Cohen’S Kappa ◽

Cohen's Kappa

Background: Little is known regarding the fidelity of delivery of guideline-recommended components of palliative care in “real world” encounters. Objective: To develop a qualitative coding framework to identify components of clinical palliative care in clinical documentation across care settings. Design: Retrospective review of palliative care clinical documentation from medical providers, with directed qualitative content analysis to identify components of clinical care documented. Setting/Subjects: Purposively sampled deceased patients seen by palliative care at a US academic medical center between 7/1/2011–7/1/2018. Main Outcomes and Measures: The outcome of this work is a coding framework for use in future research. We assessed the robustness of the framework using Cohen’s kappa. Results: We reviewed sixty-two encounters from twenty-six patients. We identified 7 major themes in documentation: (1) addressing physical symptoms, (2) addressing psychological symptoms, (3) establishing illness understanding, (4) supporting decision making, (5) end-of-life planning, (6) understanding psychosocial context, and (7) care coordination. Interrater reliability varied widely between components, with Cohen’s kappa ranging from −.51 to 1. Conclusions: This pilot study provides a coding framework to measure documentation of clinical palliative care components. Several components could not be reliably identified using this framework, suggesting the need for additional measurement strategies.

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How I Treat Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood.2021011722 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ellin Berman

Keyword(s):

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Treatment Algorithm ◽

Safety Data ◽

Specific Treatment ◽

Chronic Phase ◽

The United States ◽

Myelogenous Leukemia ◽

Individual Response ◽

Number Of Patients

When imatinib, the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) developed for use in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) was approved in 2001, the treatment of this disease was forever changed. Significant reductions in the molecular burden of disease were seen with the first generation TKI imatinib and with the addition of dasatinib (2006), nilotinib (2007), bosutinib (2012) and ponatinib (2013), deeper and more rapid reductions were noted. Physicians could begin to tailor TKI therapy to individual patients, and patients who did not respond to or could not tolerate first line therapy now had options. Importantly, the number of patients who developed accelerated or blast phase disease decreased dramatically. Research in CML continues to evolve and by presenting illustrative cases, this article will review some of the newer aspects of clinical care in this disease. Updated information regarding bosutinib and asciminib, the latter currently in clinical trials, will be presented; bosutinib is of particular interest as the drug's transit through the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) highlights the question of what is considered optimal response to TKI therapy. The challenge of understanding the cardiac safety data of ponatinib and the unique dosing schedule based on individual response will be discussed. Lastly, two cases will focus on features of TKI treatment that -remarkably- have become part of the treatment algorithm: family planning for women with CML and stopping therapy after meeting a specific treatment milestone.

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Depression Screening and Measurement-Based Care in Primary Care

Journal of Primary Care & Community Health ◽

10.1177/2150132720931261 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 215013272093126

Author(s):

Kimberly A. Siniscalchi ◽

Marion E. Broome ◽

Jason Fish ◽

Joseph Ventimiglia ◽

Julie Thompson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Task Force ◽

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Unmet Need ◽

The United States ◽

Depression Screening ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Measurement Based Care

The health issue addressed is the unmet need to universally screen and treat depression, which is one of the most common mental health disorders among adults in the United States. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening adults for depression in primary care and using evidence-based protocols. This quality improvement project implemented VitalSign6, a measurement-based care program, to improve depression screening and treatment of adults in primary care at an academic medical center. A pre-post design was used to determine effectiveness of changes in screening, outcomes, and satisfaction. Of 1200 unique adult patients, 95.4% received initial screening. Providers diagnosed and administered measurement-based care to 236 patients. After 14 weeks, 27.5% returned for at least 1 follow-up. Results showed a statistically significant decrease in self-reported depression scores from baseline to follow-up. VitalSign6 was effective in improving identification and management of depression in primary care.

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Clinical Ordering Practices of the SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Test at a Large Academic Medical Center

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofaa406 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Joesph R Wiencek ◽

Carter L Head ◽

Costi D Sifri ◽

Andrew S Parsons

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Antibody Test ◽

The United States ◽

Molecular Testing ◽

Antibody Testing ◽

Academic Medical ◽

Public Health Epidemiology ◽

Testing Costs

Abstract Background The novel severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated in December 2019 and has now infected almost 5 million people in the United States. In the spring of 2020, private laboratories and some hospitals began antibody testing despite limited evidence-based guidance. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients who received SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing from May 14, 2020, to June 15, 2020, at a large academic medical center, 1 of the first in the United States to provide antibody testing capability to individual clinicians in order to identify clinician-described indications for antibody testing compared with current expert-based guidance from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Results Of 444 individual antibody test results, the 2 most commonly described testing indications, apart from public health epidemiology studies (n = 223), were for patients with a now resolved COVID-19-compatible illness (n = 105) with no previous molecular testing and for asymptomatic patients believed to have had a past exposure to a person with COVID-19-compatible illness (n = 60). The rate of positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing among those indications consistent with current IDSA and CDC guidance was 17% compared with 5% (P < .0001) among those indications inconsistent with such guidance. Testing inconsistent with current expert-based guidance accounted for almost half of testing costs. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate a dissociation between clinician-described indications for testing and expert-based guidance and a significantly different rate of positive testing between these 2 groups. Clinical curiosity and patient preference appear to have played a significant role in testing decisions and substantially contributed to testing costs.

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