Practice Facilitation Improves Adolescent Reproductive Health Preventive Services in Primary Care

OBJECTIVES: Provision of reproductive health preventive services to adolescents is critical given their high rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. Pediatricians are well positioned to provide these services but often face barriers. With this project, we aimed to build quality improvement (QI) capacity within pediatric practices to improve adherence to national guidelines for adolescent reproductive health preventive services. METHODS: In 2016, an accountable care organization overseeing health care delivery for low-income children in the Midwestern United States used practice facilitation, a proven approach to improve health care quality, to support pediatric practices in implementing reproductive health QI projects. Interested practices pursued projects aimed at providing (1) sexual risk reduction and contraceptive counseling (reproductive health assessments [RHAs]) or (2) etonogestrel implants. QI specialists helped practices build key driver diagrams and implement interventions. Outcome measures included the proportion of well-care visits with RHAs completed and number of etonogestrel insertions performed monthly. RESULTS: Between November 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, 6 practices serving >7000 adolescents pursued QI projects. Among practices focused on RHAs, the proportion of well-care visits with completed RHAs per month increased from 0% to 65.8% (P < .001) within 18 months. Among practices focused on etonogestrel implant insertions, overall insertions per month increased from 0 to 8.5 (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Practice facilitation is an effective way to increase adherence to national guidelines for adolescent reproductive health preventive services within primary care practices. Success was driven by practice-specific customization of interventions and ongoing, hands-on support.

The STUN (STop UNhealthy) Alcohol Use Now trial: study protocol for an adaptive randomized trial on dissemination and implementation of screening and management of unhealthy alcohol use in primary care

Background Unhealthy alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable deaths in the USA and is associated with many societal and health problems. Less than a third of people who visit primary care providers in the USA are asked about or ever discuss alcohol use with a health professional. Methods/design This study is an adaptive, randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effect of primary care practice facilitation and telehealth services on evidence-based screening, counseling, and pharmacotherapy for unhealthy alcohol use in small-to-medium-sized primary care practices. Study participants will include primary care practices in North Carolina with 10 or fewer providers. All enrolled practices will receive a practice facilitation intervention that includes quality improvement (QI) coaching, electronic health record (EHR) support, training, and expert consultation. After 6 months, practices in the lower 50th percentile (based on performance) will be randomized to continued practice facilitation or provision of telehealth services plus ongoing facilitation for the next 6 months. Practices in the upper 50th percentile after the initial 6 months of intervention will continue to receive practice facilitation alone. The main outcome measures include the number (and %) of patients in the target population who are screened for unhealthy alcohol use, screen positive, and receive brief counseling. Additional measures include the number (and %) of patients who receive pharmacotherapy for AUD or are referred for AUD services. Sample size calculations determined that 35 practices are needed to detect a 10% increase in the main outcome (percent screened for unhealthy alcohol use) over 6 months. Discussion A successful intervention would significantly reduce morbidity among adults from unhealthy alcohol use by increasing counseling and other treatment opportunities. The study will produce important evidence about the effect of practice facilitation on uptake of evidence-based screening, counseling, and pharmacotherapy for unhealthy alcohol use when delivered on a large scale to small and medium-sized practices. It will also generate scientific knowledge about whether embedded telehealth services can improve the use of evidence-based screening and interventions for practices with slower uptake. The results of this rigorously conducted evaluation are expected to have a positive impact by accelerating the dissemination and implementation of evidence related to unhealthy alcohol use into primary care practices. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT04317989. Registered on March 23, 2020.

Advanced practice education and development

Colette Henderson looks at the importance of education and development for advanced practitioners UK government policy directives support the development of multidisciplinary advanced practice roles. Advanced practitioners must align their practice and subsequent continuing professional development (CPD) with four pillars of practice: clinical practice; facilitation of learning; leadership and evidence; and research and development. Lifelong learning is a mandatory requirement for healthcare practitioners. This article will focus on the importance of education and development for advanced practitioners and starts by providing some detail of the background development of advanced practice in the UK to justify the focus on ongoing achievement of capability across the four pillars.

Response to language barriers with patients from refugee background in general practice in Australia: findings from the OPTIMISE study

Background Language is a barrier to many patients from refugee backgrounds accessing and receiving quality primary health care. This paper examines the way general practices address these barriers and how this changed following a practice facilitation intervention. Methods The OPTIMISE study was a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial set within 31 general practices in three urban regions in Australia with high refugee settlement. It involved a practice facilitation intervention addressing interpreter engagement as one of four core intervention areas. This paper analysed quantitative and qualitative data from the practices and 55 general practitioners from these, collected at baseline and after 6 months during which only those assigned to the early group received the intervention. Results Many practices (71 %) had at least one GP who spoke a language spoken by recent humanitarian entrants. At baseline, 48 % of practices reported using the government funded Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS). The role of reception staff in assessing and recording the language and interpreter needs of patients was well defined. However, they lacked effective systems to share the information with clinicians. After the intervention, the number of practices using the TIS increased. However, family members and friends continued to be used to interpret with GPs reporting patients preferred this approach. The extra time required to arrange and use interpreting services remained a major barrier. Conclusions In this study a whole of practice facilitation intervention resulted in improvements in procedures for and engagement of interpreters. However, there were barriers such as the extra time required, and family members continued to be used. Based on these findings, further effort is needed to reduce the administrative burden and GP’s opportunity cost needed to engage interpreters, to provide training for all staff on when and how to work with interpreters and discuss and respond to patient concerns about interpreting services.

Toolkit and distance coaching strategies: a mixed methods evaluation of a trial to implement care coordination quality improvement projects in primary care

Background Care coordination tools and toolkits can be challenging to implement. Practice facilitation, an active but expensive strategy, may facilitate toolkit implementation. We evaluated the comparative effectiveness of distance coaching, a form of practice facilitation, for improving the implementation of care coordination quality improvement (QI) projects. Methods We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of the Coordination Toolkit and Coaching (CTAC) initiative. Twelve matched US Veterans Health Administration primary care clinics were randomized to receive coaching and an online care coordination toolkit (“coached”; n = 6) or access to the toolkit only (“non-coached”; n = 6). We did interviews at six, 12, and 18 months. For coached sites, we‘ly collected site visit fieldnotes, prospective coach logs, retrospective coach team debriefs, and project reports. We employed matrix analysis using constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and a taxonomy of outcomes. We assessed each site’s project(s) using an adapted Complexity Assessment Tool for Systematic Reviews. Results Eleven sites implemented a local CTAC project. Eight sites (5 coached, 3 non-coached) used at least one tool from the toolkit. Coached sites implemented significantly more complex projects than non-coached sites (11.5 vs 7.5, 95% confidence interval 1.75–6.25, p < 0.001); engaged in more formal implementation processes (planning, engaging, reflecting and evaluating); and generally had larger, more multidisciplinary QI teams. Regardless of coaching status, sites focused on internal organizational improvement and low-intensity educational projects rather than the full suite of care coordination tools. At 12 months, half the coached and non-coached sites had clinic-wide project implementation; the remaining coached sites had implemented most of their project(s), while the remaining non-coached sites had either not implemented anything or conducted limited pilots. At 18 months, coached sites reported ongoing effort to monitor, adapt, and spread their CTAC projects, while non-coached sites did not report much continuing work. Coached sites accrued benefits like improved clinic relationships and team QI skill building that non-coached sites did not describe. Conclusions Coaching had a positive influence on QI skills of (and relationships among) coached sites’ team members, and the scope and rigor of projects. However, a 12-month project period was potentially too short to ensure full project implementation or to address cross-setting or patient-partnered initiatives. Trial registration NCT03063294.

Interprofessional advanced access – a quality improvement protocol for expanding access to primary care services

Background The Advanced Access (AA) Model has shown considerable success in improving timely access for patients in primary care settings. As a result, a majority of family physicians have implemented AA in their organizations over the last decade. However, despite its widespread use, few professionals other than physicians and nurse practitioners have implemented the model. Among those who have integrated it to their practice, a wide variation in the level of implementation is observed, suggesting a need to support primary care teams in continuous improvement with AA implementation. This quality improvement research project aims to document and measure the processes and effects of practice facilitation, to implement and improve AA within interprofessional teams. Methods Five primary care teams at various levels of organizational AA implementation will take part in a quality improvement process. These teams will be followed independently over PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles for 18 months. Each team is responsible for setting their own objectives for improvement with respect to AA. The evaluation process consists of a mixed-methods plan, including semi-structured interviews with key members of the clinical and management teams, patient experience survey and AA-related metrics monitored from Electronic Medical Records over time. Discussion Most theories on organizational change indicate that practice facilitation should enable involvement of stakeholders in the process of change and enable improved interprofessional collaboration through a team-based approach. Improving access to primary care services is one of the top priorities of the Quebec’s ministry of health and social services. This study will identify key barriers to quality improvement initiatives within primary care and help to develop successful strategies to help teams improve and broaden implementation of AA to other primary care professionals.