Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: Despite the increased focus on health care consumers' active choice, not enough is known about how to best facilitate the choice process. We sought to assess methods of improving this process for vulnerable consumers in the United States by testing alternatives that emphasize insights from behavioral economics, or 'nudges'. METHODS: We performed a hypothetical choice experiment where subjects were randomized to one of five experimental conditions and asked to choose a health center (location where they would receive all their care). The conditions presented the same information about health centers in different ways, including graphically as a chart, via written summary and using behavioral economics, 'nudging' consumers toward particular choices. We hypothesized that these 'nudges' might help simplify the choice process. Our primary outcomes focused on the health center chosen and whether consumers were willing to accept 'nudges'. RESULTS: We found that consumer choice was influenced by the method of presentation and the majority of consumers accepted the health center they were 'nudged' towards. CONCLUSIONS: Consumers were accepting of choices grounded in insights from behavioral economics and further consideration should be given to their role in patient choice.

OBJECTIVE:: In 2011, 15.8% of eligible patients in the United States were vaccinated against herpes zoster (HZ). To increase the usage of the HZ vaccine by studying physicians' knowledge, attitudes, practices, and perceived obstacles after interventions to overcome barriers. METHODS:: General internal medicine physicians were surveyed with a cross-sectional internet survey from October to December 2011 before interventions to increase the use of the HZ vaccine and 1 year later. Interventions included education, increasing availability at the medical center pharmacy, and electronic medical record reminders. Outcome measures included changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and perceived barriers. McNemar chi-square tests were used to compare the changes from the baseline survey for physicians who completed the follow-up survey. RESULTS:: Response rate for the baseline study was 33.5% (89/266) and for the follow-up was 29.8% (75/252). Fifty-five completed both surveys. There was a decrease from 57% at baseline to 40% at follow-up in the proportion of physicians who reported that less than 10% of their patients were vaccinated. They were more likely to know the HZ annual incidence (30% baseline; 70% follow-up; P=0.02), and report having educational information for physicians (7% baseline; 27% follow-up; P=0.003). The top helpful intervention was nursing administration of the vaccine. Average monthly HZ vaccine usage in the affiliated outpatient pharmacy increased in 10 months between surveys by 156% compared with the 3 months before the baseline survey. CONCLUSIONS:: Interventions implemented during the study led to an increase in physicians' basic knowledge of the HZ vaccine and an increase in usage at the affiliated pharmacy.

BACKGROUND: Standardized Patients (SPs) are actors trained to portray health care patients during the training and assessment of health care providers. This paper describes the methods and costs associated with using SPs to evaluate the skills of telephone counselors working on a clinical trial that evaluated a telephone smoking cessation program tailored for smokers using Department of Veterans Affairs mental health clinics. FINDINGS: Conducting the SP exercises required five main steps: (1) Write a SP case description detailing patient demographics, demeanor, clinical symptoms and history, and instructions on how to respond to counseling, (2) Identify, select and train actors to portray the SP cases; (3) Conduct audio-taped counseling encounters between the SPs and counselors, (4) Rate the counselors on their core counseling competencies, (5) Provide feedback to counselors. The SPs and study supervisors reported that the checklist was easy to use when rating the counselors. Counselors reported that the SP encounters were realistic and helpful for practicing their clinical work and for building self-efficacy for working with real patients. The labor costs of developing two SP cases and training two SP actors was approximately $1,475. The per-session labor cost of conducting a 1-hour counseling session between one SP and one counselor was approximately $314. CONCLUSIONS: Using SPs to train telephone counselors working on a clinical trial was feasible and offered training benefits beyond those provided by didactic instruction and role plays. Our research group is now routinely using SPs for the training of incoming telephone counselors.

BACKGROUND: While unannounced standardized patients (USPs) have been used to assess physicians' clinical skills in the ambulatory setting, they can also provide valuable information on patients' experience of the health care setting beyond the physician encounter. This paper explores the use of USPs as a methodology for evaluating patient-centered care in the health care system. METHODS: USPs were trained to complete a behaviorally-anchored assessment of core dimensions of patient-centered care delivered within the clinical microsystem, including: 1) Medical assistants' safe practices, quality of care, and responsiveness to patients; 2) ease of clinic navigation; and 3) the patient-centeredness of care provided by the physician. Descriptive data is provided on these three levels of patient-centeredness within the targeted clinical microsystem. Chi-square analyses were used to signal whether variations by teams within the clinical microsystem were likely to be due to chance or might reflect true differences in patient-centeredness of specific teams. RESULTS: Sixty USP visits to 11 Primary Care teams were performed over an eight-month period (mean 5 visits/team; range 2-8). No medical assistants reported detecting an USP during the study period. USPs found the clinic easy to navigate and that teams were functioning well in 60% of visits. In 30% to 47% of visits, the physicians could have been more patient-centered. Medical assistants' patient safety measures were poor: patient identity was confirmed in only 5% of visits and no USPs observed medical assistants wash their hands. Quality of care was relatively high for vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, weight and height), but low for depression screening, occurring in only 15% of visits. In most visits, medical assistants greeted the patient in a timely fashion but took time to fully explain matters in less than half of the visits and rarely introduced themselves. Physicians tried to help patients navigate the system in 62% of visits. CONCLUSIONS: USP assessment captured actionable, critical, behaviorally-specific information on team and system performance in an urban community clinic. This methodology provides unique insight into the patient-centeredness and quality of care in medical settings.

BACKGROUND: Assessment of obstetrics-gynecology residents' ability to integrate clinical judgment, interpersonal skills, and technical ability in a uniform fashion is required to document achievement of benchmarks of competency. An observed structured clinical examination that incorporates simulation and bench models uses direct observation of performance to generate formative feedback and standardized evaluation. METHODS: The Test of Integrated Professional Skills (TIPS) is a 5-station performance-based assessment that uses standardized patients and complex scenarios involving ultrasonography, procedural skills, and evidence-based medicine. Standardized patients and faculty rated residents by using behaviorally anchored checklists. Mean scores reflecting performance in TIPS were compared across competency domains and by developmental level (using analysis of variance) and then compared to standard faculty clinical evaluations (using Spearman rho). Participating faculty and residents were also asked to evaluate the usefulness of the TIPS. RESULTS: Twenty-four residents participated in the TIPS. Checklist items used to assess competency were sufficiently reliable, with Cronbach alpha estimates from 0.69 to 0.82. Performance improved with level of training, with wide variation in performance. Standard faculty evaluations did not correlate with TIPS performance. Several residents who were rated as average or above average by faculty performed poorly on the TIPS (> 1 SD below the mean). Both faculty and residents found the TIPS format useful, providing meaningful evaluation and opportunity for feedback. CONCLUSIONS: A simulation-based observed structured clinical examination facilitates observation of a range of skills, including competencies that are difficult to observe and measure in a standardized way. Debriefing with faculty provides an important interface for identification of performance gaps and individualization of learning plans.