Variation in Implementation and Outcomes of Early Extubation Practices After Infant Cardiac Surgery

BACKGROUND

The Pediatric Heart Network Collaborative Learning Study (PHN CLS) increased early extubation after infant tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and coarctation repair overall at participating sites through implementing a clinical practice guideline (CPG). We evaluated variability across sites in CPG implementation and outcomes.

METHODS

Patient characteristics and outcomes (time to extubation, length of stay [LOS]) were compared across sites, including pre-CPB to post-CPG changes. Semistructured interviews were analyzed to assess similarities and differences in implementation strategies across sites.

RESULTS

A total of 322 patients were included (4 active sites, 1 model site). Patient characteristics were similar across active sites, whereas pre-CPG median time to extubation varied from 15.4 to 35.5 hours. All active sites had a significant post-CPG decline (p < 0.001); however, there was variation in the post-CPG median time to extubation (0.3 to 5.3 hours, p = 0.01) and magnitude of change (-73.3% to -99.2%). Site A achieved the shortest post-CPG time to extubation and had the greatest percentage change. Two sites had significant decreases in medical ICU LOS in TOF patients; no hospital LOS changes were seen. All sites valued the collaborative learning strategy, site visits, CPG flexibility, and had similar core team composition. Site A used several unique strategies: inclusion of other staff and fellows, regular in-person data reviews, additional data collection, and creation of complementary protocols.

CONCLUSIONS

All PHN CLS sites successfully reduced time to extubation. The magnitude of change varied and may be partly explained by different CPG implementation strategies. These data can guide CPG dissemination and design of future improvement projects.

Using Patient Safety Reporting Systems to Understand the Clinical Learning Environment: A Content Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To examine patient safety event reporting behavior by trainees caring for surgical patients compared to other clinicians.

DESIGN

Qualitative analysis of a patient safety event reporting system comparing reports entered by trainees to those entered by attending physicians and nurses. Categorical data associated with reports were compared, and free-text event descriptions underwent content analysis focusing on themes related to report completeness and report focus.

SETTING

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, an academic tertiary care hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

PARTICIPANTS

All patient safety event reports related to surgical patients from a 6-month period (July-December 2016).

RESULTS

One thousand four hundred twenty-three reports were entered by trainees (T), attendings (A), and nurses (N). Trainees had a lower number of reports entered per reporter compared to nurses (T median [IQR]: 1 [1-2], N: 2 [1-3]), and the highest percentage of reports entered anonymously for any group (T: 28.7%, N: 9.9%, A: 4.6%). The overall distribution of event location and event type differed significantly between groups (p < 0.001). Trainee reports were found to have a broader range of focus, more elements associated with completeness of reports, and more frequent use of blame language.

CONCLUSIONS

Surgical trainees report a wide variety of issues in the perioperative, floor, and ICU settings. Their reports often include more details than those entered by other clinicians, but feature higher rates of anonymous reporting and use of blame language. Analysis of patient safety event reports by trainees compared with other healthcare professionals can reveal important insights into the clinical learning environment and areas for safety improvement.

Development of the individualised Comparative Effectiveness of Models Optimizing Patient Safety and Resident Education (iCOMPARE) trial: a protocol summary of a national cluster-randomised trial of resident duty hour policies in internal medicine

INTRODUCTION

Medical trainees' duty hours have received attention globally; restrictions in Europe, New Zealand and some Canadian provinces are much lower than the 80 hours per week enforced in USA. In USA, resident duty hours have been implemented without evidence simultaneously reflecting competing concerns about patient safety and physician education. The objective is to prospectively evaluate the implications of alternative resident duty hour rules for patient safety, trainee education and intern sleep and alertness.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

63 US internal medicine training programmes were randomly assigned 1:1 to the 2011 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education resident duty hour rules or to rules more flexible in intern shift length and number of hours off between shifts for academic year 2015-2016. The primary outcome is calculated for each programme as the difference in 30-day mortality rate among Medicare beneficiaries with any of several prespecified principal diagnoses in the intervention year minus 30-day mortality in the preintervention year among Medicare beneficiaries with any of several prespecified principal diagnoses. Additional safety outcomes include readmission rates, prolonged length of stay and costs. Measures derived from trainees' and faculty responses to surveys and from time-motion studies of interns compare the educational experiences of residents. Measures derived from wrist actigraphy, subjective ratings and psychomotor vigilance testing compare the sleep and alertness of interns. Differences between duty hour groups in outcomes will be assessed by intention-to-treat analyses.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved the protocol and served as the IRB of record for 40 programmes that agreed to sign an Institutional Affiliation Agreement. Twenty-three programmes opted for a local review process.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT02274818; Pre-results.

Understanding Pediatric Caretakers' Views on Obtaining Medical Care for Low-acuity Illness

BACKGROUND

A significant proportion of low-acuity emergency department (ED) visits are by patients under 18 years of age. Results from prior interventions designed to reduce low-acuity pediatric ED use have been mixed or poorly sustained, perhaps because they were not informed by patient and caretakers' perspectives. The objective of this study was to explore caretaker decision-making processes, values, and priorities when deciding to seek care.

METHODS

We conducted semistructured interviews of caretakers in both emergency and primary care settings, incorporating stimulated recall methodology. We also explored receptiveness to two care delivery innovations: use of community health workers (CHWs) and video teleconferencing.

RESULTS

Interviews of 57 caretakers identified multiple barriers to accessing primary care for their children's acute illness, including transportation, work constraints, and childcare. Frequent ED users lacked reliable social supports to overcome barriers. Fear of unforeseen health outcomes and a lack of trust in unfamiliar providers also influenced decision-making, rather than lack of general knowledge about minor illness. Receptiveness to CHWs was mixed, reflecting concerns for privacy and level of expertise. The option of video teleconferencing for low-acuity care was well received by caretakers.

CONCLUSIONS

Caretakers who used the ED frequently had limited social support and reported difficulty accessing care when compared to other caretakers. Fear also motivated care seeking and a desire for immediate medical care. Teleconferencing for low-acuity visits may be a useful health care delivery tool to reduce access barriers and provide rapid reassurance without engaging the ED.

Rideshare-Based Medical Transportation for Medicaid Patients and Primary Care Show Rates: A Difference-in-Difference Analysis of a Pilot Program

BACKGROUND

Transportation to primary care is a well-documented barrier for patients with Medicaid, despite access to non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefits. Rideshare services, which offer greater convenience and lower cost, have been proposed as an NEMT alternative.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the impact of rideshare-based medical transportation on the proportion of Medicaid patients attending scheduled primary care appointments.

DESIGN

In one of two similar practices, all eligible Medicaid patients were offered rideshare-based transportation ("rideshare practice"). A difference-in-difference analytical approach using logistic regression with robust standard errors was employed to compare show rate changes between the rideshare practice and the practice where rideshare was not offered ("control practice").

PARTICIPANTS

Our study population included residents of West Philadelphia who were insured by Medicaid and were established patients at two academic general internal medicine practices located in the same building.

INTERVENTION

We designed a rideshare-based transportation pilot intervention. Patients were offered the service during their reminder call 2 days before the appointment, and rides were prescheduled by research staff. Patients then called research staff to schedule their return trip home.

MAIN MEASURES

We assessed the effect of offering rideshare-based transportation on appointment show rates by comparing the change in the average show rate for the rideshare practice, from the baseline period to the intervention period, with the change at the control practice.

KEY RESULTS

At the control practice, the show rate declined from 60% (146/245) to 51% (34/67). At the rideshare practice, the show rate improved from 54% (72/134) to 68% (41/60). In the adjusted model, controlling for patient demographics and provider type, the odds of showing up for an appointment before and after the intervention increased 2.57 (1.10-6.00) times more in the rideshare practice than in the control practice.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this pilot program suggest that offering a rideshare-based transportation service can increase show rates to primary care for Medicaid patients.

Impact of Required Versus Self-Directed Use of Virtual Patient Cases on Clerkship Performance: A Mixed-Methods Study

PURPOSE

To explore how students use and benefit from virtual patient cases (VPCs).

METHOD

In academic years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, cohorts of students in pediatrics (Peds), family medicine (FM), and internal medicine (IM) clerkships were allocated to either core required use (CRU) or self-directed use (SU) of MedU VPCs. Outcomes included number and time of case review, student perception of learning from VPCs, National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject examination scores, and summative clinical ratings for medical knowledge and differential diagnoses/problem solving. Focus groups were conducted each year. Mean differences were compared by t test.

RESULTS

A total of 255 students participated in the study. Mean number of cases completed by the CRU group was significantly higher than that by the SU group (13.9 vs. 3.1 for FM, 16.1 vs. 3.9 for Peds, and 10.4 vs. 1.2 for IM) (P < .001). Student-perceived value ratings of VPCs were similar between groups. Students described VPCs as time consuming but useful for supplementing clinical conditions not seen in person. Mean scores on NBME subject examinations for CRU versus SU groups were not different between groups in any clerkship, nor were there significant differences in the summative clinical ratings for medical knowledge or differential diagnosis/clinical reasoning.

CONCLUSIONS

Although VPCs continue to serve an important role in exposing students to clinical conditions not seen in person, the optimal employment of this technology in clerkship pedagogy requires further exploration.

Education Outcomes in a Duty-Hour Flexibility Trial in Internal Medicine

BACKGROUND

Concern persists that inflexible duty-hour rules in medical residency programs may adversely affect the training of physicians.

METHODS

We randomly assigned 63 internal medicine residency programs in the United States to be governed by standard duty-hour policies of the 2011 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or by more flexible policies that did not specify limits on shift length or mandatory time off between shifts. Measures of educational experience included observations of the activities of interns (first-year residents), surveys of trainees (both interns and residents) and faculty, and intern examination scores.

RESULTS

There were no significant between-group differences in the mean percentages of time that interns spent in direct patient care and education nor in trainees' perceptions of an appropriate balance between clinical demands and education (primary outcome for trainee satisfaction with education; response rate, 91%) or in the assessments by program directors and faculty of whether trainees' workload exceeded their capacity (primary outcome for faculty satisfaction with education; response rate, 90%). Another survey of interns (response rate, 49%) revealed that those in flexible programs were more likely to report dissatisfaction with multiple aspects of training, including educational quality (odds ratio, 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 2.73) and overall well-being (odds ratio, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.67 to 3.65). In contrast, directors of flexible programs were less likely to report dissatisfaction with multiple educational processes, including time for bedside teaching (response rate, 98%; odds ratio, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.49). Average scores (percent correct answers) on in-training examinations were 68.9% in flexible programs and 69.4% in standard programs; the difference did not meet the noninferiority margin of 2 percentage points (difference, -0.43; 95% CI, -2.38 to 1.52; P=0.06 for noninferiority). od Institute and the ACGME; iCOMPARE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02274818 .).

CONCLUSIONS

There was no significant difference in the proportion of time that medical interns spent on direct patient care and education between programs with standard duty-hour policies and programs with more flexible policies. Interns in flexible programs were less satisfied with their educational experience than were their peers in standard programs, but program directors were more satisfied. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blo

Association of Rideshare-Based Transportation Services and Missed Primary Care Appointments: A Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE

Transportation barriers contribute to missed primary care appointments for patients with Medicaid. Rideshare services have been proposed as alternatives to nonemergency medical transportation programs because of convenience and lower costs.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between rideshare-based medical transportation and missed primary care appointments among Medicaid patients.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

In a prospective clinical trial, 786 Medicaid beneficiaries who resided in West Philadelphia and were established primary care patients at 1 of 2 academic internal medicine practices located within the same building were included. Participants were allocated to being offered complimentary ride-sharing services (intervention arm) or usual care (control arm) based on the prescheduled day of their primary care appointment reminder. Those scheduled on even-numbered weekdays were in the intervention arm and on odd-numbered weekdays, the control arm. The primary study outcome was the rate of missed appointments, estimated using an intent-to-treat approach. All individuals receiving a phone call reminder were included in the study sample, regardless of whether they answered their phone. The study was conducted between October 24, 2016, and April 20, 2017.

INTERVENTIONS

A model of providing rideshare-based transportation was designed. As part of usual care, patients assigned to both arms received automated appointment phone call reminders. As part of the study protocol, patients assigned to both arms received up to 3 additional appointment reminder phone calls from research staff 2 days before their scheduled appointment. During these calls, patients in the intervention arm were offered a complimentary ridesharing service. Research staff prescheduled rides for those interested in the service. After their appointment, patients phoned research staff to initiate a return trip home.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Missed appointment rate (no shows and same-day cancellations) in the intervention compared with control arm.

RESULTS

Of the 786 patients allocated to the intervention or control arm, 566 (72.0%) were women; mean (SD) age was 46.0. (12.5) years. Within the intervention arm, 85 among 288 (26.0%) participants who answered the phone call used ridesharing. The missed appointment rate was 36.5% (144 of 394) for the intervention arm and 36.7% (144 of 392) for the control arm (P = .96).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The uptake of ridesharing was low and did not decrease missed primary care appointments. Future studies trying to reduce missed appointments should explore alternative delivery models or targeting populations with stronger transportation needs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02955433.

Exploring opportunities to prevent cirrhosis admissions in the emergency department: A multicenter multidisciplinary survey

Patients with cirrhosis have high admission and readmission rates, and it is estimated that a quarter are potentially preventable. Little data are available regarding nonmedical factors impacting triage decisions in this patient population. This study sought to explore such factors as well as to determine provider perspectives on low‐acuity clinical presentations to the emergency department, including ascites and hepatic encephalopathy. A survey was distributed in four liver transplant centers to both emergency medicine and hepatology providers, who included attending physicians, house staff, and advanced practitioners; 196 surveys were returned (estimated response rate 50.6%). Emergency medicine providers identified several influential nonmedical factors impacting inpatient triage decisions, including input from a hepatologist (77.7%), inadequate patient access to outpatient specialty care (68.6%), and patient need for diagnostic testing for a procedure (65.6%). When given patient‐based scenarios of low‐acuity cases, such as ascites requiring paracentesis, only 7.0% believed patients should be hospitalized while 48.9% said these patients would be hospitalized at their institution (P < 0.0001). For mild hepatic encephalopathy, the comparable numbers were 19.5% and 55.2%, respectively (P < 0.001). Several perceived barriers were cited for this discrepancy, including limited resources both in the outpatient setting and emergency department. Most providers believed that an emergency department observation unit protocol would influence triage toward an emergency department observation unit visit instead of inpatient admission for both ascites requiring large volume paracentesis (83.2%) and mild hepatic encephalopathy (79.4%). Conclusion: Many nonmedical factors that influence inpatient triage for patients with cirrhosis could be targeted for quality improvement initiatives. In some scenarios, providers are limited by resource availability, which results in triage to an inpatient admission even when they believe this is not the most appropriate disposition. (Hepatology Communications 2018;2:237‐244)

Health-related quality of life in ANCA-associated vasculitis and item generation for a disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure

Objective

The antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAVs) are multisystem diseases of the small blood vessels. Patients experience irreversible damage and psychological effects from AAV and its treatment. An international collaboration was created to investigate the impact of AAV on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and develop a disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure to assess outcomes of importance to patients.

Methods

Patients with AAV from the UK, USA, and Canada were interviewed to identify salient aspects of HRQoL affected by AAV. The study was overseen by a steering committee including four patient research partners. Purposive sampling of interviewees ensured representation of a range of disease manifestations and demographics. Inductive analysis was used to identify themes of importance to patients; these were further confirmed by a free-listing exercise in the US. Individual themes were recast into candidate items, which were scrutinized by patients, piloted through cognitive interviews and received a linguistic and translatability evaluation.

Results

Fifty interviews, conducted to saturation, with patients from the UK, USA, and Canada, identified 55 individual themes of interest within seven broad domains: general health perceptions, impact on function, psychological perceptions, social perceptions, social contact, social role, and symptoms. Individual themes were constructed into >100 candidate questionnaire items, which were then reduced and refined to 35 candidate items.

Conclusion

This is the largest international qualitative analysis of HRQoL in AAV to date, and the results have underpinned the development of 35 candidate items for a disease-specific, patient-reported outcome questionnaire.

Physician Experiences With High Value Care in Internal Medicine Residency: Mixed-Methods Study of 2003-2013 Residency Graduates

Phenomenon: High healthcare costs and relatively poor health outcomes in the United States have led to calls to improve the teaching of high value care (defined as care that balances potential benefits of interventions with their harms including costs) to physicians-in-training. Numerous interventions to increase high value care in graduate medical education were implemented at the national and local levels over the past decade. However, there has been little evaluation of their impact on physician experiences during training and perceived preparedness for practice. We aimed to assess trends in U.S. physician experiences with high value care during residency over the past decade.

APPROACH

This mixed-methods study used a cross-sectional survey mailed July 2014 to January 2015 to 902 internists who completed residency in 2003-2013, randomly selected from the American Medical Association Masterfile. Quantitative analyses of survey responses and content analysis of free-text comments submitted by respondents were performed.

FINDINGS

A total of 456 physicians (50.6%) responded. Fewer than one fourth reported being exposed to teaching about high value care at least frequently (23.6%, 106/450). Only 43.8% of respondents (193/446) felt prepared to use overtreatment guidelines in conversations with patients, whereas 85.8% (379/447) felt prepared to participate in shared decision making with patients at the conclusion of their training, and 84.4% (380/450) reported practicing generic prescribing. Physicians who completed residency more recently were more likely to report practicing generic prescribing and feeling well prepared to use overtreatment guidelines in conversations with patients (p < .01 for both). Insights: In a national survey, recent U.S. internal medicine residency graduates were more likely to experience high value care during training, which may reflect increased national and local efforts in this area. However, being exposed to high value care as a trainee may not translate into specific tools for practice. In fact, many U.S. internists reported inadequate exposure to prepare them for patient discussions about costs and the use of overtreatment guidelines in practice.

Validity of utility measures for women with pelvic organ prolapse

BACKGROUND

Pelvic organ prolapse is a common condition that frequently coexists with urinary and fecal incontinence. The impact of prolapse on quality of life is typically measured through condition-specific quality-of-life instruments. Utility preference scores are a standardized generic health-related quality-of-life measure that summarizes morbidity on a scale from 0 (death) to 1 (optimum health). Utility preference scores quantify disease severity and burden and are widely used in cost-effectiveness research. The validity of utility preference instruments in women with pelvic organ prolapse has not been established.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of generic quality-of-life instruments for measuring utility scores in women with pelvic organ prolapse. Our hypothesis was that women with multiple pelvic floor disorders would have worse (lower) utility scores than women with pelvic organ prolapse only and that women with all 3 pelvic floor disorders would have the worst (lowest) utility scores.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a prospective observational study of 286 women with pelvic floor disorders from a referral female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery practice. All women completed the following general health-related quality-of-life questionnaires: Health Utilities Index Mark 3, EuroQol, and Short Form 6D, as well as a visual analog scale. Pelvic floor symptom severity and condition-specific quality of life were measured using the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire, respectively. We measured the relationship between utility scores and condition-specific quality-of-life scores and compared utility scores among 4 groups of women: (1) pelvic organ prolapse only, (2) pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, (3) pelvic organ prolapse and urgency urinary incontinence, and (4) pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, and fecal incontinence.

RESULTS

Of 286 women enrolled, 191 (67%) had pelvic organ prolapse; mean age was 59 years and 73% were Caucasian. Among women with prolapse, 30 (16%) also had stress urinary incontinence, 39 (20%) had urgency urinary incontinence, and 42 (22%) had fecal incontinence. For the Health Utilities Index Mark 3, EuroQol, and Short Form 6D, the pattern in utility scores was noted to be lowest (worst) in the prolapse + urinary incontinence + fecal incontinence group (0.73-0.76), followed by the prolapse + urgency urinary incontinence group (0.77-0.85) and utility scores were the highest (best) for the prolapse only group (0.80-0.86). Utility scores from all generic instruments except the visual analog scale were significantly correlated with the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire total scores (r values -0.26 to -0.57), and prolapse, bladder, and bowel subscales (r values -0.16 to -0.50). Utility scores from all instruments except the visual analog scale were highly correlated with each other (r = 0.53-0.69, P < .0001).

CONCLUSION

The Health Utilities Index Mark 3, EuroQol, and Short Form 6D, but not the visual analog scale, provide valid measurements for utility scores in women with pelvic organ prolapse and associated pelvic floor disorders and could potentially be used for cost-effectiveness research.

Patient perceptions of glucocorticoids in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) are multisystem diseases of small blood vessels, collectively known as the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV). This study explores the patient’s perspective on the use of glucocorticoids, which are still a mainstay of treatment in AAV. Patients with AAV from the UK, USA, and Canada were interviewed, using purposive sampling to include a range of disease manifestations and demographics. The project steering committee, including patient partners, designed the interview prompts and cues about AAV, its treatment, and impact on health-related quality of life. Interviews were transcribed and analysed to establish themes grounded in the data. A treatment-related code was used to focus analysis of salient themes related to glucocorticoid therapy. Fifty interviews were conducted. Individual themes related to therapy with glucocorticoids emerged from the data and were analysed. Three overarching themes emerged: (1) Glucocorticoids are effective at the time of diagnosis and during relapse, and withdrawal can potentiate a flare, (2) glucocorticoids are associated with salient emotional, physical, and social effects (depression, anxiety, irritation, weight gain and change in appearance, diabetes mellitus, effect on family and work); and (3) patient perceptions of balancing the risks and benefits of glucocorticoids. Patients identified the positive aspects of treatment with glucocorticoids; they are fast-acting and effective, but, they voiced concerns about adverse effects and the uncertainty of the dose-reduction process. These results may be informative in the development of novel glucocorticoid-sparing regimens.

Development and Validation of the Parkinson's Disease Medication Beliefs Scale (PD-Rx)

BACKGROUND

Medication non-adherence is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is associated with increased disability and healthcare costs. Individuals' beliefs regarding their medical conditions and treatments impact medication adherence. While instruments exist to measure patients' beliefs about medications in general, no such tool exists for PD.

OBJECTIVES

Create an instrument eliciting medication beliefs of persons with PD; identify demographic and clinical characteristics associated with beliefs; and examine whether beliefs are associated with dopaminergic therapy adherence.

METHODS

We developed the Parkinson's Disease Medication Beliefs Scale (PD-Rx) in four phases: focus groups of patients and caregivers to generate items, scale development, expert and patient revision of items, and a cross-sectional validation sample (n = 75). Adherence was calculated using two approaches incorporating self-reported medication lists.

RESULTS

The PD-Rx consists of 11 items covering benefits and risks of PD pharmacotherapies. The scale covers motor improvement, current adverse effects, and future concerns. Higher scores indicate more positive beliefs. Internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.67). Test-retest reliability was 0.47. Quality of life was associated with PD-Rx scores, and lower scores were associated with non-adherence.

CONCLUSIONS

Negative beliefs about PD treatments are associated with lower quality of life and may be related to medication non-adherence. Further study of any causal relationship between beliefs and medication non-adherence in PD will inform the design of future patient-centered interventions to improve adherence.

OMERACT Endorsement of Patient-reported Outcome Instruments in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-associated Vasculitis

OBJECTIVE

The antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitides (AAV) are multiorgan diseases. Patients with AAV report impairment in their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and have different priorities regarding disease assessment compared with physicians. The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Vasculitis Working Group previously received endorsement for a core set of domains in AAV. Two approaches to measure patient-reported outcomes (PRO) were presented at OMERACT 2016.

METHODS

A novel 5-step tool was used to facilitate assessment of the instruments by delegates: the OMERACT Filter 2.0 Instrument Selection Algorithm, with a red-amber-green checklist of questions, including (1) good match with domain (face and content validity), (2) feasibility, (3) do numeric scores make sense (construct validity)?, (4) overall ratings of discrimination, and (5) can individual thresholds of meaning be defined? Delegates gave an overall endorsement. Three generic Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) instruments (fatigue, physical functioning, and pain interference) and a disease-specific PRO, the AAV-PRO (6 domains related to symptoms and HRQOL), were presented.

RESULTS

OMERACT delegates endorsed the use of the PROMIS instruments for fatigue, physical functioning, and pain interference (87.6% overall endorsement) and the disease-specific AAV-PRO instrument (89.4% overall endorsement).

CONCLUSION

The OMERACT Vasculitis Working Group gained endorsement by OMERACT for use of the PROMIS and the AAV-PRO in clinical trials of vasculitis. These instruments are complementary to each other. The PROMIS and the AAV-PRO need further work to assess their utility in longitudinal settings, including their ability to discriminate between treatments of varying efficacy in the setting of a randomized controlled trial.

The impact of access to immunization information on vaccine acceptance in three countries

Introduction

Vaccine acceptance is a critical component of sustainable immunization programs, yet rates of vaccine hesitancy are rising. Increased access to misinformation through media and anti-vaccine advocacy is an important contributor to hesitancy in the United States and other high-income nations with robust immunization programs. Little is known about the content and effect of information sources on attitudes toward vaccination in settings with rapidly changing or unstable immunization programs.

Objective

The objective of this study was to explore knowledge and attitudes regarding vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases among caregivers and immunization providers in Botswana, the Dominican Republic, and Greece and examine how access to information impacts reported vaccine acceptance.

Methods

We conducted 37 focus groups and 14 semi-structured interviews with 96 providers and 153 caregivers in Botswana, the Dominican Republic, and Greece. Focus groups were conducted in Setswana, English, Spanish, or Greek; digitally recorded; and transcribed. Transcripts were translated into English, coded in qualitative data analysis software (NVivo 10, QSR International, Melbourne, Australia), and analyzed for common themes.

Results

Dominant themes in all three countries included identification of health care providers or medical literature as the primary source of vaccine information, yet participants reported insufficient communication about vaccines was available. Comments about level of trust in the health care system and government contrasted between sites, with the highest level of trust reported in Botswana but lower levels of trust in Greece.

Conclusions

In Botswana, the Dominican Republic, and Greece, participants expressed reliance on health care providers for information and demonstrated a need for more communication about vaccines. Trust in the government and health care system influenced vaccine acceptance differently in each country, demonstrating the need for country-specific data that focus on vaccine acceptance to fully understand which drivers can be leveraged to improve implementation of immunization programs.

The Physical and Cognitive Performance Test for Residents in Assisted Living Facilities

OBJECTIVES

To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a new performance-based instrument (Physical and Cognitive Performance Test for Assisted Living Facilities (PCPT ALF)) designed to assess the physical and cognitive skills associated with performance of activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).

DESIGN

There were three stages in this study: development of instrument items and validity testing, a feasibility pilot study, and a cross-sectional trial to establish construct and criterion validity and reliability.

SETTING

One 116-bed assisted living facility (ALF).

PARTICIPANTS

After a pilot test with 10 residents, a cross-sectional trial was conducted with 55 additional residents.

MEASUREMENTS

The Barthel Index and Functional Independence Measure were used to estimate criterion validity. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analyses (EFAs).

RESULTS

Disattenuated correlations between the PCPT ALF and other tools were all greater than 0.72, supporting criterion validity. Internal consistency (physical ability, α = 0.95; cognitive support, α = 0.92) and 1-week test-retest reliability (PCPT ALF, P = .93) were high, as was interrater reliability (IRR) (physical ability, 0.99; cognitive support, 1.00). In two EFAs, a one-factor solution accounted for 64.1% of the variance for the physical ability subscale and 63.5% of the variance for the cognitive support subscale.

CONCLUSION

The findings provide early evidence of the PCPT ALF's validity and reliability. If confirmed, this study's findings may be used in future work to assess the success of interventions to prevent or slow decline in the skills associated with ADL and IADL performance in ALFs.

US internists' awareness and use of overtreatment guidelines: a national survey

OBJECTIVES

To assess physician views and perceived adoption of overtreatment guidelines and measure whether adoption of these guidelines influenced the recommendation of a targeted service.

STUDY DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey mailed from July 2014 to January 2015 to 902 internists who completed residency between 2003 and 2013, randomly selected from the American Medical Association Masterfile.

METHODS

Poisson regression was used to model the rate of recommending a targeted service included in the guidelines, based on the level of guideline adoption.

RESULTS

A total of 456 physicians responded (51% response rate). Most expressed familiarity with overtreatment guidelines (88.5%), a comfort level with discussing these guidelines with patients (79.9%), and described overtreatment guidelines as a useful tool in their practice (81.6%). Physicians in the highest tertile of guideline adoption reported double-digit rates of recommending antibiotics for sinusitis (29.7%), mammogram at end of life (16.5%), and electrocardiogram testing for asymptomatic patients (11.0%). Physicians in the bottom tertile of guideline adoption reported lower rates of recommending x rays (-12.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -19.4% to -4.5%; P = .002), magnetic resonance imaging for lower back pain (-4.8%; 95% CI, -8.1% to -1.5%; P = .004), and cardiac testing for asymptomatic patients (-10.2%; 95% CI, -18.9% to -1.5%; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS

US internal medicine physicians who completed residency between 2003 and 2013 reported high levels of adoption of overtreatment guidelines. Physicians who reported the highest levels of guideline adoption reported recommending services targeted by these guidelines in their practice.

Patients' views of a behavioral intervention including financial incentives

OBJECTIVES

Clinical trials are increasingly testing the effectiveness of paying patients' financial incentives for achieving desired clinical outcomes. Some researchers and providers are concerned that patient financial incentives will harm the doctor-patient relationship. How patients feel about these approaches, and these trials, is largely unknown. This study examined patients' perceptions of a compound behavioral and financial incentive intervention used in a large multicenter trial to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), including their perceptions of benefits and challenges and the study's effect on patients' relationship with their primary care physicians (PCPs).

STUDY DESIGN

Semi-structured telephone interviews with patients post intervention.

METHODS

PCPs from 3 primary care practices in the northeastern United States were randomized to 1 of 4 arms: physician financial incentives, patient financial incentives, shared incentives between physicians and patients, and a control arm. Within each arm, 10 high, 10 medium, and 10 low performers in LDL-C reduction were interviewed. Interviews targeted reasons for enrolling in the study, the specific intervention elements that helped them reach the goal (incentives, engagement, monitoring), challenges faced in reducing cholesterol, and the impact of study participation on their relationship with their PCP.

RESULTS

Patients reported positive experiences with the study: 65% described personal changes to improve health and 61% reported increased awareness. Views about financial incentives varied: 71% clearly found them motivating and 36% claimed they made no difference. Patients noted that changing lifestyle (36%) and diet (65%) was difficult. Patients who substantially lowered their LDL-C revealed themes similar to those who did not.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, behavioral interventions with financial incentives appear to be socially acceptable to patients who participate in them. Both adherence monitoring and financial incentives were well received, with little effect on the physician-patient relationship.