Preventive Care and Outcomes of Interprofessional Medicare Annual Wellness Visits for Older Adults.

As we anticipate a growing population of older adults, we will see an increase in chronic conditions such as dementia and falls. To meet these public health needs, we must systematically provide screening, education, preventive care, and supportive care for older patients and their caregivers in a primary care setting. This will require a workforce trained in providing for the complex medical and psychosocial needs of an older adult population in an interprofessional and collaborative fashion. By integrating geriatric screening tools into an interdisciplinary Annual Wellness Visit teaching clinic, we were able to successfully improve rates of geriatric screening for dementia, depression, falls, medication reconciliation and advance care planning. We also saw improvements in patient care and satisfaction and provided the opportunity for interprofessional collaboration and education for students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and social work.

Report on the 1990 - 2018 John A. Burns School of Medicine Medical Student Specialty Match and Residency Position Data.

The physician shortage is expected to worsen both in Hawai'i and nationally, with primary care remaining the most needed medical specialty. The University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) plays a critical role in physician workforce development through its undergraduate (Medical School) and graduate medical education (Residency) programs. This report summarizes the Residency match results of all JABSOM Medical School graduates, their trends over time, and the total number of positions available in the JABSOM Residency programs between 1990 and 2018. Overall, 1652 JABSOM Medical School graduates successfully matched into Residency between 1990-2018. There was a negative trend of JABSOM Medical School graduates matching into all 3 primary care Residency programs during this reporting period. The total number of JABSOM Residency positions decreased during the study period, while there was an increase in the number of primary care JABSOM Residency positions. Alignment of the increasing JABSOM Medical School class size with the available JABSOM Residency positions in Hawai'i will be an important health workforce development strategy going forward.

Racial/ethnic differences in health-related quality of life among Hawaii adult population.

BACKGROUND: This study examined racial/ethnic differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among adults and identified variables associated with HRQOL by race/ethnicity. METHODS: This study was conducted under a cross-sectional design. We used the 2011-2016 Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data. HRQOL were assessed by four measures: self-rated general health, physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and days with activity limitation. Distress was defined as fair/poor for general health and 14 days or more for each of the other three HRQOL measures. We conducted multivariable logistic regressions with variables guided by Anderson's behavioral model on each distress measure by race/ethnicity. RESULTS: Among Hawaii adults, 30.4% were White, 20.9% Japanese, 16.8% Filipino, 14.6% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI), 5.9% Chinese, 5.2% Hispanics, and 6.2% Other. We found significant racial/ethnic differences in the HRQOL measures. Compared to Whites, Filipinos, Japanese, NHPIs, and Hispanics showed higher distress rates in general health, while Filipinos and Japanese showed lower distress rates in the other HRQOL measures. Although no variables were consistently associated with all four HRQOL measures across all racial/ethnic groups, history of diabetes were significantly associated with general health across all racial/ethnic groups and history of depression was associated with at least three of the HRQOL measure across all racial/ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to the literature on disparities in HRQOL and its association with other variables among diverse racial/ethnic subgroups. Knowing the common factors for HRQOL across different racial/ethnic groups and factors specific to different racial/ethnic groups will provide valuable information for identifying future public health priorities to improve quality of life and reduce health disparities.

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy Scripts: Improving the Accuracy of Patient Medication Lists: Performing Medication Reconciliation by Phone Prior to Appointments.

The purpose of this project was to utilize pharmacists and pharmacy students to perform comprehensive medication reconciliation by telephone prior to a patient's office visit with their primary care physician, to address any medication issues. The project's aims were to decrease polypharmacy, improve the accuracy of medication reconciliation, and to allow more time for the physician to meet with the patient. Patients were called prior to appointment and a thorough medication reconciliation was conducted including verification of current prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and herbal supplements. A total of 21 patients were enrolled in the study, and in 36% of patients, the number of medications decreased after the intervention. However, overall, the average number of medications used by patients increased from an average of 8.9 to 9.5 medications (P = .39). All patients included in the study had at least one medication change in the electronic medical record system. Most of the changes were to add medications that were not on the medication list or to remove medications on the list that the patient was no longer taking. This study demonstrated improved accuracy with pharmacist/pharmacy student involvement in the medication reconciliation process.

Racial/Ethnic and County-level Disparity in Inpatient Utilization among Hawai'i Medicaid Population.

We investigated racial/ethnic and county-level disparities in inpatient utilization for 15 clinical conditions among Hawaii's Medicaid population. The study was conducted using inpatient claims data from more than 200,000 Hawai'i Medicaid beneficiaries, reported in the year 2010. The analysis was performed by stratifying the Medicaid population into three age groups: children and adolescent group (1-20 years), adult group (21-64 years), and elderly group (65 years and above). Among the differences found, Asians had a low probability of inpatient admissions compared to Whites for many disease categories, while Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders had higher probabilities than Whites, across all age groups. Pediatric and adult groups from Hawai'i County (Big Island) had lower probabilities for inpatient admissions compared to Honolulu County (O'ahu) for most disease conditions, but higher probabilities were observed for several conditions in the elderly group. Notably, the elderly population residing on Kaua'i County (Kaua'i and Ni'ihau islands) had substantially increased odds of hospital admissions for several disease conditions, compared to Honolulu.

Osteoporosis: A quick update.

Researchers estimate that approximately 10.2 million Americans have osteoporosis, and an additional 43 million have low bone density. Equally stark are the ramifications of these numbers. About one out of every 2 Caucasian women will experience an osteoporosis-related fracture at some point in their lifetime, as will approximately one in 5 men. Family physicians can have a meaningful impact on the extent to which this condition affects the population. To that end, we have put together a brief summary of the screening recommendations to keep in mind and a comparison of the different agents used to treat and prevent osteoporosis.

HIV-1 infection in early seroconversion stage missed by rapid or ELISA tests--two case reports.

Two cases of HIV-1 infection demonstrating lack of sensitivity of rapid and ELISA screening tests are being reported. The first case was that of a 23 years old female whose recent infection was picked up by ELISA (Tetra ELISA) test but missed by two rapid tests (Comb AIDS and HIV Tridot). The 2nd case presumably too in early seroconversion phase, was that of a 39 years old male. In this case ELISA test failed to diagnose the infection while the two rapid tests were found to be strongly positive.