Promoting oral cancer examinations to medical primary care providers: a cluster randomized trial.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the percentage of patients who had an oral cancer examination (OCE) by their primary care provider (PCP) in medical clinics participating in a web-based education with poster reminder intervention to that of patients in control clinics. To also determine the effects for PCPs in medical clinics participating in the web-based education with poster reminder intervention as compared with those in control clinics regarding: a) index of knowledge of oral cancer risk factors (RiskOC) and b) index of knowledge of oral cancer diagnostic procedures (DiagOC). METHODS: Six medical clinics were recruited to participate in this study and randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. PCPs (physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses) took a pretest; 2 weeks later, they participated in the web-based educational program, including a posttest (intervention group) or took a posttest only (control group). In each clinic, 1 week following completion of the PCPs' posttests, 94 patients were recruited to complete a one-page survey. RESULTS: The intervention clinics were found to be a significant factor for the PCPs to perform patient OCEs, after controlling for significant covariates, that is, age, main reason for clinic visit, OCE for patient in the past year, clinic's mean DiagOC score, and clinic's mean RiskOC score. The intervention also resulted in the PCPs increasing their pretest to posttest RiskOC scores. CONCLUSIONS: The use of intervention has the potential to increase PCPs' short-term knowledge and to increase the frequency of PCPs' routine, nonsymptomatic opportunistic OCE on patients.

Need for Primary Care Providers to Carry out Annual Oral Cancer Examinations.

Oral and/or oral pharyngeal cancer (OPC) has an approximately 53% five-year survival rate in the United States. It is postulated that the rationale for this low survival rate is due to delayed diagnosis and treatment of OPC at its later stages. Recently the United States Preventive Services Task Force found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against oral cancer examination (OCE) by primary care providers (PCP), i.e., medical providers who are not dental providers or otolaryngologists. The purpose of the paper is to provide a logical discussion of the varied research on OCE, while presenting the evidence for annual opportunistic OCE in the primary care setting. Trained PCPs in OCE have the likelihood of detecting OPC at an early non symptomatic stage, which could result in lower treatment morbidity and mortality due to the disease. This review of the OCE research summarizes evidence that points to a logical benefit of OCE. Opportunistic annual non symptomatic OCE by PCPs who have been trained in OCE techniques may result in consistent early detection of OPC, particularly for patients at high risk for developing the disease.

Antidepressant prescribing practices for the treatment of children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates pediatric antidepressant prescribing practices of Nebraska clinicians. METHODS: Surveys were sent in July, 2005, to 1,521 prescribing clinicians throughout Nebraska to assess pediatric antidepressant use along with any practice changes following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "black box" warning issued in October, 2004. RESULTS: Over half (n = 866) of the clinicians responded to the survey, of which 96.8% reported awareness of the FDA "black box" warning. Of the respondents, 76.9% (n = 666) were prescribing antidepressants to children and/or adolescents. Clinicians reported decreased prescribing frequency for both children (15.5%) and adolescents (36.6%), with 36% having increased referrals to specialists. While 31.9% reported seeing patients more frequently upon initiation of antidepressants, only 7.5% reported weekly visits for the first month of treatment, as recommended by the FDA. Over one fifth (21.9%) reported a caregiver or patient had refused antidepressant medication treatment due to the FDA's warning. CONCLUSION: Clinicians in Nebraska report changes in clinical practice due to the issuance of the FDA "black box" warning, with a decrease in prescribing antidepressants to pediatric patients and an increase in referrals to specialists. Although awareness of the FDA's warning was evident among clinicians and patients, adherence to recommended guidelines was low.

Primary care for elderly people: why do doctors find it so hard?

PURPOSE: Many primary care physicians find caring for elderly patients difficult. The goal of this study was to develop a detailed understanding of why physicians find primary care with elderly patients difficult. DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 primary care physicians. Using an iterative approach based on grounded theory techniques, a multidisciplinary team analyzed the content of the interviews and developed a conceptual model of the difficulty. RESULTS: Three major domains of difficulty emerged: (i) medical complexity and chronicity, (ii) personal and interpersonal challenges, and (iii) administrative burden. The greatest challenge occurred when difficulty in more than one area was present. Contextual conditions, such as the practice environment and the physician's training and personal values, shaped the experience of providing care and how difficult it seemed. IMPLICATIONS: Much of the difficulty participants experienced could be facilitated by changes in the health care delivery system and in medical education. The voices of these physicians and the model resulting from our analysis can inform such change.