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Background: To examine the feasibility and acceptability of integrating a tele-mentoring component into the identification of oral lesions at the dental clinics of a Federally Qualified Health Center network. Design and Methods: General Practice Residency faculty and residents completed research ethics courses and trained dentists to use intra-oral cameras at chairside to photograph oral lesions of patients at routine dental visits. These images were then uploaded into the patient electronic health records (EHRs) with attendant descriptions and an oral surgeon was notified, who reviewed the charts, placed his observations in the EHR, and communicated his findings via secure e-mail to the involved residents, who in turn contacted their patients regarding follow-up actions. Feasibility was assessed via checklists completed by provider participants and semi-structured interviews. Acceptability was assessed via brief exit interviews completed by patient participants. Results: All 12 of the dentist participants reported that they had successfully provided the tele-mentoring intervention, and that the process (from EHR data entry to interaction with the oral surgeon over findings to patient referral) was clear and straightforward. Of 39 patient participants, most strongly agreed or agreed that the use of an intra-oral camera by their dentists helped them to better understand oral cancer screening (94.9%) and that dentists answered their questions about oral cancer and were able to provide them with resources (94.8%). Conclusions: Findings support further implementation research into adapting tele-mentoring using intra-oral cameras for training dental residents to detect and identify oral lesions and educating patients about oral cancer across settings.
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Introduction: Oral cancer remains prevalent, despite being largely preventable. The widespread use of technology at chairside, combined with advances in electronic health record (EHR) capabilities, present opportunities to improve oral cancer screening by dentists, especially for disadvantaged patients with severe health needs. Design and methods: Using a mixed-methods approach, we will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of integrating a telementoring component into the identification of oral lesions using the following 3 methods: 1) administering provider surveys that consist of a checklist of 10 key components of the intervention based on process, and asking the dental provider subjects if each one was covered; 2) conducting semi-structured interviews informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and the Implementation Outcomes Framework with dental resident subjects to assess specific barriers to sustaining the intervention and strategies for addressing these barriers to facilitate integration of the intervention into the routine workflow of the dental clinics; and 3) administering brief exit interviews with patient subjects regarding the acceptability of the intervention to assess satisfaction with the use of intra-oral cameras at chairside to screen for and refer patients with oral lesions and identification of these oral lesions via EHR and secure e-mail tele-mentoring with an oral pathology expert. Expected impact of the study for public health: If successful, then later clinical trials will maximize the external validity of the intervention and facilitate the widespread implementation and dissemination of the model for the teaching of dentists and residents, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care.
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BACKGROUND: The emergency department is a critical juncture in the trajectory of care of patients with serious, life-limiting illness. Implementation of a clinical decision support (CDS) tool automates identification of older adults who may benefit from palliative care instead of relying upon providers to identify such patients, thus improving quality of care by assisting providers with adhering to guidelines. The Primary Palliative Care for Emergency Medicine (PRIM-ER) study aims to optimize the use of the electronic health record by creating a CDS tool to identify high risk patients most likely to benefit from primary palliative care and provide point-of-care clinical recommendations. METHODS: A clinical decision support tool entitled Emergency Department Supportive Care Clinical Decision Support (Support-ED) was developed as part of an institutionally-sponsored value based medicine initiative at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health. A multidisciplinary approach was used to develop Support-ED including: a scoping review of ED palliative care screening tools; launch of a workgroup to identify patient screening criteria and appropriate referral services; initial design and usability testing via the standard System Usability Scale questionnaire, education of the ED workforce on the Support-ED background, purpose and use, and; creation of a dashboard for monitoring and feedback. RESULTS: The scoping review identified the Palliative Care and Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) survey as a validated instrument in which to adapt and apply for the creation of the CDS tool. The multidisciplinary workshops identified two primary objectives of the CDS: to identify patients with indicators of serious life limiting illness, and to assist with referrals to services such as palliative care or social work. Additionally, the iterative design process yielded three specific patient scenarios that trigger a clinical alert to fire, including: 1) when an advance care planning document was present, 2) when a patient had a previous disposition to hospice, and 3) when historical and/or current clinical data points identify a serious life-limiting illness without an advance care planning document present. Monitoring and feedback indicated a need for several modifications to improve CDS functionality. CONCLUSIONS: CDS can be an effective tool in the implementation of primary palliative care quality improvement best practices. Health systems should thoughtfully consider tailoring their CDSs in order to adapt to their unique workflows and environments. The findings of this research can assist health systems in effectively integrating a primary palliative care CDS system seamlessly into their processes of care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03424109. Registered 6 February 2018, Grant Number: AT009844-01.