Can you hear me now?: Improving palliative care access through telehealth.

Telehealth has been increasingly used to expand healthcare access over the last two decades. However, this had not been the case for palliative care (PC), because telehealth was considered nontraditional and impractical due to the sensitive nature of conversations and a "high touch" philosophy. Motivated by limited PC access to rural and underserved populations and positive PC telehealth studies, clinical PC telehealth models have been developing. However, nearly overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use and uptake of telehealth across health care and especially in PC. As a result, clinicians, administrators, and others agree that telehealth is "here to stay," and will likely maintain widespread use and refinement beyond rural areas. The purpose of this review is to describe exemplar PC telehealth programs in research and clinical practice, including pros and cons, lessons learned, and future directions for the ongoing development and expansion of PC via telehealth across diseases and the lifespan.

The Job Demands-Resources Model as a Framework to Identify Factors Associated With Burnout in Surgical Residents.

BACKGROUND: Surgical residents are a population at high risk for burnout. We hypothesized that surgical residents' burnout would be inversely related to emotional intelligence (EI) and job resources and directly related to experiences of disruptive behavior. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All general surgery residents at a single institution were invited to complete a survey in 2018 that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Trait EI Questionnaire Short Form, focused questions assessing disruptive behaviors, job resources, and demographic characteristics. Burnout was defined as scoring high in depersonalization (≥10 points) or emotional exhaustion (≥27 points). Student's t-tests and Wilcoxon tests were used to compare continuous variables; chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare categorical variables. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 87%. The median respondent age was 30, 51.7% were female, and 48.3% were single. Thirty-five met criteria for burnout (58%). Residents with burnout had lower scores for job resources than residents without burnout (19 versus 26, P < 0.01). Job resources subdomain scores for meaningful feedback and professional development had an inverse association with burnout (P < 0.01 for both). Having experienced any disruptive behavior was associated with burnout (68% versus 32%, P = 0.01). Mean EI scores were also lower for those with burnout (5.18 versus 5.64, P < 0.01). Among EI subcategories, burnout was associated with lower well-being and emotionality (P < 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Burnout is prevalent among surgery residents, including those at our institution. Experiencing disruptive behaviors and lower perceptions of job resources were associated with higher burnout scores, along with lower scores in EI, and may inform future efforts toward interventions.

The Impact of Breast Lumpectomy Tray Utilization on Cost Savings.

BACKGROUND: Right-sizing instrument trays reduce processing and replacement costs, physical strain, and turnover times. Historically, a 98-instrument head and neck tray has been used for breast lumpectomy cases at our institution. Observations revealed that many instruments on the tray were not used during the breast cases. With the significant number of surgical breast lumpectomies performed annually, tray downsizing could significantly reduce costs and physical strain. METHODS: Surgical technicians identified instruments needed for a standard breast lumpectomy. Breast surgeons reviewed the list and made final recommendations. Three of 13 existing head and neck trays were converted to breast lumpectomy trays. The number of breast lumpectomies in 2017 was pulled from the institution's health information system. Instrument quantities were verified using instrument management software. Weights were taken on a digital scale, and processing cost was estimated by a consultant. RESULTS: The new breast trays included 51 instruments rather than the standard 98-instrument trays. Reprocessing cost decreased from $49.98 to $26.01. With 449 breast lumpectomies performed at the institution in 2017, the annual reprocessing savings totaled $10,763. The tray weight was reduced from 27 to 16 pounds. Setup time decreased from 7 to 4 min per use (22.5 h saved annually). CONCLUSIONS: Downsizing from a head and neck tray to a specific breast lumpectomy tray demonstrated a reduction in reprocessing cost, tray weight, and setup time. Lighter trays allow for safer handling and transport by surgical personnel. In the current health-care environment, it is important to maximize operating room efficiency and minimize cost.

Forging a New Frontier: Providing Palliative Care to People With Cancer in Rural and Remote Areas.

Mounting evidence supports oncology organizations' recommendations of early palliative care as a cancer care best practice for patients with advanced cancer and/or high symptom burden. However, few trials on which these best practices are based have included rural and remote community-based oncology care. Therefore, little is known about whether early palliative care models are applicable in these low-resource areas. This literature synthesis identifies some of the challenges of integrating palliative care in rural and remote cancer care. Prominent themes include being mindful of rural culture; adapting traditional geographically based specialty care delivery models to under-resourced rural practices; and using novel palliative care education delivery methods to increase community-based health professional, layperson, and family palliative expertise to account for limited local specialty palliative care resources. Although there are many limitations, many rural and remote communities also have strengths in their capacity to provide high-quality care by capitalizing on close-knit, committed community practitioners, especially if there are receptive local palliative and hospice care champions. Hence, adapting palliative care models, using culturally appropriate novel delivery methods, and providing remote education and support to existing community providers are promising advances to aid rural people to manage serious illness and to die in place. Reformulating health policy and nurturing academic-community partnerships that support best practices are critical components of providing early palliative care for everyone everywhere.

Association of Food Access, Recreational Opportunities, and Natural Amenities with Engagement in the Veterans MOVE! Weight Management Program.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association of county-level food access, recreational opportunities, and natural amenities with participant engagement in a weight management program. METHODS: In this cohort study, participants in the Veterans Health Administration MOVE! weight management program between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2013, were observed for 12 months after enrollment. Engagement was measured as the number of program visits per year at 12 months. Cross-sectional analysis and spatial regression were used to examine county characteristics associated with greater participant engagement at 12 months. RESULTS: A total of 321,624 participants in 2,708 counties were included. Greater engagement was associated with older age, female sex, white race, being married, and being retired. After accounting for similarities between nearby communities, engagement at 12 months was 3.1 visits higher for each additional farmers' market per 1,000 population (P = 0.01). Engagement was highest for participants living in counties with the most natural amenities (P < 0.001). Recreational opportunities had only a small effect on engagement in the program (ß = 0.02 visits at 12 months; P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Consideration of a participant's county characteristics in addition to other known demographics and program factors may help to explain variation in engagement in weight management programs.

Patient-reported health literacy scores are associated with readmissions following surgery.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) impacts medical care. We hypothesized that patients with low HL would have higher readmission rates following surgery. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, multi-institutional study from 8/2015-6/2017 within the Veterans Affairs (VA) System including veterans who underwent general, vascular, or thoracic surgery. HL was assessed by Brief Health Literacy Screener and stratified into adequate vs. low. Patients were followed for 30 days post-discharge. Multivariable analyses examined correlations and logistic regression models adjusted for covariates. RESULTS: 736 patients were enrolled in the study; 98% (n = 722) completed the HL survey. At discharge, 33.2% of patients had low HL. The overall 30-day readmission rate was 16.3%, with a significant difference by HL (Adequate HL: 13.3% vs. Low HL: 22.5%, p < 0.01). After adjusting for clinical and demographic covariates, patients with low HL were 59% more likely to be readmitted (OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.02-2.50). CONCLUSION: Low HL is common among VA surgery patients and is associated with readmission. Future studies should be focused on interventions to target this vulnerable patient population.

Community Tele-pal: A community-developed, culturally based palliative care tele-consult randomized controlled trial for African American and White Rural southern elders with a life-limiting illness.

BACKGROUND: Patients living in rural areas experience a variety of unmet needs that result in healthcare disparities. The triple threat of rural geography, racial inequities, and older age hinders access to high-quality palliative care (PC) for a significant proportion of Americans. Rural patients with life-limiting illness are at risk of not receiving appropriate palliative care due to a limited specialty workforce, long distances to treatment centers, and limited PC clinical expertise. Although culture strongly influences people's response to diagnosis, illness, and treatment preferences, culturally based care models are not currently available for most seriously ill rural patients and their family caregivers. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial (RCT) is to compare a culturally based tele-consult program (that was developed by and for the rural southern African American (AA) and White (W) population) to usual hospital care to determine the impact on symptom burden (primary outcome) and patient and care partner quality of life (QOL), care partner burden, and resource use post-discharge (secondary outcomes) in hospitalized AA and White older adults with a life-limiting illness. METHODS: Community Tele-pal is a three-site RCT that will test the efficacy of a community-developed, culturally based PC tele-consult program for hospitalized rural AA and W older adults with life-limiting illnesses (n = 352) and a care partner. Half of the participants (n = 176) and a care partner (n = 176) will be randomized to receive the culturally based palliative care consult. The other half of the patient participants (n = 176) and care partners (n = 176) will receive usual hospital care appropriate to their illness. DISCUSSION: This is the first community-developed, culturally based PC tele-consult program for rural southern AA and W populations. If effective, the tele-consult palliative program and methods will serve as a model for future culturally based PC programs that can reduce patients' symptoms and care partner burden. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03767517 . Registered on 27 December 2018.