Building Community Support Using a Modified World Café Method for Pregnant and Parenting Teenagers in Forsyth County, North Carolina.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To identify community priorities, foster awareness of existing supports, and recognize barriers and opportunities to enhance support services for pregnant and parenting teens (PPTs). DESIGN AND SETTING: A modified World Café event incorporated parallel, rotating focus groups with semistructured, case-based discussions of salient issues. The event was organized and took place in Forsyth County, North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-eight local health and social service professionals and 15 PPT representatives. INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Qualitative coding was used to thematically analyze transcript data. Quantitative data pre-/post-event comparisons were made using Fisher exact test. RESULTS: Key community-based support services for PPTs were identified. Qualitative analysis yielded 10 key codes regarding barriers and opportunities to enhance community-based support services, resulting in 4 themes. Themes included maximizing access and efficient delivery of high-quality health care, engaging a 3-generation approach to meet the current and future needs of at-risk families, focusing efforts to meet the unique needs of each teen and his/her family, and emphasizing teen self-advocacy. Pre/post survey responses were overwhelmingly positive regarding use of the modified World Café format for discussion and network building. CONCLUSION: The modified World Café Method offered a platform to collaboratively identify challenges and opportunities and to develop networks to improve health and well-being of PPTs. Engaging multiple stakeholders in meaningful dialogue might foster multidisciplinary, cross-sector collaboration that mitigates risk and enhances resilience among PPTs and their children.

Transdermal estrogens in the changing landscape of hormone replacement therapy.

Views and clinical practice on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women have varied widely over the last several decades. The 1990s showed a dramatic decline in prescribing and only recently are prescription rates increasing again. Use of HRT is first line for women suffering from the symptoms of menopause. For a certain population of postmenopausal women, HRT is recommended for prevention of fracture. More consideration is being given to patient risk factors, side effects, and formulations available. Transdermal patch estrogen formulations have been on the market for many years and are becoming more common although many physicians are less familiar with the various options. Transdermal preparations are worth consideration with regard to less adverse effects as there is the avoidance of liver metabolism and accumulation of metabolites with antiestrogenic activity. Data suggests that transdermal patch estrogen preparations are both safer and potentially more efficacious than oral estrogen therapy. Guidelines recommend the addition of progesterone for women who have not had a hysterectomy. Transdermal patch estrogen has a role for women as a choice for individualized therapy and providers need to be familiar with the formulations as well as unique challenges and advantages.

Burnout in Female Faculty Members.

Despite approximately equal numbers of male and female medical school graduates, women are entering academic medicine at a lower rate than their male colleagues. Of those who do assume a faculty position, female faculty members report higher levels of burnout, often attributable to gender-specific difficulties in clinical expectations and maintenance of work-life balance. Many of these struggles are attributable to issues that are amenable to supportive policies, but these policies are inconsistent in their availability and practice. This commentary presents evidence for inconsistencies in the day-to-day experience of female faculty members, and proposes solutions for the mitigation of the challenges experienced more often by female faculty members with the goal of diversifying and strengthening academic medicine.