Background: Numerous studies demonstrate benefits of using advance care planning (ACP) in the general practice setting. Despite this, providers do not regularly initiate ACP and only one third of Americans have completed an advance directive (AD). This number is even lower among ethnic and minority groups. Community health center (CHC) providers have the opportunity to improve the quality of end-of-life (EOL) care and reduce healthcare disparities affecting medically underserved populations, yet no research has been conducted to identify CHC providers' practices, knowledge and attitudes towards ACP. Addressing this query may assist researchers in identifying optimal strategies for improving ACP delivery in this setting, ultimately leading to improved quality of EOL care for the populations served. Purpose: The study purpose was to assess Arizona CHC providers' practices, knowledge and attitudes towards ACP. Setting: The study setting was federally qualified community health centers located in urban and rural sites throughout Arizona. Participants: Study participants (N = 38) were predominantly middle-aged females practicing for an average of 13 years. 60% of providers were Master's or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) prepared providers while 40% were Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathy (MD). Methods: This study used a descriptive correlational quantitative research design. The "EOL Decision Making Survey" instrument was adapted into an electronic survey and distributed to 514 physician and non-physician CHC providers. Data analysis was performed using PASS and SPSS statistical software. Results: This sample of Arizona CHC providers was reasonably knowledgeable about Arizona state law and clinical application of ACP. Physician providers had greater knowledge and greater confidence in their answers related to Arizona state law compared to non-physician providers. Participants were largely comfortable with counseling patients in ACP and exhibited mostly positive attitudes toward ACP. Older respondents with greater years' experience tended to have greater knowledge of the clinical application of ACP as well as greater positive attitudes towards ACP. Providers with greater years' experience tended to have greater comfort in counseling patients in ACP. Despite these positive findings, routine initiation of ACP in this setting was low (44%). Conclusions: Though Arizona CHC providers have reasonable knowledge related to ACP, are comfortable with counseling patients in ACP and have positive attitudes towards ACP, less than half routinely initiate ACP conversations with their patients. Though more research is needed to validate these findings, targeted educational interventions and process changes may help improve ACP delivery rates in this setting.

Quality citizen participation in processes of policy development is crucial to a democracy interested in equity of voice for all its citizens. Citizens with less political power, however, are often absent from policy development for a variety of reasons, despite legislative and advocacy efforts for inclusion. In policy development processes, community representatives are a mechanism for traditionally marginalized or disadvantaged citizens to have a voice; yet the question remains how to effectively utilize that voice. This question stems from research demonstrating an increase in quantity citizen participation but not in quality citizen participation, which is more interested in the process of policy development as opposed to a final product. To understand quality citizen participation, a critical ethnography guided by a socio-ecological perspective allowing for the investigation of contextual as well as individual factors impacting policy development processes was conducted to assist in advancing knowledge about the best practices necessary to facilitate quality citizen participation in policy development. The policy development process explored in this qualitative study was the context provided by three CHCs in a Midwestern state. Information was gathered about these three CHC boards from multiple sources to best represent the context surrounding participation on the boards and that participation experience from the perspective of board members. The data analyzed included: descriptive statistics of seven counties which comprised the patient community of the three CHCs participating in the study, descriptive statistics of the patient communities of those three CHCs, interviews with national and state policy experts, the clinic directors and board chairs of the three CHCs and interviews with 16 board members of the three CHCs. Analysis of these data identified individual, relational, organizational, community and public policy level factors which impacted the participation of board members of three CHCs. For example, the education and background experiences of board members (individual) as well as relationships between board members and the management teams of the clinics (relational) facilitated the quality of their participation on the boards. Contextual knowledge of economic, political, and cultural factors were discovered for each of the three clinics, and proved important to understanding the quality of participation of board members. Social work educators and practitioners will benefit from the advancement of knowledge about what factors facilitate the quality of citizen participation in policy development processes. The results of this study suggest that practitioners interested in empowering consumers to have a role in the provision of services need to understand what facilitates the quality of citizen participation to ensure that consumers have a legitimate voice in policy development and implementation processes. The results of this study also inform our understanding of citizen participation in multiple policy development processes. For example, because legislators will benefit when barriers to the quality of citizen participation are identified, educators teaching social work students about macro practice will have concrete lessons to draw from; practitioners who work with non-elected members of boards will benefit from barrier identification allowing them to assist in the empowerment of future board members engaged in policy development on a wide variety of boards; and finally actual board members, especially those representing traditionally disadvantaged or marginalized communities, will benefit from knowledge gleaned from similar experiences, and educators teaching social work students about the benefits of advocacy and empowerment could assist to make their participation more effective.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) are the nation's primary care safety-net for vulnerable populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, migrant workers and the uninsured. Women from these populations contribute disproportionately to cervical cancer morbidity and mortality, largely due to underutilization of Pap smear screening. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to identify factors that may be related to Pap smear screening compliance among a large cohort of women seen at 10 Community Health Centers in Florida. Building upon an ecologic framework, this research went beyond patient-level risk factors, which are generally well-known, and explored provider and organizational variables that may also be associated with Pap smear screening compliance in this population. Ten CHCs in Florida met study inclusion criteria of having at least four complete years of claims and patient registration data stored in an Electronic Health Record (HER) data system maintained at HCN. EHR data were merged with provider gender obtained from a credentialing database and with data from a short organizational survey administered to the Medical Directors of the CHCs. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analysis, and multiple logistic regression were used to examine Pap smear screening rates for women (n=71,234) in relation to a variety of patient, provider and organizational variables. Younger, Hispanic and insured women were most likely to have had a screening in the past three years compared to older, white non- Hispanic and uninsured women. Among providers, patients who received care from female providers generally had higher Pap smear compliance rates, but these findings differed by patient insurance and race/ethnicity group. Organizational factors that appeared to be associated with higher Pap compliance rates included diffusion of an EHR system, implementation of "Care Model Principals", and having recently implemented a Pap smear screening process improvement project. Results demonstrated that multi-level factors, operating on the patient, provider and organizational levels, contribute to Pap smear compliance among women seen at CHCs. Results suggested that improving screening compliance within this population of women requires interventions that are ecologic in scope, incorporate targeted education to high-risk women and providers, and include organizational strategies that can optimize care delivery at point-of-care.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.P.H.M. (Primary Health Care Management))--Mahidol University, 2008. / LICL has E-Thesis 0038 ; please contact computer services.

No description available.

Bakgrund: Vårdcentralernas telefonrådgivning har under de senaste 50 åren växt fram som ett svar på utvecklingen i samhället och hälso- och sjukvården. Specialistsjuksköterskornas telefonrådgivning ställer höga krav på kompetens och bred kunskap. Syfte: Att undersöka vad som påverkar specialistsjuksköterskans upplevelse av telefonrådgivning på vårdcentral. Metod: Sjuksköterskor och specialistsjuksköterskor som var verksamma på vårdcentral ombads att anonymt svara på frågor gällande upplevelser av telefonrådgivning, via en sluten grupp för sjuksköterskor på Facebook. Det inkom 95 fullständigt ifyllda svar. Samtliga informanter var kvinnor i åldrar mellan 23 och 62 år med erfarenhet av telefonrådgivning från mindre än ett år till 24 år. Resultat: Informanterna beskrev telefonrådgivningen som meningsfull och utvecklande. De mötte oftast vänliga och tacksamma patienter, men fick ibland även hantera ilska och frustration från uppringarna. Det framkom att många ärenden skulle kunna hanteras av annan yrkeskategori. Många upplevde svårigheter med kommunikationen, som när specialistsjuksköterskan inte kunde se eller förstå patienten på grund av språksvårigheter. Tekniska lösningar för att överbrygga bristen på visuell kontakt föreslogs. Samtalstiden var oftast begränsad vilket kunde upplevas stressande då specialistsjuksköterskan på kort tid och utan att se patienten, skulle fatta rätt beslut om lämplig åtgärd. Mer utbildning och handledning i telefonrådgivning efterfrågades samt fler tillfällen till konsultation med kollegor. Det framkom även förslag till förbättringar av den fysiska arbetsmiljön. Slutsats: Kommunikationen med patienter och kollegor är av stor betydelse för specialistsjuksköterskans upplevelse av telefonrådgivningen. Organisationen har möjlighet att förbättra förutsättningarna för arbetsmiljön samt erbjuda utbildning och handledning. / Background: Telephone counseling at Community health centers has emerged during the past 50 years, as a consequence of the development in society as well as within the healthcare. Nurse specialists' telephone counseling require a high level of competence in many areas of expertise. Aim: To investigate what influence the nurse specialists' experiences of telephone counseling. Method: Nurses and nurse specialists who were active at a Community health center were asked to anonymously answer a few questions through a closed Facebook-group. We received 95 complete answered questionnaires. All informants were women in ages between 23 and 62 with experiences of telephone counseling from less than a year to 24 years. Results: The informants described the telephone counseling as both meaningful and developing. Most of the time they met patients who were friendly and grateful, but sometimes they also faced anger and frustration from the ones calling. Many contacts could have been handled by someone else with less experience and formal competence. Quite a few experienced challenges in the communication, as for example when the specialist nurse could not see the person calling or when the person had difficulties with the language. Technical solutions were suggested to overcome the absence of visual contact. The time for each call was limited, which could be as a stress-factor, since the specialist nurse, in short time and without visual contact with the patient, had to make a decision on appropriate action. Further education and mentoring in telephone counseling were asked for, as well as more options to consult with colleagues. Improvements regarding the occupational health were also suggested. Conclusion: Communication with patients and colleagues is of great importance for the nurse specialist's experiences of telephone counseling. The organization has the opportunity to improve the conditions for occupational health as well as provide education and mentoring.

Thesis (M.P.H.M. (Primary Health Care Management))--Mahidol University, 2008. / LICL has E-Thesis 0038 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (M.P.H.M. (Primary Health Care Management))--Mahidol University, 2008. / LICL has E-Thesis 0039 ; please contact computer services.

No description available.