Understanding Successful Mentor-Mentee Relationships in New Faculty Scholars Program.

Background and Objectives: Mentorship is critical for the career development of health care professionals and educators. Facilitating successful mentorship is valuable in supporting future leaders and educators in family medicine. Since 1988, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine's New Faculty Scholars (NFS) program has provided 1-year mentorship opportunities for new faculty. This qualitative study used group concept mapping to identify the characteristics of successful mentorship relationships within the NFS program. Methods: Eight New Faculty Scholars (five mentors, three mentees) from 2015 to 2021 participated in a virtual 90-minute group concept-mapping and pattern-matching session. Participants generated statements in response to a prompt about successful features of mentorship relationships. Participants categorized responses by similarity and rated each statement on a numerical scale from 1 to 5 (1 indicating lowest, 5 indicating highest) according to importance, current presence within the program, and feasibility. Results: Statements generated by participants were grouped into seven common themes. Categories rated most important included interpersonal skills, mentor soft skills, and mentor preparation. Structured processes and goal setting, mentor soft skills, and mentor preparation were rated most feasible in terms of future improvement. Conclusions: Interpersonal skills, mentor soft skills, and mentor preparation were the most highly rated by participants, but also displayed the largest disparity when compared to ratings on current presence. Future efforts to improve interpersonal communication and mentor training can potentially lead to greater satisfaction with the NFS program. The most highly rated categories indicated the primary benefit of the relational components of mentorship.

Increasing Primary Care Utilization of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder.

BACKGROUND: With increasing prevalence of opioid use disorders (OUDs) there is an urgent need for OUD trained front line primary care providers (PCPs) who can help improve patient adherence to addiction treatment. Unfortunately, most physicians have had limited training for treating patients with addiction, leaving clinicians under prepared. To address this need, we created a Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) training program specifically designed for PCPs. INTERVENTION: A 4-hour PCP focused buprenorphine office-based implementation training was designed to supplement the 8-hour SAMHSA DATA 2000 waiver training. The intent of the supplemental training is to increase PCP likelihood of implementing MAT through practical evidenced-based implementation, addressing barriers reported by waivered PCPs. METHODS: We developed and validated a new pre- and postsurvey instrument that assesses changes in participants knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Data were entered into REDCap, and composite scales were created and analyzed to determine pre-post differences. RESULTS: A total of 183 participants completed pre-post evaluations. Pre-post comparisons indicated substantial improvement in learner levels of confidence in implementing MAT care processes and in their interactions with MAT patients (df = 4, F = 203.518, P < .001). Participants described themselves as more comfortable identifying patients who would benefit from MAT (t = 15.04, P < .001), more competent in implementing MAT (t = 21.27, P < .001) and more willing (t = 15.56, P < .001) to implement MAT after training. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests that a new MAT training program that supplements the SAMHSA waiver training increases confidence and willingness to implement MAT among PCPs. Efforts to replicate this success to allow for further generalization and policy recommendations are warranted.

Forming Cardi-OH: A Statewide Collaborative to Improve Cardiovascular Health in Ohio.

Background Cardiovascular risk factor control is challenging, especially in disadvantaged populations. However, few statewide efforts exist to tackle this challenge. Therefore, our objective is to describe the formation of a unique statewide cardiovascular health collaborative so others may learn from this approach. Methodology With funding from the Ohio Department of Medicaid's Ohio Medicaid Technical Assistance and Policy Program, we used a collective impact model to link the seven medical schools in Ohio, primary care clinics across the state, the Ohio Department of Medicaid, and Ohio's Medicaid Managed Care Plans in a statewide health improvement collaborative for expanding primary care capacity to improve cardiovascular health in Ohio. Results Initial dissemination activities for primary care teams included a virtual case-based learning series focused on hypertension and social determinants of health, website resources, a monthly newsletter with clinical tips, webinars, and in-person conferences. The collaborative is aligned with a separately funded hypertension quality improvement project for paired implementation. Conclusions The collective impact model is a useful framework for developing a statewide collaborative focused on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based best practices for cardiovascular health improvement and disparity reduction. Statewide collaboratives bringing payers, clinicians, and academic partners together have the potential to substantially impact cardiovascular health.