Patient Experiences in a Linguistically Diverse Safety Net Primary Care Setting: Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The patient-centered medical home model intends to improve patient experience and primary care quality. Within an urban safety net setting in Northern California, United States, these desired outcomes are complicated by both the diversity of the patient community and the care continuity implications of a residency program. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to understand the patient experience beyond standardized satisfaction measures. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study, interviewing 19 patients from the clinic (English-, Spanish-, or Mien-speaking patients). RESULTS: Some themes, such as the desire to feel confident in their doctor, emerged across language groups, pointing to institutional challenges. Other themes, such as distrust in care being provided, were tied distinctly to speaking a language different from one's provider. Still other themes, such as a sense of powerlessness, were related to cultural differences and to speaking a language (Mien) not spoken by staff. CONCLUSIONS: Findings illuminate the need to understand cultural behaviors and interactional styles in a diverse patient population to create a high-quality medical home.

No Ifs, Ands, or Buts: Leveraging Population Health to Focus on the Care of Patients Who Smoke.

We developed a multidisciplinary curriculum to improve our residents' proficiency with smoking cessation counseling and prescribing of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The curriculum included a didactic portion, informational handouts, and a panel management component during which residents did telephone outreach and clinic in-reach to address high rates of smoking among patients. Residents rated their confidence with smoking cessation counseling and clinical knowledge before and after the intervention. We also tracked the number of patients flagged in the electronic medical record as smokers, the number of patients contacted, and the number of patients who received counseling. Although we did not make statistically significant improvements in perceived confidence with prescribing NRT, we found that there is an urgent need to address smoking cessation in the primary care setting and that working with a clinical pharmacist and psychologist offered a comprehensive approach. Furthermore, by anchoring the intervention with a population health component, almost 200 patients benefited from outreach efforts.

Linking a motivational interviewing curriculum to the chronic care model.

BACKGROUND: Unhealthy lifestyle choices frequently cause or worsen chronic diseases. Many internal medicine residents are inadequately trained to provide effective health behavior counseling, in part, due to prioritization of acute care in the traditional model of medical education and to other systemic barriers to teaching psychosocial aspects of patient care. AIM: To address this gap in training, we developed and piloted a curriculum for a Primary Care Internal Medicine residency program that links a practical form of motivational interviewing (MI) training to the self-management support (SMS) component of the chronic care model. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: All 30 primary care residents at Alameda County Medical Center were trained in the curriculum since it was initiated in 2007 during the California Academic Chronic Care Collaborative. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Residents participated in three modules during which the chronic care model was introduced and motivational interviewing skills were linked to the model's self-management support component. This training was then reinforced in the clinical setting. Case-based interactive instruction, teaching videotapes, group role-plays, faculty demonstration, and observation of resident-patient interactions in the clinical setting were used to teach the curriculum. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT: A preliminary, qualitative assessment of this curriculum was done from a program standpoint and from the perspective of the learners. Residents reported increased sense of confidence when approaching patients about health behavior change. Faculty directly observed residents during clinical encounters using MI and SMS skills to work more collaboratively with patients and to improve patient readiness for self-management goal setting. CONCLUSION: A curriculum that links motivational interviewing skills to the chronic care model's self-management support component and is reinforced in the clinical setting is feasible to develop and implement. This curriculum may improve residents' confidence with health behavior counseling and with preparing patients to become active participants in management of their chronic conditions.