Predictors of Attitudes toward the Medically Underserved among Occupational and Physical Therapy Students.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore how empathic, demographic, and educational factors influence attitudes toward the medically underserved among occupational and physical therapy students. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was administered that included demographic/education questions. Empathy was measured through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the outcome variable was measured with the Medical Student Attitudes Toward the Underserved (MSATU). Regression models were calculated to determine the variables most predictive of attitudes. RESULTS: Race, income, clinical experience, and empathic concern jointly accounted for 35% of the variability in MSATU scores (F[9, 128] = 8.759, p < .01). Year in program and clinical training were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Demographics play a role in students' attitudes toward the underserved, but so do modifiable factors such as empathic concern and clinical training. Further research is needed to identify the characteristics unique to OT/PT students and curricula that support positive attitudes.

COVID in Context: The Lived Experience of Richmond's Low-Income Older Adults.

Taking a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study describes the lived experiences of low-income older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A socio-ecological model was used to organize the five identified themes describing the lived experience: socio-economic context, Black Lives Matter and the politics of race, COVID and polarized views of COVID, interpersonal context (social connections), and individual context (feelings, beliefs, and behaviors). Study findings illustrate the intersectionality of contextual influences on the experience of low-income older adults. Study participants demonstrated remarkable resilience and coping strategies developed in response to the challenges they experienced throughout their lifetime which benefited them when faced with the pandemic, social unrest, and political events that took place in 2020. This study highlights the importance of understanding the larger context of COVID-19 which has significant implications for policy makers and public health leaders.

Attitudes and Perceptions Toward Voice-Operated Smart Speakers Among Low-Income Senior Housing Residents: Comparison of Pre- and Post-Installation Surveys.

Smart speakers have the potential to support independent living and wellness among low-income senior housing (LISH) residents. The aim of this study was to examine and compare LISH residents' attitudes and perceptions toward smart speakers at two time points: before and after technology use (N = 47). A descriptive survey was administered to ask questions about hedonic motivation, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, perceived usefulness of some potential or existing smart speaker features, cost, and privacy. Participants were initially favorable toward using a smart speaker and its digital agent (e.g., Alexa) as a daily assistant and wellness tool. They especially liked the smart speaker's potential functionality of detecting harmful events and notifying someone to receive immediate help. The comparison of pre- and post-use responses revealed non-significant declines in most items, with the exception of willingness to use Alexa as a reminder system (p < .01), asking Alexa for help (p < .01), and asking for help in using Alexa (p < .01). This finding may reflect confusion or frustration with the device among participants. We conclude with recommendations for the design of smart speakers specifically tailored to the needs of LISH residents.

A case study in rapid adaptation of interprofessional education and remote visits during COVID-19.

The Richmond Health and Wellness Program (RHWP) is an innovative interprofessional care coordination program that seeks to support the health and wellness of independent-living older adults and educate future practitioners. Since 2012, RHWP has provided community-based interprofessional training to students at Virginia Commonwealth University. The sudden suspension of clinical and community-based training due to the COVID-19 pandemic created the need to transform the traditional ways students received clinical education and support the vulnerable communities served by RHWP. This paper describes RHWP's rapid transition to a hybrid telephone-based program with a virtual learning component for students which allowed RHWP to continue serving its participants and provide interprofessional training experiences. Since the transition, RHWP has served 111 participants through over 400 telephonic visits, and 12 nurse practitioner and pharmacy students completed clinical hours to fulfill graduation requirements. To meet the needs of learners, interprofessional education models can be adapted to changing circumstances posed by COVID-19.

A "Behind-the-Scenes" Look at Interprofessional Care Coordination: How Person-Centered Care in Safety-Net Health System Complex Care Clinics Produce Better Outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: While the effectiveness of team-based care and wrap-around services for high utilizers is clear, how complex care clinics deliver effective, person-centered care to these vulnerable populations is not well understood. This paper describes how interactions among interprofessional team members enabled individualized, rapid responses to the complex needs of vulnerable patients at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System's Complex Care Clinic. METHODS: Researchers attended twenty weekly care coordination meetings, audio-recorded the proceedings, and wrote brief observational field notes. Researchers also qualitatively interviewed ten clinic team members. Emergent coding based on grounded theory and a consensus process were used to identify and describe key themes. RESULTS: Analysis resulted in three themes that evidence the structures, processes, and interactions which contributed to the ability to provide person-centred care: team-based communication strategies, interprofessional problem-solving, and personalized patient engagement efforts. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that in care coordination meetings team members were able to strategize, brainstorm, and reflect on how to better care for patients. Specifically, flexible team leadership opened an inter-disciplinary communicative space to foster conversations, which revealed connections between the physical, and socio-emotional components of patients' lives and hidden factors undermining progress, while proactive strategies prevented patient's rapid deterioration and unnecessary use of inappropriate health services.

Opportunities for Occupational Therapy on a Primary Care Team.

IMPORTANCE: Leaders in the occupational therapy profession have called for occupational therapy's inclusion in primary care, but little is known about the occupational needs of patients in this setting. OBJECTIVE: To explore the need for and potential role of occupational therapy in a team-based primary care clinic. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive study using a convenience sample of clinicians and patients. Meetings and semistructured interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded by multiple coders using a general immersion-crystallization approach to identify relevant themes. SETTING: Outpatient complex care clinic of an urban academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: The study included a voluntary sample of clinicians and patients from the complex care clinic. Patients were recruited from a staff-provided list; eligible patients had attended the clinic for at least 1 yr. All patients had multiple chronic conditions and were uninsured or received Medicaid. RESULTS: Researchers attended 10 clinician team meetings and conducted 13 patient interviews and 10 clinician interviews. Four domains of patient need were identified by both patients and clinicians: complex medical management, patients' limited resources, mental health needs, and challenges to occupation. Clinicians also identified cognitive-behavioral challenges affecting care, including lack of engagement and poor problem solving. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The makeup of the clinic team reflected their intent to address medical, socioeconomic, and mental health domains. However, cognitive-behavioral challenges and patients' occupational limitations were not consistently addressed. Thus, patients had unmet needs that occupational therapy practitioners were qualified to address. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS: This study adds to the available literature examining patient needs and clinician challenges in a primary care clinic. Patients have occupational needs that are not being addressed in primary care, indicating a need for occupational therapy in this setting.

Understanding the influences and impact of patient-clinician communication in cancer care.

BACKGROUND: Patient-clinician communication is thought to be central to care outcomes, but when and how communication affects patient outcomes is not well understood. OBJECTIVE: We propose a conceptual model and classification framework upon which the empirical evidence base for the impact of patient-clinician communication can be summarized and further built. DESIGN: We use the proposed model and framework to summarize findings from two recent systematic reviews, one evaluating the use of shared decision making (SDM) on cancer care outcomes and the other evaluating the role of physician recommendation in cancer screening use. KEY RESULTS: Using this approach, we identified clusters of studies with positive findings, including those relying on the measurement of SDM from the patients' perspective and affective-cognitive outcomes, particularly in the context of surgical treatment decision making. We also identify important gaps in the literature, including the role of SDM in post-surgical treatment and end-of-life care decisions, and those specifying particular physician communication strategies when recommending cancer screening. CONCLUSIONS: Transparent linkages between key conceptual domains and the influence of methodological approaches on observed patient outcomes are needed to advance our understanding of how and when patient-clinician communication influences patient outcomes. The proposed conceptual model and classification framework can be used to facilitate the translation of empirical evidence into practice and to identify critical gaps in knowledge regarding how and when patient-clinician communication impacts care outcomes in the context of cancer and health care more broadly.