Donald E. Moore

Achieving desired results and improved outcomes: Integrating planning and assessment throughout learning activities

&NA; Most physicians believe that to provide the best possible care to their patients, they must commit to continuous learning. For the most part, it appears the learning activities currently available to physicians do not provide opportunities for meaningful continuous learning. At the same time there have been increasing concerns about the quality of health care, and a variety of groups within organized medicine have proposed approaches to address issues of physician competence and performance. The authors question whether CME will be accepted as a full partner in these new approaches if providers continue to use current approaches to planning and assessing CME. A conceptual model is proposed for planning and assessing continuous learning for physicians that the authors believe will help CME planners address issues of physician competence, physician performance, and patient health status.

Practice based education to improve delivery systems for prevention in primary care: randomised trial

Abstract Objective To examine the effectiveness of an intervention that combined continuing medical education with process improvement methods to implement “office systems” to improve the delivery of preventive care to children. Design Randomised trial in primary care practices. Setting Private paediatric and family practices in two areas of North Carolina. Participants Random sample of 44 practices allocated to intervention and control groups. Intervention Practice based continuing medical education in which project staff coached practice staff in reviewing performance and identifying, testing, and implementing new care processes (such as chart screening) to improve delivery of preventive care. Main outcome measure Change over time in the proportion of children aged 24-30 months who received age appropriate care for four preventive services (immunisations, and screening for tuberculosis, anaemia, and lead). Results The proportion of children per practice with age appropriate delivery of all four preventive services changed, after a one year period of implementation, from 7% to 34% in intervention practices and from 9% to 10% in control practices. After adjustment for baseline differences in the groups, the change in the prevalence of all four services between the beginning and the end of the study was 4.6-fold greater (95% confidence interval 1.6 to 13.2) in intervention practices. Thirty months after baseline, the proportion of children who were up to date with preventive services was higher in intervention than in control practices; results for screening for tuberculosis (54% v 32%), lead (68% v 30%), and anaemia (79% v 71%) were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion Continuing education combined with process improvement methods is effective in increasing rates of delivery of preventive care to children.

Outcomes of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in the modern era of management.

OBJECTIVE To identify clinical factors associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and mortality in patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). STUDY DESIGN A prospective cohort of neonates with a diaphragm defect identified at 1 of 7 collaborating medical centers was studied. Echocardiograms were performed at 1 month and 3 months of age and analyzed at a central core by 2 cardiologists independently. Degree of PH and survival were tested for association with clinical variables using Fischer exact test, χ(2), and regression analysis. RESULTS Two hundred twenty patients met inclusion criteria. Worse PH measured at 1 month of life was associated with higher mortality. Other factors associated with mortality were need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, patients inborn at the treating center, and patients with a prenatal diagnosis of CDH. Interestingly, patients with right sided CDH did not have worse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Severity of PH is associated with mortality in CDH. Other factors associated with mortality were birth weight, gestational age at birth, inborn status, and need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Vaginal douching as a potential risk factor for tubal ectopic pregnancy

The incidence of ectopic pregnancy in the United States has more than doubled in the past decade. Because a previous study has suggested that the practice of vaginal douching may increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, a condition known to predispose to ectopic pregnancy, and because the sale of commercial douching products in the United States has more than tripled since 1974, we investigated this practice as a possible risk factor. We interviewed 155 women who had a tubal ectopic pregnancy treated at five Seattle hospitals between 1975 and 1979 as to their reproductive, contraceptive, and medical histories, demographic characteristics, and personal hygiene practices. During the same period, 456 women who were delivered of a baby in King County were identified from Vital Records and interviewed as controls. A higher proportion of cases than controls reported ever having douched in the past. Cases also douched more frequently than controls. After simultaneous adjusting for confounding factors in our data by means of a multiple logistic regression technique, the risk of tubal ectopic pregnancy for women who douched at least weekly was twice that of women who never douched (95% confidence interval = 1.03 to 4.00). The risk for women who used commercial douches on a weekly basis was 4.4 (95% confidence interval = 1.6 to 12.7) the risk for women who never douched.

Beyond Flexner: a new model for continuous learning in the health professions.

One hundred years after Flexner wrote his report for the Carnegie Foundation, calls are heard for another “Flexnerian revolution,” a reform movement that would overhaul an approach to medical education that is criticized for its expense and inefficiency, its failure to respond to the health needs of our communities, and the high cost and inefficiency of the health care system it supports. To address these concerns, a group of Vanderbilt educators, national experts, administrators, residents, and students attended a retreat in November 2008. The goal of this meeting was to craft a new vision of physician learning based on the continuous development and assessment of competencies needed for effective and compassionate care under challenging circumstances. The vision that emerged from this gathering was that of a health care workforce comprised of physicians and other professionals, all capable of assessing practice outcomes, identifying learning needs, and engaging in continuous learning to achieve the best care for their patients. Several principles form the foundation for this vision. Learning should be competency based and embedded in the workplace. It should be linked to patient needs and undertaken by individual providers, by teams, and by institutions. Health professionals should be trained in this new model from the start of the educational experience, leading to true interprofessional education, with shared facilities and the same basic coursework. Multiple entry and exit points would provide flexibility and would allow health professionals to redirect their careers as their goals evolved. This article provides a detailed account of the model developed at the retreat and the obstacles that might be encountered in attempting to implement it.

Burnout in medical school deans: an uncommon problem.

Purpose To assess the burnout level among U.S. and Canadian medical school deans and to study how burnout relates to certain characteristics including hours worked, effectiveness, and support from family and colleagues. Method Questionnaires were sent in September 2006 to 100 deans who had served at least one year. The questionnaire included 13 questions from the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), which measures three subcomponents of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Results The response rate was 90%. The median age of participants was 60; the median length of service at the current institution was four years; the median number of hours worked per week was 70.0. Deans most frequently identified school budget deficits, loss of funding, and departure of key faculty as stressors. Whereas only 11% reported being dissatisfied with their positions, 33% reported it was likely they would step down within the next two years. The predominant pattern of MBI-HSS subscale scores in participating deans was moderate emotional exhaustion, moderate depersonalization, and high personal accomplishment. Only 2% of respondents satisfied all three subscale scores for high burnout. Emotional exhaustion was significantly directly associated with work week length and number of weekend days worked and was inversely associated with spousal support, length of service, and age. Conclusions Despite having an “extreme” job, only 2% of deans exhibited high levels of burnout. A high sense of control and self-efficacy, a supportive family, increasing length of service, and increasing age may be factors which reduce burnout in deans.

Can mentors prevent and reduce burnout in new chairs of departments of obstetrics and gynecology : results from a prospective, randomized pilot study

OBJECTIVE This study assessed burnout in new chairs of obstetrics and gynecology and whether mentoring by experienced chairs would prevent or reduce burnout. STUDY DESIGN We performed a year-long prospective, randomized trial. Questionnaires were sent to new chairs to obtain demographic information and to identify need for mentoring and level of burnout. Fourteen chairs in the intervention group selected a mentor; 13 chairs served as controls. After 1 year, questionnaires were completed to determine stress and burnout and the impact of mentoring. RESULTS Financial issues were the major stressors. New chairs identified human resources, finances, and relationships with school leaders as areas of greatest need for mentoring. Few chairs exhibited burnout. No differences were observed in burnout at the start of the study or after 1 year in the study groups. Mentors and new chairs found the mentoring relationship difficult to establish and maintain. CONCLUSION Long-distance mentoring by experienced chairs did not alter burnout in new chairs of obstetrics and gynecology. Local mentors appear to be more effective.

Fostering the Development of Master Adaptive Learners: A Conceptual Model to Guide Skill Acquisition in Medical Education.

Change is ubiquitous in health care, making continuous adaptation necessary for clinicians to provide the best possible care to their patients. The authors propose that developing the capabilities of a Master Adaptive Learner will provide future physicians with strategies for learning in the health care environment and for managing change more effectively. The concept of a Master Adaptive Learner describes a metacognitive approach to learning based on self-regulation that can foster the development and use of adaptive expertise in practice. The authors describe a conceptual literature-based model for a Master Adaptive Learner that provides a shared language to facilitate exploration and conversation about both successes and struggles during the learning process.

A Conceptual Model of CME to Address Disparities in Depression Care

&NA; The gap between best practices and actual practice in depression care—the difference between “what should be” and “what is”—is wider for ethnic and racial minorities than for the general population. Education alone is not reducing the gap or improving outcomes. Interventions such as the chronic care model have demonstrated improvements in physician performance and patient health status, both in the general population and among ethnic and racial minorities. Recent reviews of continuing medical education (CME) have shown that it is effective when the planned activities include (1) needs assessment and a focus on higher‐level outcomes, (2) multiple ongoing activities that are sequenced for learning, (3) planning that considers the context in which the learned principles will be applied, (4) interactivity, and (5) active learning. The authors describe an approach to planning CME reflecting these five factors and suggest that CME planned in this way be combined with the chronic care model to enhance outcomes further.

Improving outcomes through an innovative continuing medical education partnership

&NA; The new paradigm for continuing medical education (CME) suggests some exciting and innovative approaches to learning and change for physicians and other health professionals. This report summarizes the efforts of a CME enterprise in south‐central Pennsylvania that implemented a new paradigm for CME involving an unusual partnership with local business and industry. As a result of this partnership, a series of CME activities were developed that had a positive impact on health care outcomes in the community.