Mark E. Quirk

Increasing the efficacy of physician-delivered smoking interventions: a randomized clinical trial

Objective:To assess the relative impacts of three physician-delivered smoking interventions in combination with follow-up contact from behavioral counselors.Design:Randomized controlled trial with pre-post measures of smoking rates. This paper reports six-month outcome data.Setting:Participants were recruited from among patients seen by 196 medical and family practice residents in five primary care clinics.Participants:Participants were 1,286 patients out of 1,946 eligible smokers approached. The patient group was 57% female and 91% white, had an average age of 35 years, and smoked, on average, slightly over one pack per day.Intervention:Physicians were trained to provide each of three interventions: advice only, brief patient-centered counseling, and counseling plus prescription of nicotine-containing gum (Nicorette™). Half the patients received follow-up in the form of telephone counseling at three-monthly intervals from behavioral counselors.Measurements and main results:Changes in smoking behaviors were assessed by telephone interview six months after physician intervention. The differences in one-week point prevalence cessation rates among the physician interventions were significant (p<0.01): advice only, 9.1%; counseling, 11.9%; counseling plus gum, 17.4%; with no effect for telephone counseling. The time elapsed from physician encounter to initial quitting and the length of that period of abstinence also showed significant benefit of the counseling interventions. Patients receiving physician counseling were much more likely than those not receiving counseling to rate their physician as very helpful (p<0.001). Multiple regression analyses are also reported.Conclusion:Smoking intervention counseling provided by physicians is well received by patients and significantly increases the likelihood of cessation at six months, an effect that is augmented by the prescription of nicotine-containing gum, when compared with physician-delivered advice. Follow-up telephone counseling does not contribute significantly to smoking behavior changes.

Faculty Development: A Resource for Clinical Teachers

Clinical teachers have the challenging and profound responsibility to convey the art and science of current medical practice. Fortunately, over the past four decades, a variety of programs have been developed to help them play this difficult role. Starting with the initial work of Miller and colleagues in the mid 1950s,1 faculty-development programs to enhance instructional skills have been created for the large cadre of clinician-educators in this country. Since 1978, the Department of Health and Human Services and foundations such as the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Macy Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have supported programs that emphasize teaching. Such initiatives have resulted in a wide variety of faculty-development programs operating at the institutional, regional, and national levels. The rationale for providing support for clinician-educators can be found in both the task of clinical teaching itself and the empirical studies of faculty-development programs. The task of teaching in general is complex and difficult.2 Clinical teaching can be especially difficult. First, its intended outcome—the effective training of medical practitioners—imposes a ponderous responsibility on the clinical teacher. In the short term, effective clinical teaching is necessary to provide society with excellent care for patients currently in teaching hospitals. Over the long term, effective clinical teaching provides the underpinnings for the high quality of care given patients away from the academic center, who are treated long after physicians finish their formal training. Second, clinical teaching is laden with many educational challenges requiring a breadth of skills. Clinical teachers are expected to address a wide range of educational goals (knowledge, attitudes, and skills); to work with learners who vary greatly in their experience and abilities (students through fellows); to use a variety of teaching methods (lecturing, small–group discussion, and one-on-one teaching); and to teach in different settings (inpatient, outpatient, and lecture hall).3–5 Moreover, clinical teaching is commonly compounded by the simultaneous requirement to deliver patient care. Given this complexity, clinical teachers need to be prepared with as many teaching skills as possible. Empirical studies provide further evidence for the value of faculty development. First, in evaluating many faculty-development programs, clinical teachers rate the experience as useful, and they recommend their experience to colleagues.6,7 Second, evaluation measures show that such programs can improve teachers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These measures include improvements in the following: self–reported knowledge and the use of educational terms before and after training,8 retrospective ratings of knowledge and skills,9,10 teacher ratings of self-efficacy in teaching specific content,11 teacher behavior during problem-based tutorials,12 teacher beliefs regarding problem-based methods,13 ratings from videotapes of participants’ teaching,3 and attitudes toward collaboration between community faculty and university programs.14 Other unpublished data describe improvements in student ratings,15 participants’ self-report 3 to 6 months after training regarding the concepts and skills taught in the program (T. A. DeWitt and M. Quirk, unpublished results),16 and participants’ ability to use educational concepts when analyzing videotaped teaching scenarios (K. M. Skeff and G. A. Stratos, unpublished results).17 In summary, the difficulty of clinical teaching coupled with the evidence that clinician-educators can improve in this role indicates the value of faculty-development programs. Although this rationale for using faculty-development methods is forceful, most medical faculty still have not participated in programs to improve teaching skills. Possible reasons include barriers to faculty participation and lack of knowledge about resources. To help more faculty benefit from available methods, we shall discuss potential barriers to participation in faculty-development programs, provide a summary of the types of available programs in primary care fields, describe characteristics of effective teaching-improvement methods, and recommend how to choose among teaching-improvement methods.

Finding meaning after the fall: Injury narratives from elderly hip fracture patients

Hip fractures occur frequently among the elderly, often with severe medical, psychological and social repercussions. This research takes a new look at hip fracture rehabilitation, focusing on meanings and post-fracture prognostic indicators. An innovative methodological approach to narrative analysis is employed which combines ethnographic and epidemiologic techniques. Analyses of injury narratives from 80 elderly subjects interviewed soon after initial hospitalization are presented, focusing on three categories of meaning: explanatory models, sense of disability, and futurity. Insights from these narratives, as well as from questionnaires and observations, shed light on the experience of hip fracture for the elderly. In addition, aspects of the initial narratives are considered in relation to ambulation outcomes at 3 and 6 months. Those individuals who perceive their problem in a more external or mechanical fashion (caused by the environment) show greater improvement in ambulation at 3 and 6 months relative to those who show no evidence of this thinking or who perceive it as an internal or organic problem (in terms of disease or illness). Greater improvement in ambulation at 3 and 6 months is also noted for subjects whose perception of disability was consistent with more autonomy, independence, and a sense of connection with the world around them. The present study demonstrates the potential utility of narrative analysis as a data reduction approach. It also suggests the possibility of new psychosocial prognostic factors for hip fracture rehabilitation.

Development and implementation of an objective structured teaching exercise (OSTE) to evaluate improvement in feedback skills following a faculty development workshop

Background: Faculty development programs focusing on teaching have become widespread. Purpose: Despite the popularity of such programs, evidence as to their effectiveness is limited. This article reports on the development of an objective structured teaching exercise (OSTE) and its pilot implementation in an evaluation of a faculty development program module. A written test intended to measure feedback skills was also developed and pilot tested. Methods: A separate-sample, pretest-posttest design was used to pilot test both instruments. Results: The results showed some evidence of significant differences between groups tested preworkshop and postworkshop. Higher scores were observed for the posttest group compared to the pretest group only for OSTE items focusing on prioritizing and limiting the amount of feedback given at one time and on action planning. Conclusions: Results suggest that an OSTE may be sensitive to changes in preceptor skill level for skills that are relatively easy to incorporate immediately into practice. Lack of differences in other skill areas may be due to lack of sensitivity of the measure or to need for practice and reflection before changes in performance on other feedback skills are evident.

Community preceptors' views of their identities as teachers

Purpose Community physicians are increasingly being recruited to teach medical students and residents, yet there has been little research about how they think of themselves as teachers or what factors contribute to “teacher identity.” Physicians who think of themselves as teachers may be more likely to enjoy teaching, to teach more, and to be recognized by students and other faculty as good teachers. Identifying factors that enhance teacher identity may be helpful for the recruitment and retention of high-quality community faculty. Method Thirty-five experienced community preceptors were audiotaped in five structured focus groups in April 2001, answering a series of questions about their teacher identity. Responses were qualitatively analyzed for evidence of themes. Results “Feeling intrinsic satisfaction” was the most common theme that emerged from the tapes. Preceptors also identified that “having knowledge and skill about teaching” and “belonging to a group of teacher” enhanced their roles as teachers. “Being a physician means being a teacher,” “feeling a responsibility to teach medicine,” and “sharing clinical expertise” also emerged as important themes. Although a group of participants were interested in “receiving rewards for teaching,” rewards did not need to be financial compensation. For some, genuine recognition for their efforts by the medical school, particularly in the form of faculty development opportunities, constituted reward and recognition for teaching. Conclusions Community physicians described a variety of factors that contribute to their identity as teachers. Faculty development programs offer opportunities to strengthen teacher identity and foster relationships between teaching programs and community-based faculty.

Expectations and Outcomes after Hip Fracture among the Elderly

Hip fractures among the elderly are a common occurrence, with high social and personal costs. Sequelae not infrequently include loss of independent functioning, permanent disability, and death. This prospective study of a cohort of eighty recently diagnosed “hardy” hip fracture patients examines initial rehabilitation expectations using a combination of methods. The study addresses the relationship between initial expectations and changes in ambulatory status from prefracture to three months post-fracture. The importance of previous experience with illness is also explored. Participants who had positive expectations for recovery and those who had greater previous experience were likely to have less negative change in ambulation from prefracture to three months, and better overall ambulation at three months. The findings suggest a relationship between patient expectations for recovery and actual recovery of ambulation, and support the heretofore “clinical impression” that cognition and affect influence the course of rehabilitation after hip fracture.

Developing Culturally Competent Community Faculty: A Model Program

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education recently set standards for cultural diversity training as part of the medical school curriculum. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first description of a faculty-development program designed to develop the capacity of the clinical faculty to integrate culture and advocacy education into clinical training. The paper describes the first two years of the development of an ongoing cultural competence curriculum that has been integrated into the training of community preceptors from 13 medical schools in New England and New York. The training, entitled “Teaching the Culture of the Community,” consists of four 2.5-hour modules that include interactive lectures and small-group role-play exercises on cultural needs assessment, patient-centered interviewing, feedback on cultural issues and use of the community to enhance cultural understanding. The 137 participants in the first two years of the program (1999–00 and 2000–01) reported a high level of acceptance of the curriculum. In the second year, the program began to document participants’ self-reported “intention to change” in relation to the cultural competence curriculum. Many participants reported plans to change aspects of their clinical care and their teaching practices. Intentions to change were most frequently expressed in the context of content on effective communication skills. In summary, cultural competency training has been successfully integrated into an existing faculty-development program for community-based preceptors.

The Physician-Delivered Smoking Intervention Project: factors that determine how much the physician intervenes with smokers

AbstractObjective: To determine factors that affect how much physicians trained to use a patient-centered smoking intervention intervene with their smoking patients. Design: Forty internal medicine residents and ten internal medicine attending physicians trained in a patient-centered counseling approach were randomized to an algorithm condition (provision of intervention algorithm at each patient visit) or a no-algorithm condition. Smoking intervention steps used by physicians with patients were assessed with Patient Exit Interviews (PEIs). Setting: Ambulatory clinic; academic medical center. Patients: Five hundred twenty-seven adult smokers seen in clinic between June 1990 and April 1992. Main results: There was no difference in overall PEI scores or in individual PEI steps taken between the algorithm and no-algorithm conditions. Two patient baseline factors (reporting thinking of stopping smoking within six months and higher Fagerstrom Tolerance Score) and one physician factor (older age) were significantly predictive of higher PEI score. Conclusion: Provision of an intervention algorithm at each patient visit does not increase the likelihood that trained physicians who are cued to intervene will perform more of the intervention steps taught. Trained physicians are more likely to intervene with smokers who are more nicotine-dependent and who expect and desire to stop smoking.

Evaluation of Primary Care Futures: A Faculty Development Program for Community Health Center Preceptors.

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of a national series of faculty development workshops for community health center preceptors. METHOD: Two hundred and twenty-three community health center preceptors from a variety of disciplines attended one of five workshops conducted in different regions of the country. The workshops emphasized active learning using role-play to provide skills in educational planning, teaching styles, evaluation, and feedback. The preceptors were evaluated before and immediately after the workshop, and again three months later. They were also asked to assess the quality of the workshop. RESULTS: The preceptors demonstrated significant increases in the use of five of seven teaching concepts while analyzing a role-play interaction. In addition, there were significant positive, immediate changes in familiarity with nine of 11 concepts, which were retained for at least three months. The preceptors also reported that they continued to use six of the effective teaching behaviors they had learned three months after the workshop. They were extremely positive in their assessments of the workshops. CONCLUSION: This preliminary study suggests that preceptors from a variety of backgrounds can improve their teaching knowledge and skills by participating in a brief faculty development program that emphasizes active learning.

Cancer control knowledge, attitudes, and perceived skills among medical students

BACKGROUND The Cancer Prevention and Control Education (CPACE) program aims to strengthen and coordinate curriculum offerings in cancer prevention and control for medical, graduate nursing and public health students. METHODS Students were surveyed on cancer-related knowledge and confidence as part of needs assessment and evaluation efforts. The students completed self-administered surveys (response rate 78%). Descriptive and stratified analysis and ANOVA were conducted. RESULTS Knowledge and confidence generally increased with each successive class year, but confidence varied markedly across specific counseling scenarios and by gender. While the students overall reported greater confidence in performing an examination than in interpreting the results, confidence varied significantly across specific types of examinations. CONCLUSIONS Understanding of basic information about common cancers was disappointing. Confidence to perform and interpret examinations could be higher, especially for opposite-gender screening examinations. Implications of the findings for CPACE curriculum development are discussed.