Tannaz Moin

Development and Implementation of an Oral Sign-out Skills Curriculum

Imperfect sign-out of patient information between providers has been shown to contribute to medical error, but there are no standardized curricula to teach sign-out skills. At our institution, we identified several deficiencies in skills and a lack of any existing training. To develop a sign-out curriculum for medical house staff. Setting: Internal medicine residency program. We developed a 1-h curriculum and implemented it in August of 2006 at three hospital sites. Teaching strategies included facilitated discussion, modeling, and observed individual practice with feedback. We emphasized interactive communication, a structured sign-out format summarized by an easy-to-remember mnemonic (“SIGNOUT”), consistent inclusion of key content items such as anticipatory guidance, and use of concrete language. We received 34 evaluations. The mean score for the course was 4.44 ± 0.61 on a 1–5 scale. Perceived usefulness of the structured oral communication format was 4.46 ± 0.78. Participants rated their comfort with providing oral sign-out significantly higher after the session than before (3.27 ± 1.0 before vs. 3.94 ± 0.90 after; p < .001). We developed an oral sign-out curriculum that was brief, structured, and well received by participants. Further study is necessary to determine the long-term impact of the curriculum.

What are covering doctors told about their patients? Analysis of sign-out among internal medicine house staff

Objectives: To characterise and assess sign-out practices among internal medicine house staff, and to identify contributing factors to sign-out quality. Design: Prospective audiotape study. Setting: Medical wards of an acute teaching hospital. Participants: Eight internal medicine house staff teams. Measurements: Quantitative and qualitative assessments of sign-out content, clarity of language, environment, and factors affecting quality and comprehensiveness of oral sign-out. Results: Sign-out sessions (n = 88) contained 503 patient sign-outs. Complete written sign-outs accompanying 50/88 sign-out sessions (57%) were collected. The median duration of sign-out was 35 s (IQR 19–62) per patient. The combined oral and written sign-outs described clinical condition, hospital course and whether or not there was a task to be completed for 184/298 (62%) of patients. The least commonly conveyed was the patient’s current clinical condition, described in 249/503 (50%) of oral sign-outs and 117/306 (38%) of written sign-outs. Most patient sign-outs (298/503, 59%) included no questions from the sign-out recipient (median 0, IQR 0–1). Five factors were associated with a higher rate of oral content inclusion: familiarity with the patient, sense of responsibility for the patient, only one sign-out per day, presence of a senior resident and a comprehensive written sign-out. Omissions and mischaracterisations of data were present in 22% of sign-outs repeated in a single day. Conclusions: Sign-outs are not uniformly comprehensive and include few questions. The findings suggest that several changes may be required to improve sign-out quality, including standardising key content, minimising sign-outs that do not involve the primary team, templating written sign-outs, emphasising the role of sign-out in maintaining patient safety and fostering a sense of direct responsibility for patients among covering staff.

Women veterans' experience with a web-based diabetes prevention program: a qualitative study to inform future practice.

Background Diabetes prevention is a national goal and particularly important in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) where 1 in 4 veterans has diabetes. There is growing evidence to support the use of Web-based diabetes prevention program (DPP) interventions, shown to be as effective and often more feasible than in-person interventions. Objective Our primary objective was to qualitatively explore women veterans’ early experiences with a Web-based DPP intervention. Our secondary objective was to estimate weight loss, participation, and engagement to provide context for our qualitative findings. Methods We conducted and analyzed semistructured interviews and collected data on weight change, participation, and engagement. A total of 17 women veterans with prediabetes from a Midwest VA Women’s Health Clinic were eligible to participate; 15 completed interviews. Results Participants perceived the DPP program as an appealing way of initiating lifestyle changes and made them feel accountable in achieving their daily goals. The online program was convenient because it could be accessed at any time, and many found that it integrated well into daily life. However, some did not like the logging aspect and some found it to be too impersonal. Participants logged in a mean 76 times, posted a mean 46 group messages, and sent a mean 20.5 private messages to the health coach over 16 weeks. Participants lost 5.24% of baseline weight, and 82% (14/17) of participants completed at least 9 of 16 core modules. Conclusions Women veterans’ early experiences with a Web-based DPP intervention were generally positive. Accountability and convenience were key enabling factors for participation and engagement. A Web-based DPP intervention appears to be a promising means of translating the DPP for women veterans with prediabetes.

A randomized, controlled trial of team-based competition to increase learner participation in quality-improvement education

OBJECTIVE Several barriers challenge resident engagement in learning quality improvement (QI). We investigated whether the incorporation of team-based game mechanics into an evidence-based online learning platform could increase resident participation in a QI curriculum. DESIGN Randomized, controlled trial. SETTING Tertiary-care medical center residency training programs. PARTICIPANTS Resident physicians (n = 422) from nine training programs (anesthesia, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pediatrics, psychiatry and general surgery) randomly allocated to a team competition environment (n = 200) or the control group (n = 222). INTERVENTION Specialty-based team assignment with leaderboards to foster competition, and alias assignment to de-identify individual participants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participation in online learning, as measured by percentage of questions attempted (primary outcome) and additional secondary measures of engagement (i.e. response time). Changes in participation measures over time between groups were assessed with a repeated measures ANOVA framework. RESULTS Residents in the intervention arm demonstrated greater participation than the control group. The percentage of questions attempted at least once was greater in the competition group (79% [SD ± 32] versus control, 68% [SD ± 37], P= 0.03). Median response time was faster in the competition group (P= 0.006). Differences in participation continued to increase over the duration of the intervention, as measured by average response time and cumulative percent of questions attempted (each P< 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Team competition increases resident participation in an online course delivering QI content. Medical educators should consider game mechanics to optimize participation when designing learning experiences.

Implementation and evaluation of the VA DPP clinical demonstration: protocol for a multi-site non-randomized hybrid effectiveness-implementation type III trial

BackgroundThe Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study showed that lifestyle intervention resulted in a 58% reduction in incidence of type 2 diabetes among individuals with prediabetes. Additional large randomized controlled trials have confirmed these results, and long-term follow-up has shown sustained benefit 10–20 years after the interventions ended. Diabetes is a common and costly disease, especially among Veterans, and despite strong evidence supporting the feasibility of type 2 diabetes prevention, the DPP has not been widely implemented. The first aim of this study will evaluate implementation of the Veterans Affairs (VA) DPP in three VA medical centers. The second aim will assess weight and hemoglobin A1c (A1c) outcomes, and the third aim will determine the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of implementation of the VA DPP from a health system perspective.Methods/DesignThis partnered multi-site non-randomized systematic assignment study will use a highly pragmatic hybrid effectiveness-implementation type III mixed methods study design. The implementation and administration of the VA DPP will be funded by clinical operations while the evaluation of the VA DPP will be funded by research grants. Seven hundred twenty eligible Veterans will be systematically assigned to the VA DPP clinical demonstration or the usual care VA MOVE!® weight management program. A multi-phase formative evaluation of the VA DPP implementation will be conducted. A theoretical program change model will be used to guide the implementation process and assess applicability and feasibility of the DPP for VA. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) will be used to guide qualitative data collection, analysis, and interpretation of barriers and facilitators to implementation. The RE-AIM framework will be used to assess Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of the VA DPP. Twelve-month weight and A1c change will be evaluated for the VA DPP compared to the VA MOVE! program. Mediation analyses will be conducted to identify whether program design differences impact outcomes.DiscussionFindings from this pragmatic evaluation will be highly applicable to practitioners who are tasked with implementing the DPP in clinical settings. In addition, findings will determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the VA DPP in the Veteran population.

Diabetes Prevention Program Translation in the Veterans Health Administration

INTRODUCTION This clinical demonstration trial compared the effectiveness of the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Prevention Program (VA-DPP) with an evidence-based usual care weight management program (MOVE!®) in the Veterans Health Administration health system. DESIGN Prospective, pragmatic, non-randomized comparative effectiveness study of two behavioral weight management interventions. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS Obese/overweight Veterans with prediabetes were recruited from three geographically diverse VA sites between 2012 and 2014. INTERVENTION VA-DPP included 22 group-based intensive lifestyle change sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Weight change at 6 and 12 months, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) at 12 months, and VA health expenditure changes at 15 months were assessed using VA electronic health record and claims data. Between- and within-group comparisons for weight and HbA1c were done using linear mixed-effects models controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, baseline outcome values, and site. Analyses were conducted in 2015-2016. RESULTS A total of 387 participants enrolled (273 VA-DPP, 114 MOVE!). More VA-DPP participants completed at least one (73.3% VA-DPP vs 57.5% MOVE! p=0.002); four (57.5% VA-DPP vs 42.5% MOVE!, p=0.007); and eight or more sessions (42.5% VA-DPP vs 31% MOVE!, p=0.035). Weight loss from baseline was significant at both 6 (p<0.001) and 12 months (p<0.001) for VA-DPP participants, but only significant at 6 months for MOVE! participants (p=0.004). Between groups, there were significant differences in 6-month weight loss (-4.1 kg VA-DPP vs -1.9 kg MOVE!, p<0.001), but not 12-month weight loss (-3.4 kg VA-DPP vs -2.0 kg MOVE!, p=0.16). There were no significant differences in HbA1c change or outpatient, inpatient, and total VA expenditures. CONCLUSIONS VA-DPP participants had higher participation rates and weight loss at 6 months, but similar weight, HbA1c, and health expenditures at 12 months compared to MOVE! PARTICIPANTS Features of VA-DPP may help enhance the capability of MOVE! to reach a larger proportion of the served population and promote individual-level weight maintenance.

Dynamic self-adaptive remote health monitoring system for diabetics

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. In 2010, about 1.9 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older. Remote health monitoring systems can help diabetics and their healthcare professionals monitor health-related measurements by providing real-time feedback. However, data-driven methods to dynamically prioritize and generate tasks are not well investigated in the remote health monitoring. This paper presents a task optimization technique used in WANDA (Weight and Activity with Blood Pressure and Other Vital Signs); a wireless health project that leverages sensor technology and wireless communication to monitor the health status of patients with diabetes. WANDA applies data analytics in real-time to improving the quality of care. The developed algorithm minimizes the number of daily tasks required by diabetic patients using association rules that satisfies a minimum support threshold. Each of these tasks maximizes information gain, thereby improving the overall level of care. Experimental results show that the developed algorithm can reduce the number of tasks up to 28.6% with minimum support 0.95, minimum confidence 0.97 and high efficiency.

Implementation of a prediabetes identification algorithm for overweight and obese Veterans

Type 2 diabetes prevention is an important national goal for the Veteran Health Administration (VHA): one in four Veterans has diabetes. We implemented a prediabetes identification algorithm to estimate prediabetes prevalence among overweight and obese Veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers (VAMCs) in preparation for the launch of a pragmatic study of Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) delivery to Veterans with prediabetes. This project was embedded within the VA DPP Clinical Demonstration Project conducted in 2012 to 2015. Veterans who attended orientation sessions for an established VHA weight-loss program (MOVE!) were recruited from VAMCs with geographically and racially diverse populations using existing referral processes. Each site implemented and adapted the prediabetes identification algorithm to best fit their local clinical context. Sites relied on an existing referral process in which a prediabetes identification algorithm was implemented in parallel with existing clinical flow; this approach limited the number of overweight and obese Veterans who were assessed and screened. We evaluated 1,830 patients through chart reviews, interviews, and/or laboratory tests. In this cohort, our estimated prevalence rates for normal glycemic status, prediabetes, and diabetes were 29% (n = 530), 28% (n = 504), and 43% (n = 796), respectively. Implementation of targeted prediabetes identification programs requires careful consideration of how prediabetes assessment and screening will occur.

Live vs Electronically Delivered Weight-Loss Interventions Paying for Feasible Interventions

Obesity is a well-recognized problem affecting 35.7% of US adults,1 and there is a critical need for implementation and dissemination of low-cost, evidence-based weight-loss interventions. In November 2013, the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), and The Obesity Society (TOS) released updated national guidelines on the management of overweight and obese adults in consultation with the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).2 This long-awaited update emphasizes the importance of routine referral to weight-management programs in patients with a body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) greater than 30 or those with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 and 1 additional comorbidity (which now includes elevated waist circumference).2 On-site, high-intensity weight-management programs have a strong evidence base,2 but real-world implementation is associated with high costs as well as poor uptake and reach, especially in diverse populations with the greatest need.3 The article by Keyserling and colleagues4 in this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine highlights the potential efficacy of electronically delivered weight-loss programs that may help address critical barriers of reach and dissemination. Keyserling and colleagues4 conducted a comparative effectiveness trial of a counselor vs web-delivered lifestyle-and-medication intervention to reduce coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. The authors randomized 385 patients (including 48% women and 24% African Americans), with mean age of 62 years and a mean BMI of 34, to either individual counseling or a web-based intervention. Both groups received 4 intensive and 3 maintenance sessions and used a web-based decision aid demonstrating potential CHD risk-reduction strategies. Significant reductions in predicted Framingham Risk Score (FRS) 10-year CHD risk occurred in both groups at 4 and 12 months (counselor-based intervention, −2.3% and −1.9%, respectively; web-based intervention, −1.5% and −1.7%, respectively) (P < .001). The change in FRS was significantly higher in the counselor group at 4 months (counselor, −2.3% vs web, −1.5%) (P = .03), but this effect was attenuated at 12 months, by which time no significant differences in study outcomes were observed between treatment arms (counselor, −1.9% vs web, −1.7%) (P = .30). Both formats were well received, but as would be expected, total costs per participant were much lower for the web-based format than for the live counselor (

Dynamic Task Optimization in Remote Diabetes Monitoring Systems

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