Annals of family medicine
-
Annals of family medicine · Sep 2021
COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment in the Home: Navigating the Complexity of Donning and Doffing.
The safety of care professionals and patients is paramount while caring for people with infectious diseases, including those with confirmed or suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Existing policies and protocols for donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) are primarily for institutional settings such as hospitals, not for home visits for patient care. We describe a protocol for donning and doffing PPE in home settings. ⋯ This protocol addresses gaps in COVID-19-related guidelines, specifically the process of donning and doffing PPE during home visits while supplementing jurisdictional PPE guidelines and protocols.Appeared as Annals "Online First" article.
-
Annals of family medicine · Sep 2021
Financial Incentives for Medical Assistants: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Bonus Structures, Motivation, and Population Health Quality Measures.
Medical assistants (MAs) have seen their roles expand as a result of team-based primary care models. Unlike their physician counterparts, MAs rarely receive financial incentives as a part of their compensation. This exploratory study aims to understand MA acceptability of financial incentives and perceived MA control over common population health measures. ⋯ MAs perceived that relatively small financial incentives would increase their motivation and quality of care. Our findings suggests target measures should focus on MA work processes that are completed in the same day as the patient encounter, particularly vaccinations. Future investigation is needed to understand the effectiveness of MA financial incentives in practice.
-
Annals of family medicine · Sep 2021
Technology-Enabled and Artificial Intelligence Support for Pre-Visit Planning in Ambulatory Care: Findings From an Environmental Scan.
Pre-visit planning (PVP) is believed to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and experience of care, yet numerous implementation barriers exist. There are opportunities for technology-enabled and artificial intelligence (AI) support to augment existing human-driven PVP processes-from appointment reminders and pre-visit questionnaires to pre-visit order sets and care gap closures. This study aimed to explore the current state of PVP, barriers to implementation, evidence of impact, and potential use of non-AI and AI tools to support PVP. ⋯ As health systems transition toward value-based payment models in a world where the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has shifted patient care into the virtual space, PVP activities-driven by humans and supported by technology-may become more important and powerful and should be rigorously evaluated.
-
Annals of family medicine · Sep 2021
Voice Assistants and Cancer Screening: A Comparison of Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana.
Despite increasing interest in how voice assistants like Siri or Alexa might improve health care delivery and information dissemination, there is limited research assessing the quality of health information provided by these technologies. Voice assistants present both opportunities and risks when facilitating searches for or answering health-related questions, especially now as fewer patients are seeing their physicians for preventive care due to the ongoing pandemic. ⋯ We show that there are clear differences among the 4 voice assistants and that there is room for improvement across all assistants, particularly in their ability to provide accurate information verbally. In order to ensure that voice assistants provide accurate information about cancer screening and support, rather than undermine efforts to improve preventive care delivery and population health, we suggest that technology providers prioritize partnership with health professionals and organizations.
-
Annals of family medicine · Sep 2021
"I Need to Keep Me and My Mother Safe": The Asylum Crisis at the US-Mexico Border.
In Tijuana, Mexico, 16-year-old Joaquin, a refugee from El Salvador where LGBTQ people are persecuted, was hoping for asylum in the United States based on sexual orientation. But as a volunteer physician in Tijuana, I had learned hard lessons about the asylum process-or lack thereof-at the US-Mexico border. ⋯ The lack of transparency about the realities of this system left thousands of families stranded in Mexico without basic rights such as health care. Health care professionals should be aware of the ongoing asylum crisis and be an active faction in the fight for its reform.