Journal of general internal medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Is information on genetic determinants of obesity helpful or harmful for obese people?--A randomized clinical trial.
Although more and more genetic information is available, it is unclear whether this information is helpful for patients. Therefore, we assessed the positive and negative effects of informing obese people about the genetic etiology of being overweight. ⋯ Consultations in obesity can be helpful in general. These consultations should include genetic information if people have a family history of obesity.
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Comparative Study
Assessing dual-role staff-interpreter linguistic competency in an integrated healthcare system.
Interpreter services for medical care increase physician-patient communication and safety, yet a "formal certification" process to demonstrate interpreter competence does not exist. Testing and training is left to individual health care facilities nationwide. Bilingual staff are often used to interpret, without any assessment of their skills. Assessing interpreters' linguistic competence and setting standards for testing is a priority. ⋯ We found that about 1 in 5 dual-role staff interpreters at a large health care organization had insufficient bilingual skills to serve as interpreters in a medical encounter. Health care organizations that depend on dual-role staff interpreters should consider assessing staff English and second language skills.
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Honoring patients' treatment preferences is a key component of high-quality end-of-life care. ⋯ The association between preferences and trajectories of end-of-life care suggests that preferences are used to guide treatment decision-making. In contrast to concerns that patients are receiving unwanted aggressive care, mismatches between preferences and trajectories were more frequently in the direction of patients receiving less aggressive care than they are willing to undergo.
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To determine the effect of reported sexual, physical, or emotional abuse on the symptoms suggestive of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and to determine the effect of race/ethnicity on these patterns. ⋯ Symptoms suggestive of CP/CPPS are not uncommon in a community-based population of men. For men presenting with symptoms suggestive of CP/CPPS, clinicians may wish to consider screening for abuse.
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The process of applying to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for grant funding can be daunting. The objective of this article is to help investigators successfully navigate the NIH grant application process. We focus on the practical aspects of this process, which are commonly learned through trial and error. Our target audience is generalist faculty and fellows who are applying for NIH funding to support their career development or a clinical research project.