Journal of general internal medicine
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Healthy lifestyle behaviors play a significant role in promoting cardiovascular health. Primary care clinicians (PCCs) are tasked with promoting cardiovascular health through the assessment of lifestyle behaviors and the use of behavior change counseling. ⋯ Our framework proposes that this digital communication bundle contains the following features: assess and analyze an individual's cardiovascular health status; communicate personalized information in a health-literacy-friendly, visual format; assess behavioral components of change (e.g., motivation) that can inform the PCC's approach in guiding behavior change; provide PCCs with brief, behavior change counseling prompts that are grounded in motivational interviewing; and assess and address potential structural, socioeconomic, and environmental barriers, thereby fostering resilience in patients' lifestyle change efforts. We highlight the available research to support the need for such a tool and its potential ability to guide PCCs while also promoting behavior change in a patient-centered manner.
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COVID-19 increased the burden of childcare on parents, leaving women vulnerable to increased disparities in the division of domestic labor. Women healthcare workers may be at heightened risk of worsening gender parity in the workplace as a result. ⋯ We observed significant gender-based disparities in the division of household labor among healthcare workers, with negative impacts on work performance, focus, and academic productivity. Our results support the notion that the COVID-19 pandemic worsened gender parity in the homes of healthcare workers, thus negatively affecting gender parity in the medical workplace.
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External incentives increasingly encourage hospitals to address health-related social needs, yet limited evidence exists about whether social needs interventions are associated with quality indicators like potentially preventable admissions. ⋯ Hospital meal delivery was associated with significantly lower probability of potentially preventable hospitalizations, with larger effects for Medicaid beneficiaries. Meal delivery may support hospital quality. More nuanced understanding about the reach of social needs interventions is needed to further examine the impact of these hospital-based services on patient outcomes.