Annals of Family Medicine articles from May 2006

Annals of Family Medicine archives from May 2006

In this issue: communication in the era of 'personalized' medicine.
May 1, 2006... COMMUNICATION In this issue, we launch a new feature: the Annals Journal Club. (1,2) this new journal club takes a RADICAL approach, stimulated by the need for local forums to address important problems in primary care, and for a venue for...

Annals journal club: it's time to get RADICAL.
May 1, 2006... With this issue of Annals of Family Medicine, we launch a new feature to help readers build learning communities to improve health through enhanced understanding of primary care. We call it the Annals Journal Club, but this is not your old...

Perceived vulnerability to heart disease in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia: a qualitative interview study.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE Knowledge about the ways patients perceive their vulnerability to disease is important for communication with patients about risk and preventive health measures. This interview study aimed to explore how patients with a...

Patients' perceptions of cholesterol, cardiovascular disease risk, and risk communication strategies.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE Despite some recent improvement in knowledge about cholesterol in the United States, patient adherence to cholesterol treatment recommendations remains suboptimal. We undertook a qualitative study that explored patients'...

Readiness to change in primary care patients who screened positive for alcohol misuse.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE Readiness to change drinking may influence the content or effectiveness of brief alcohol counseling. This study was designed to assess readiness to change and its relationship to alcohol misuse severity among primary care...

A cross-cultural study of physician treatment decisions for demented nursing home patients who develop pneumonia.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE We wanted to explore factors that influence Dutch and US physician treatment decisions when nursing home patients with dementia become acutely ill with pneumonia. METHODS Using a qualitative semistructured interview...

Vaginal birth after cesarean in California: before and after a change in guidelines.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE In 1999 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) adopted more-restrictive guidelines for vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC). This study assesses trends in VBAC in California and compares...

How primary care networks can help integrate academic and service initiatives in primary care.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE Theory of effective network operation in primary care is underdeveloped. This study aimed to identify how primary care networks can best integrate academic and service initiatives. METHODS We performed a comparative...

The US medical liability system: evidence for legislative reform.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Despite state and federal efforts to implement medical malpractice reform, there is limited evidence on which to base policy decisions. The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) offers an opportunity to evaluate the...

Development of a measure to assess patient trust in medical researchers.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE Many researchers find it difficult to recruit individuals, particularly minorities, for participation in studies. Mistrust of research and researchers may act as a barrier to participation. The purpose of this study was to...

Efficacy and safety of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis of health outcomes.(Disease/Disorder overview)
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT PURPOSE We wanted to review systematically the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of inhaled corticosteroids with respect to health outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS We searched...

Thoughts on communication.
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT Living without the ability to communicate is humbling. Time spent on a sabbatical in Florence, Italy, taught me that my outgoing manner, my interactional skills, and my ability to establish rapport, all personality traits and...

Patient-choice vaginal delivery?
May 1, 2006... ABSTRACT Patient-choice cesarean delivery is increasing in the United States. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports this option, citing ethical premises of autonomy and informed consent, despite a lack of...

On TRACK: comorbidity and external validity, exemplary practice, postpartum support.
May 1, 2006... COMORBIDITY AND EXTERNAL VALIDITY The online discussion advances understanding of the effect of comorbidity on the interpretation and application of clinical trial findings. (1-6) The discussion supports recent calls for greater focus on...

Maintenance of certification update.
May 1, 2006... We recently introduced improvements to the American Board of Family Medicine's Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians (MC-FP). The most important new enhancement is the opportunity for Diplomates to extend their...

STFM plans to change the future through premedical school recruitment.
May 1, 2006... STFM has taken the lead in the family organizations on Recommendation #8 of the Future of Family Medicine report, namely "To promote a sufficient family medicine workforce." As the FFM educational programming is woven into all STFM-sponsored...

Saving Medicare: "it's the workforce, stupid!".
May 1, 2006... A dysfunctional health care system and an aging population spell trouble for Medicare. For the 30-year period from 1970 to 2000, CMS reports a manageable 13% decline in the ratio of full-time equivalent workers to Medicare beneficiaries....

Workshop for the directors of family medicine residencies.
May 1, 2006... Registration for the 2006 Workshop for the Directors of Family Medicine Residencies is now available online. The workshop will be held June 4-6, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo. Workshops will focus on this year's...

The UK National Health Service and pay-for-performance: lessons for the United States.
May 1, 2006... The 2005 NAPCRG Annual Meeting, held October 15-18, 2005 in Quebec City, featured a plenary talk by Martin Roland, MD, director of the National Primary Care and Research and Development Centre at the University of Manchester, UK, on the promise...

Network expands; research boosts QI: AAFP's National Research Network adds members.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... DOI: 10.1370/afm.585. New members are making the American Academy of Family Physicians' National Research Network hum. The network, which began in 1999 with 117 physicians from the former Ambulatory Sentinel Practice Network, now has...

AAFP members put research into practice, stimulate QI efforts.
May 1, 2006... Academy members doing practice-based research are finding that it is a 2-way street. As they and their staff members conduct research, they reap the rewards of providing better patient care; improving their office systems; and, sometimes,...