Family Medicine Department Chairs' Opinions Regarding Scope of Practice

Satellite Faculty in an Academic Ophthalmology Department: Junior, Clinical, and Female

Purpose

To evaluate the perception of physicians at satellite offices of a large academic ophthalmology department.

Methods

A survey was sent to the 32 physician faculty members working at the satellite offices in the Ophthalmology Department of the University of Michigan. The ophthalmologists answered 44 survey questions on staffing, wait times, physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction, compensation, administrative help, research, and operations management.

Results

Seventeen (53%) satellite ophthalmologists responded. The majority were satisfied with work at satellites, which they felt operated efficiently and believed to feature high patient satisfaction. A minority of ophthalmologists had concerns about salary, volume, marketing support, and geographic location. Some respondents did not understand the compensation structure, satellites' finances, or contribution to the overall department. Most described a lack of research and resident teaching opportunities at satellites.

Conclusions

The perceptions of ophthalmologists who work in satellite offices are important because of the growth of these offices in academic medical centers and the ability for satellite doctors to offer care comparable with and sooner than doctors at the main hospital at locations convenient for patients. Satellite ophthalmologists at this academic center would appreciate increased transparency of compensation and financial structures; administrative help with marketing and maintaining efficiency, which doctors and patients enjoy at satellite offices; and more teaching and research opportunities, which are the basis of academic advancement. Such efforts may help retain satellite doctors, who tend to be junior in rank, female, nontenured faculty, and who experience a higher turnover rate than faculty at the main campus.

A practical guide for using a survey about attitudes and behaviors to inform health care decisions

OBJECTIVES

Surveys can provide important information about what people think or do. There is little guidance about how to use surveys in decision-making. This article provides guidance for how to appraise and use a survey to answer health care questions.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

A guidance article about the use a survey of a selected sample of people, who completed a self-report tool about their knowledge, beliefs and opinions, behaviors and experiences, or personal attributes. We use survey examples, one scenario, and a specific survey for illustration.

RESULTS

Decision makers should consider the credibility and applicability of the results of a survey. Key threats to credibility depend on the representativeness of the population and likelihood that it provides an accurate picture of the population's knowledge, attitudes, or self-reported practices. If survey investigators do not use rigorous strategies to develop or pretest questions, there is a greater risk that results will be misleading. Decision makers may want to consider the precision of estimates and whether it would change their decisions. Finally, they need to decide how similar the surveyed population is to their specific population before applying results.

CONCLUSIONS

Decision makers can follow this guidance to critically appraise, interpret, and apply the results of surveys to health care questions.

Effectiveness of Clinical Decision Support Based Intervention in the Improvement of Care for Adult Sickle Cell Disease Patients in Primary Care

INTRODUCTION

Although most patients with rare diseases like sickle cell disease (SCD) are treated in the primary care setting, primary care physicians may find it challenging to keep abreast of medication improvements and complications associated with treatment for rare and complex diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a clinical decision support (CDS) -based intervention system for transfusional iron overload in adults with SCD to improve management in primary care.

METHODS

An electronic medical record based clinical decision support system for potential transfusional iron overload in SCD patients in primary care was evaluated. The intervention was implemented in 3 family medicine clinics with a control group of 3 general internal medicine clinics. Data were collected in the 6 months before the intervention and 6 months after the intervention. There were 47 patients in the family medicine group and 24 in the general internal medicine group.

RESULTS

There was no management change in the control group while the intervention group improved primary care management from 0% to 44% (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

A CDS tool can improve management of SCD patients in primary care.