Physician Coverage Research Articles

A new long-term care facilities model in nova scotia, Canada: protocol for a mixed methods study of care by design.

BackgroundPrior to the implementation of a new model of care in long-term care facilities in the Capital District Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia, residents entering long-term care were responsible for finding their own family physician. As a result, care was provided by many family physicians responsible for a few residents leading to care coordination and continuity challenges. In 2009, Capital District Health Authority (CDHA) implemented a new model of long-term care called “Care by Design” which includes: a dedicated family physician per floor, 24/7 on-call physician coverage, implementation of a standardized geriatric assessment tool, and an interdisciplinary team approach to care. In addition, a new Emergency Health Services program was implemented shortly after, in which specially trained paramedics dedicated to long-term care responses are able to address urgent care needs. These changes were implemented to improve primary and emergency care for vulnerable residents. Here we describe a comprehensive mixed methods research study designed to assess the impact of these programs on care delivery and resident outcomes. The results of this research will be important to guide primary care policy for long-term care.ObjectiveWe aim to evaluate the impact of introducing a new model of a dedicated primary care physician and team approach to long-term care facilities in the CDHA using a mixed methods approach. As a mixed methods study, the quantitative and qualitative data findings will inform each other. Quantitatively we will measure a number of indicators of care in CDHA long-term care facilities pre and post-implementation of the new model. In the qualitative phase of the study we will explore the experience under the new model from the perspectives of stakeholders including family doctors, nurses, administration and staff as well as residents and family members. The proposed mixed method study seeks to evaluate and make policy recommendations related to primary care in long-term care facilities with a focus on end-of-life care and dementia.MethodsThis is a mixed methods study with concurrent quantitative and qualitative phases. In the quantitative phase, a retrospective time series study is being conducted. Planned analyses will measure indicators of clinical, system, and health outcomes across three time periods and assess the effect of Care by Design as a whole and its component parts. The qualitative methods explore the experiences of stakeholders (ie, physicians, nurses, paramedics, care assistants, administrators, residents, and family members) through focus groups and in depth individual interviews.ResultsData collection will be completed in fall 2013.ConclusionsThis study will generate a considerable amount of outcome data with applications for care providers, health care systems, and applications for program evaluation and quality improvement. Using the mixed methods design, this study will provide important results for stakeholders, as well as other health systems considering similar programs. In addition, this study will advance methods used to research new multifaceted interdisciplinary health delivery models using multiple and varied data sources and contribute to the discussion on evidence based health policy and program development.

A descriptive study of access to services in a random sample of Canadian rural emergency departments

ObjectiveTo examine 24/7 access to services and consultants in a sample of Canadian rural emergency departments (EDs).DesignCross-sectional study—mixed methods (structured interview, survey and government data bases) with random sampling of...

FRI0529 Comparative risks for serious infections associated with biologics in high risk rheumatoid arthritis patients

BackgroundSerious infections are an important concern for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with biologic agents. However, insufficient data guide the optimal treatment in the high risk population.ObjectivesTo compare the...

Medicare Essential: An Option To Promote Better Care And Curb Spending Growth

Medicare's core benefit design reflects private insurance as of 1965, with separate coverage for hospital and physician services (and now prescription drugs) and no protection against catastrophic costs. Modernizing Medicare's benefit design to offer comprehensive benefits, financial protection, and incentives to choose high-value care could improve coverage and lower beneficiary costs. We describe a new option we call Medicare Essential, which would combine Medicare's hospital, physician, and prescription drug coverage into an integrated benefit with an annual limit on out-of-pocket expenses for covered benefits. Cost sharing would be reduced for enrollees who seek care from high-quality low-cost providers. Out-of-pocket savings from lower premiums and health care costs for a Medicare Essential enrollee could be $173 per month, compared to what an enrollee would pay with traditional Medicare, prescription drug and private supplemental coverage. Financed by a budget-neutral premium, we estimate that this new plan choice could reduce total health spending relative to current projections by $180 billion and reduce employer retiree spending by $90 billion during 2014-23. Given its potential, such an alternative should be a part of the debate over the future of Medicare.

Physician Staffing Models Impact the Timing of Decisions to Limit Life Support in the ICU

A growing trend is the implementation of 24-h attending physician coverage in the ICU. Our aim was to measure the impact of 24-h, in-house, attending intensivist coverage on the quality of end-of-life care and the timing of end-of-life decision-making. A retrospective cohort study was conducted of all ICU deaths 6 months before and 6 months after the implementation of mandatory 24-h attending intensivist coverage in a medical ICU. Data relevant to end-of-life care per established consensus recommendations were abstracted from the medical record. The following changes were observed after implementation of 24-h intensivist coverage: Time from ICU admission to decision to withdraw mechanical ventilation and time to decision to change to do-not-resuscitate code status both were shortened by 2 days (both P = .03). Quality measures, such as increased family presence around time of death ( P = .01) also improved. Other findings, which did not reach statistical significance, included the following: Time to family conference was shortened by 2 days ( P = .09), time to decision to limit any life support was shortened by 1 day ( P = .08), time to death was shortened by 2 days ( P = .08), and intubations against patient wishes decreased (from three to none; P = .12). The implementation of mandatory 24-h, in-house, attending intensivist coverage was associated with earlier decision-making across a number of domains related to end-of-life care. Positive trends were noted in quality of end-of-life care as reflected in the presence of family at the time of death.

Results of the 2012 Survey of the American Association of Academic Chief Residents in Radiology

Every year, the American Association of Academic Chief Residents in Radiology conducts a survey of the chief residents in accredited radiology training programs in North America. The survey serves as a tool for gathering information, sharing ideas, and voicing opinions. An online survey was made available to the chief residents from 187 training programs in North America. Questions were presented in multiple-choice and free response formats, designed to address many issues ranging from program structure to on-call policies, changes for the new board examination format and fellowships, and the effects of health care reform on radiology practices. The results of the survey were tabulated and responses to the repeated questions were compared with those from earlier surveys dating to 2003. Among those surveyed, 185 individual responses representing 135 unique programs were completed, yielding a 73% response rate. Thirty-eight percent of programs responded from the northeast and 17% of programs responded from the southeast. Nineteen percent of responses were from central United States, 14% of responses were from western United States, and 12% of responses were from Canada. There is an increasing number of programs, which cover more hospitals, during the past decade. There are more programs providing ultrasound and magnetic resonance services after hours, with an associated increase in after-hours attending physician coverage. Many changes are being made for the future board examination format. Health care reform is affecting how residents are preparing themselves for their future practices.

Letter to the Editor and Reply: Sedation-assisted Orthopedic Reduction in Emergency Medicine: The Safety and Success of a One Physician/ One Nurse Model

To the Editor: We applaud Vinson and Hoehn for eloquently demonstrating that the performance of sedation assisted procedures in the emergency department (ED) does not necessarily require a 2 physician team. From a Canadian perspective, where single physician coverage in smaller EDs is common, this has important implications in terms of efficiency of patient care, reduction in the need for patient transfer and decreasing the time to definitive treatment for ED patients. We would like to draw attention to a model of care practiced in Halifax, Nova Scotia for over 15 years, using a team consisting of an advanced care paramedic (ACP) and a single physician, the former to conduct the sedation, and the latter to do the procedure.1 The skills of ACPs complement specific supplementary training in Procedural Sedation and Analgesia (PSA) to produce, in our opinion, expert ED sedationists, and our database of over 4000 safely conducted PSAs attest to this. Although performing PSA is primary role of ACPs in our ED, success with this has expanded our use of paramedics to a number of other ED tasks, freeing up other staff to perform what they do best.2

Staffing in ICUs: Physicians and Alternative Staffing Models

The evidence regarding physician staffing of ICUs does not yet provide a consistent view of the best model to use. Most studies have significant limitations, and this subject is complicated by the fact that optimal ICU staffing may depend on ICU characteristics. The topic with the most data regarding patient outcomes is the intensity of intensivist involvement in care, particularly the value of closed- vs open-model ICUs; however, the evidence is inconsistent here as well. Even if closed-model ICUs produce better outcomes, we do not know which specific elements of that multifaceted organizational paradigm are responsible for improvement. Also, studies of around-the-clock intensivist presence have not consistently shown that it is associated with superior outcomes. Increasingly, nonphysician providers are playing innovative roles in the ICU, and care provided by teams including nurse practitioners or physician assistants appears to be safe and comparable to that provided by other staffing models. Although we do not know the best way to staff ICUs, the conditions of ICU physician coverage will continue to change under the stresses of shortages of intensivists and increasing duty hour limitations for trainees. Nonphysician providers, innovative physician staffing models, telemedicine, and other technologies will be increasingly used to cope with these realities. This evolution makes it more important than ever to study how staffing affects outcomes. Only quantitative evaluation can tell us whether one staffing model is better than another. Accordingly, we need more research from multiple sites to develop a consistent and integrated understanding of this complex topic.

324: Trial of labor after cesarean without an in-house physician: a decision analysis

To estimate the outcomes for trial of labor after one prior cesarean (TOLAC) compared with elective repeat cesarean (ERCD) in a setting without in-house physician coverage and considering the possibility of subsequent pregnancies.

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Introduction: Ensuring nurse practitioner staffing is sufficient to meet patient care needs is an on-going difficulty in large intensive care units with high patient turnover rates. With the added pressures of improved patient flow, it is imperative that staff workflows are not hindered by a lack of coverage. Given an increase in the capacity of our Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) along with increased duty hour restrictions for house staff, we elected to add an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) component to our physician coverage model. Hypothesis: This project sought to assess staff perceptions of workflow and available staffing on a 25-bed SICU in an urban, academic medical center prior to the addition of the ACNP component in order to create the best model.Prior perception was that the busiest time on the unit was during the evening hours. As a surgical ICU, most post-operative patients are received on the unit in the late afternoon/early evening. Methods: An anonymous, voluntary, online survey was opened to staff (66 nurses, 26 physicians). The survey focused on staff perceptions about unit needs, adequacy of current resident coverage on each shift, and perceptions regarding patient care improvements with the addition of an ACNP. Results: Respondents included 43 nurses (65%) and 14 physicians (54%). The majority of respondents (58%) indicated 3-11p was the busiest time on the unit. Some respondents (14%) reported 11a-3p was busiest. Nearly 35% believed the current staffing to be inadequate to meet needs during busy times and 82.5% believed the addition of the ACNP would help “address issues as they come up”. A majority (59%) reported the addition of an ACNP 11a-11p would improve shift to shift communication. This finding is particularly important given 42% of respondents believed shift to shift communication was “less than adequate”. Conclusions: Unit administration concluded the addition of an 11a-11p ACNP would improve patient care and multidisciplinary, shift to shift communication during the busiest time on the unit.

Emergency physician workload modeling

ABSTRACTBackground:A variety of models are used by hospitals, provincial governments, and departments of emergency medicine to “predict” the number of physician hours of coverage necessary to staff emergency departments. These models have arisen to meet specific requirements—some for the purpose of determining hourly rates of compensation, others to determine the amount of funding that will be provided to “purchase” physician coverage, and others to determine the number of hours of coverage necessary to maintain patient waits within “acceptable” limits. All such models have their strengths and weaknesses and have been criticized as not reflecting the “real” needs of any given department.Objective:In the article that follows, a review of existing models is presented, annotating their strengths and weaknesses to derive the characteristics of an “ideal” workload model.Conclusion:None of the models currently used to measure emergency department workload can be relied on to accurately predict the number of staffed hours necessary. Models that may achieve this objective are suggested.

The impact of 24-hr, in-hospital pediatric critical care attending physician presence on process of care and patient outcomes*

Attending physicians are only required to provide in-hospital coverage during daytime hours in many pediatric intensive care units. An in-hospital 24-hr pediatric intensive care unit attending coverage model has been increasingly popular, but the impact of 24-hr, in-hospital attending coverage on care processes and outcomes has not been reported. We compared processes of care and outcomes before and after the implementation of a 24-hr in-hospital pediatric intensive care unit attending physician model. Retrospective comparison of before and after cohorts. A single large, academic tertiary medical/surgical pediatric intensive care unit. : Pediatric intensive care unit admissions in 2000-2006. Transition to 24-hr from 12-hr in-hospital pediatric critical care attending physician coverage model in January 2004. A total of 18,702 patients were admitted to intensive care unit: 8,520 in 24 hrs; 10,182 in 12 hrs. Duration of mechanical ventilation was lower (median 33 hrs [interquartile range 12-88] vs. 48 hrs [interquartile range 16-133], adjusted reduction of 35% [95% confidence interval 25%-44%], p < .001) and intensive care unit length of stay was shorter (median 2 days [interquartile range 1-4] vs. 2 days [interquartile range 1-5], adjusted p < .001) for 24 hr vs. 12 hr coverage. The reduction in mechanical ventilation hours was similar when noninvasive, mechanical ventilation was included in ventilation hours (median 42 hrs vs. 56 hrs, adjusted reduction in ventilation hours: 33% [95% confidence interval 20-45], p < .001). Intensive care unit mortality was not significantly different (2.2% vs. 2.5%, adjusted p =.23). These associations were consistent across daytime and nighttime admissions, weekend and weekday admissions, and among subgroups with higher Pediatric Risk of Mortality III scores, postsurgical patients, and histories of previous intensive care unit admission. Implementation of 24-hr in-hospital pediatric critical care attending coverage was associated with shorter duration of mechanical ventilation and shorter length of intensive care unit stay. After accounting for potential confounders, this finding was consistent across a broad spectrum of critically ill children.

The Relationship Between Shift Work, Sleep, and Cognition in Career Emergency Physicians

The 24-hour physician coverage of the emergency department (ED) requires shift work, which can result in desynchronosis and cognitive decline. We measured changes in cognition and sleep disturbance in attending emergency physicians (EPs) before and after day and overnight shifts. Thirteen EPs were tested before and after day and overnight shifts using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test (REMT), the Trail Making Test (TMT), and the Stroop Color-Word Test. Sleep quality and fatigue were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ). Saliva samples were collected from each physician immediately before and after day shifts and night shifts for neurohormonal assays. Significantly fewer words were recalled on the REMT after both day (-2.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -4.4 to -0.4) and overnight shifts (-4.6, 95% CI = -6.4 to -2.8). There was a significant postshift increase in words recalled from the last third of the REMT list after overnight shifts (6.6, 95% CI = 2.8 to 10.4). Sleep quality was worse in EPs (mean PSQI = 4.8, SD ± 2.5) compared to the normal population, with 31% of subjects reporting poor sleep quality. Postshift fatigue was correlated with the perceived difficulty of the shift. Salivary cortisol and melatonin demonstrated diurnal variation consistent with normal circadian rhythms. Morning cortisol peak was decreased or delayed in samples from physicians after a night shift. These data indicate that short-term memory appears to decline after day and overnight shifts and confirms the high incidence of disturbed sleep in this population.

An Overview of Distribution of Births in United States Hospitals in 2008 with Implications for Small Volume Perinatal Units in Rural Hospitals

To evaluate the distribution of births among United States (U.S.) hospitals in 2008 as part of the background for the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses' Guidelines for Professional Registered Nurse Staffing for Perinatal Units. Descriptive analysis of birth volumes in U.S. hospitals using American Hospital Association Annual Survey: 2008. U.S. hospitals providing obstetric (OB) services were identified based on information in any of three fields: OB services, OB beds, or number of births. Data were verified via telephone and/or website for the top 100 hospitals based on volume, hospitals with "Healthcare System" as part of their names, hospitals reporting births but no OB service, and hospitals reporting <100 births. Hospitals with <100 births were queried regarding nurse staffing. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Approximately 3,265 U.S. hospitals offered OB services in 2008. The top 500 hospitals based on volume (15.3%) accounted for almost one half (47.4%) of births, the top 1,000 for 69.2%, and the remaining 2,265 for 30.8%. Fourteen percent of hospitals with <100 births in 2008 reported discontinuing OB services in 2010, in part due to lack of physician coverage and costs. Most hospitals (n=159, 72.3%) with <100 births routinely maintained two OB-skilled nurses in-house in 2010. U.S. births are unevenly distributed among hospitals; 15% have a disproportionate share of nearly one half of all births. Most hospitals (69.4%) are operating medium- to small-volume OB units. Most hospitals (72.3%) with <100 births annually reported currently meeting minimum staffing guidelines.

Impact of Nonphysician Staffing on Outcomes in a Medical ICU

As the number of ICU beds and demand for intensivists increase, alternative solutions are needed to provide coverage for critically ill patients. The impact of different staffing models on the outcomes of patients in the medical ICU (MICU) remains unknown. In our study, we compare outcomes of nonphysician provider-based teams to those of medical house staff-based teams in the MICU. We conducted a retrospective review of 590 daytime (7:00 am-7:00 pm) admissions to two MICUs at one hospital. In one MICU staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants (MICU-NP/PA) there were nonphysicians (nurse practitioners and physicians assistants) during the day (7:00 am-7:00 pm) with attending physician coverage overnight. In the other MICU, there were medicine residents (MICU-RES) (24 h/d). The outcomes investigated were hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS) (ICU, hospital), and posthospital discharge destination. Three hundred two patients were admitted to the MICU-NP/PA and 288 to the MICU-RES. Mortality probability model III (MPM(0)-III) predicted mortality was similar (P = .14). There was no significant difference in hospital mortality (32.1% for MICU-NP/PA vs 32.3% for MICU-RES, P = .96), MICU LOS (4.22 ± 2.51 days for MICU-NP/PA vs 4.44 ± 3.10 days for MICU-RES, P = .59), or hospital LOS (14.01 ± 2.92 days for MICU-NP/PA vs 13.74 ± 2.94 days for MICU-RES, P = .86). Discharge to a skilled care facility (vs home) was similar (37.1% for MICU-NP/PA vs 32.5% for MICU-RES, P = .34). After multivariate adjustment, MICU staffing type was not associated with hospital mortality (P = .26), MICU LOS (P = .29), hospital LOS (P = .19), or posthospital discharge destination (P = .90). Staffing models including daytime use of nonphysician providers appear to be a safe and effective alternative to the traditional house staff-based team in a high-acuity, adult ICU.

Quantifying Off-hour Emergency Physician Coverage of In-hospital Codes: A Survey of Community Emergency Departments

Background Community emergency physicians (EPs) are often required to respond to unstable patients outside of their department during off-hours. Objective The primary objective of this study was to describe the critical care responsibility of community EPs outside of their departments. Methods A one-page survey was mailed to emergency department (ED) directors of 10 states and Washington, DC. Results Three hundred forty of 1169 surveys were returned. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) number of hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) beds was 145 (IQR 60–242) and 11 (IQR 6–20), respectively. Median ED annual volume and ICU admission percentage was reported to be 25 K (IQR 14–40) and 5% (IQR 2–10), respectively. Seventy-six percent of reporting institutions require EPs to leave their department and respond to medical codes on the floors after hours. In 57% of institutions, the EP was the only physician required to respond. In addition, 48% of EPs must respond to unstable patients in the ICUs after hours. Hospitals in which EPs were required to respond to medical codes and unstable ICU patients were more likely to have fewer hospital beds (137 vs. 275; p < 0.001), fewer ICU beds (12 vs. 27; p < 0.001), and have a smaller ED annual volume (24 K vs. 39 K; p < 0.001). Conclusions Many community EPs are responsible for covering critically ill patients outside of their ED. Further investigation is required to determine the impact on patient care.

Hospital Admissions from Nursing Homes: Rates and Reasons

Hospital admissions from nursing homes have not previously been investigated in Norway. During 12 months all hospital admissions (acute and elective) from 32 nursing homes in Bergen were recorded via the Norwegian ambulance register. The principal diagnosis made during the stay, length of stay, and the ward were sourced from the hospital's data register and data were merged. Altogether 1,311 hospital admissions were recorded during the 12 months. Admissions from nursing homes made up 6.1% of the total number of admissions to medical wards, while for surgical wards they made up 3.8%. Infections, fractures, cardiovascular and gastri-related diagnoses represented the most frequent admission diagnoses. Infections accounted for 25.0% of admissions, including 51.0% pneumonias. Of all the admissions, fractures were the cause in 10.2%. Of all fractures, hip fractures represented 71.7. The admission rate increased as the proportion of short-term beds increased, and at nursing homes with short-term beds, admissions increased with increasing physician coverage. Potential reductions in hospitalizations for infections from nursing homes may play a role to reduce pressure on medical departments as may fracture prevention. Solely increasing physician coverage in nursing homes will probably not reduce the number of hospitalizations.

The Shortage of On‐call Surgical Specialist Coverage: A National Survey of Emergency Department Directors

problems with on-call specialist physician coverage have been identified as a significant issue for our nation's health care system. Despite this, little is known about the full extent of these coverage deficiencies in emergency departments (EDs), their effect on emergency care provision, or the subsequent effect on patient flow should specialist-requiring patients need to be transferred to centers of higher-level care. The objective was to report the experiences of a national sample of ED directors regarding the degree of difficulty in providing specialist coverage and the effect of on-call coverage problems on emergency patient care. the authors conducted a cross-sectional self-administered survey of a national sample of ED directors. How frequently ED directors reported on-call coverage problems, whether they recently lost on-call coverage, whether their current on-call coverage was reliable, and the potential effect on emergency care provision were all assessed. the overall response rate was 62% (442 of 715). Seventy-four percent of respondents reported on-call coverage problems with specialist physicians. Sixty percent reported having lost 24/7 coverage for at least one specialty in the past 4 years. Twenty-six percent reported unreliability in their current on-call coverage. Twenty-three percent noted that their trauma center designation level had been affected by on-call coverage, and 22% noted an increase in patients leaving before being seen by a medically needed specialist. difficulties in obtaining specialty on-call coverage are a pervasive issue for EDs at the national level. Emergency care provision appears to have been affected, and this issue is further impacted by a perceived unreliability in current on-call coverage provision as well as the attrition of coverage for individual specialties.

24/7 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Attending Physician Coverage

24/7 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Attending Physician Coverage

Health Care District of Palm Beach County's Air Medical Program and Trauma System

Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, the trauma system in Palm Beach County has provided emergency care to severely injured residents and visitors. For nearly 50,000 people, that care has meant the difference between life and death. Last year alone, nearly 3,000 people who suffered traumatic injury were rushed to one of two, Florida verified, level II adult and pediatric trauma centers, Delray Medical Center and St. Mary's Medical Center.