BACKGROUND Communication gaps impact the quality of patient care. Previous research has focused on communication barriers rather than seeking solutions. Our aim was to identify strategies for effective communication and decision-making about goals of care for medical interventions in serious illness, from the perspectives of hospital-based healthcare providers. METHODS A cross-sectional surve...

BACKGROUND Patient-centered care requires knowledge of patients' goals of care (GoC) on the part of health care providers (HCPs). Whether HCPs caring for in-center hemodialysis patients meet this criterion is uncertain. OBJECTIVE We designed and conducted a GoC survey among patients and HCPs within a single in-center hemodialysis (ICHD) program to determine whether HCPs have an understanding ...

Do teams achieve important usability goals most of the time? Further, is goal achievement uniform or are practitioners more mindful of some goals than others? This paper presents an empirical study on usability goal achievement in industry projects. We used Usability Goal setting Tool (UGT), a recommender system that helps teams set, prioritize, and evaluate usability goals. The practitioner cr...

BACKGROUND There are several factors which influence oral hygiene behavior of an individual. Educational achievements, career aspirations and achievement motives of individuals are some of those factors. The objective of this study was to investigate whether educational achievements, career aspirations and achievement motives have associations with oral hygiene behavior among dental students of...

BACKGROUND Postgraduate medical trainees are not well prepared difficult conversations about goals of care with patients and families in the acute care clinical setting. While contextual nuances within the workplace can impact communication, research to date has largely focused on individual communication skills. Our objective was to explore contextual factors that influence conversations betwe...

BACKGROUND Pediatric subspecialists can participate in the care of obese children. OBJECTIVE To describe steps to help subspecialty providers initiate quality improvement efforts in obesity care. METHODS An anonymous patient data download, provider surveys and interviews assessed subspecialty providers' identification and perspectives of childhood obesity and gathered information on perceiv...

To achieve the diverse health care goals of the United States, health care value must increase. The capacity to create value through innovation is facilitated by an integrated delivery system focused on creating value, measuring innovation returns, and receiving market rewards. This paper describes the Geisinger Health System's innovation strategy for care model redesign. Geisinger's clinical l...

Lisa A. Lowenthal is an Occupational Therapy Graduate Student, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT. Primary care is a key theme in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA; 2010). But what does the term mean? Is there a difference between primary care and primary health care? Does primary care encompass occupational therapy? What are the possible roles for occupational therapy in prima...

BACKGROUND Pain is common in older people, particularly those in residential aged care facilities (RACF) and those with dementia. However, despite 20 years of discourse on pain and dementia, pain is still undetected or misinterpreted in people with dementia in residential aged care facilities, particularly those with communication difficulties. METHODS A topical survey typology with semistruc...