Background: Obesity is a national health problem regularly confronting medical professionals. Although reduced-energy (kilocalorie [kcal]) eating and increased exercise will reliably reduce weight, these behaviors have been highly resistant to sustained change.

Objective: To control eating using theory-based cognitive-behavioral methods that leverage the positive psychosocial effects of newly initiated exercise as an alternate to typical approaches of education about appropriate nutrition.

Method: A woman, age 48 years, with morbid obesity initiated exercise through a 6-month exercise support protocol based on social cognitive and self-efficacy theory (The Coach Approach). This program was followed by periodic individual meetings with a wellness professional intended to transfer behavioral skills learned to adapt to regular exercise, to then control eating. There was consistent recording of exercises completed, foods consumed, various psychosocial and lifestyle factors, and weight.

Results: Over the 4.4 years reported, weight decreased from 117.6 kg to 59.0 kg, and body mass index (BMI) decreased from 43.1 kg/m2 to 21.6 kg/m2. Mean energy intake initially decreased to 1792 kcal/day and further dropped to 1453 kcal/day by the end of the weight-loss phase. Consistent with theory, use of self-regulatory skills, self-efficacy, and overall mood significantly predicted both increased exercise and decreased energy intake. Morbid obesity was reduced to a healthy weight within 3.1 years, and weight was maintained in the healthy range through the present (1.3 years later).

Conclusion: This case supports theory-based propositions that exercise-induced changes in self-regulation, self-efficacy, and mood transfer to and reinforce improvements in corresponding psychosocial factors related to controlled eating.

Objectives: To use the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database to develop an accurate and clinically meaningful preoperative mortality predictor (PMP) for general surgery on the basis of objective information easily obtainable at the patient’s bedside and to compare it with the preexisting NSQIP mortality predictor (NMP).

Methods: Data were obtained from the ACS NSQIP Participant Use Data File (2005 to 2008) for current procedural terminology codes that included open pancreas surgery and open/laparoscopic colorectal, hernia (ventral, umbilical, or inguinal), and gallbladder surgery. Chi-square analysis was conducted to determine which preoperative variables were significantly associated with death. Logistic regression followed by frequency analysis was conducted to assign weight to these variables. PMP score was calculated by adding the scores for contributing variables and was applied to 2009 data for validation. The accuracy of PMP score was tested with correlation, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic analysis.

Results: PMP score was based on 16 variables that were statistically reliable in distinguishing between surviving and dead patients (p < 0.05). Statistically significant variables predicting death were inpatient status, sepsis, poor functional status, do-not-resuscitate directive, disseminated cancer, age, comorbidities (cardiac, renal, pulmonary, liver, and coagulopathy), steroid use, and weight loss. The model correctly classified 98.6% of patients as surviving or dead (p < 0.05). Spearman correlation of the NMP and PMP was 86.9%.

Conclusion: PMP score is an accurate and simple tool for predicting operative survival or death using only preoperative variables that are readily available at the bedside. This can serve as a performance assessment tool between hospitals and individual surgeons.

Introduction: Physicians are continually encouraged to be more productive while providing higher levels of patient satisfaction. It is a common presumption that the two goals are somewhat exclusive—that higher productivity must entail a sacrifice in patient satisfaction or vice versa. Moreover, physicians seeking tested, evidence-based approaches to improving satisfaction have had relatively little to go on, and they commonly have justifiable concerns about how ineffective changes may hurt their productivity for no benefit.

Methods: For our large specialty practice, we plotted physicians into quadrants on a scattergram: strong performers on productivity and patient satisfaction, those who are weak in both areas, and those who are strong in one and weak in the other. We performed an observational study to investigate behaviors and work processes associated with a range of performance levels in productivity and patient satisfaction.

Results: The observation yielded clear, discrete sets of common characteristics for physicians and staff in each quadrant. In our organization, these findings have provided practical assistance for physicians performing at any level to assess their own situation and chart a path, on their own or with coaching, that leads to improvement.

Conclusions: The findings help dispel commonly held myths about the exclusivity of productivity and patient satisfaction, suggesting that 1) there are many physicians who excel in both areas simultaneously, and 2) there are different characteristics associated with varying levels of performance. The study encourages the further development of evidence-based methods for improving the patient experience while enhancing—not sacrificing—productivity.

Objective: To describe experiences of uncertainty and management strategies for staff working with families in a hospital waiting room.

Setting: A 288-bed, nonprofit community hospital in a Midwestern city.

Methods: Data were collected during individual, semistructured interviews with 3 volunteers, 3 technical staff members, and 1 circulating nurse (n = 7), and during 40 hours of observation in a surgical waiting room. Interview transcripts were analyzed using constant comparative techniques.

Results: The surgical waiting room represents the intersection of several sources of uncertainty that families experience. Findings also illustrate the ways in which staff manage the uncertainty of families in the waiting room by communicating support.

Conclusions: Staff in surgical waiting rooms are responsible for managing family members' uncertainty related to insufficient information. Practically, this study provided some evidence that staff are expected to help manage the uncertainty that is typical in a surgical waiting room, further highlighting the important role of communication in improving family members' experiences.

Context: Narcotics are frequently prescribed in the Emergency Department (ED) and are increasingly abused. Prescription monitoring programs affect prescribing by Emergency Physicians (EPs), yet little is known on how EPs interpret prescription records.

Objective: To assess how EPs interpret prescription narcotic history for patients in the ED with painful conditions.

Design/Main Outcome Measures: We created an anonymous survey of EPs consisting of fictitious cases of patients presenting to the ED with back pain. For each case, we provided a prescription history that varied in the number of narcotic prescriptions, prescribing physicians, and narcotic potency. Respondents rated how likely they thought each patient was drug seeking, and how likely they thought that the prescription history would change their prescribing behavior. We calculated κ values to evaluate interobserver reliability of physician assessment of drug-seeking behavior.

Results: We collected 59 responses (response rate = 70%). Respondents most suspected drug seeking in patients with greater than 6 prescriptions per month or greater than 6 prescribing physicians in 2 months. Medication potency did not affect physician interpretation of drug seeking. Respondents reported that access to a prescription history would change their prescribing practice in all cases. κ values for assessment of drug seeking demonstrated moderate agreement.

Conclusion: A greater number of prescriptions and a greater number of prescribing physicians in the prescription record increased suspicion for drug seeking. EPs believed that access to prescription history would change their prescribing behavior, yet interobserver reliability in the assessment of drug seeking was moderate.

Introduction: Rounding that includes participation of individuals with authority to implement changes has been advocated as important to the transformation of an institution into a high-quality and safe organization. We describe a Department of Anesthesiology's experience with leadership rounding.

Methods: The Department Chair or other senior faculty designate, a quality coordinator, up to four residents, the ward charge nurse, and patient nurses participated in rounds at bedsides.

Results: During a 23-month period, 14 significant opportunities to improve care were identified. Nurses identified 5 of these opportunities, primary team physicians 2, the rounding team 4, and patients or their family members another 3. The anesthesiology service had sole or shared responsibility for 10 improvements.

Conclusion: A variety of organizations track specific measures across all phases of the patient experience to gauge quality of care. Chart auditing tools for detecting threats to safety are often used. These measures and tools missed opportunities for improvement that were discovered only through rounding. We conclude that the introduction of leadership rounding by an anesthesiology service can identify opportunities for improving quality that are not captured by conventional efforts.

Introduction: Years ago, patients with recent myocardial infarction (MI) were reported to be at high risk of reinfarction (27%) and death after surgery. Therapy has changed in the 3 decades since those reports, so we reexamined that risk as well as other cardiac comorbidities and surgical work values in predicting adverse outcome.

Methods: We used the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant Use Data File for 2005 to 2009. We included all patients of all included specialties, for outpatient and inpatient surgery. Cardiac comorbidities included history of congestive heart failure (30 days) or MI (6 months), percutaneous coronary intervention, previous cardiac surgery, and history of angina (30 days). Other predictors included a frailty index and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class. Adverse cardiac events included cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation, MI, and death. Cases were stratified according to surgical work units. Univariate χ2 analysis and multivariate logistic regression established simple relationships and interactions, with p < 0.05 significant.

Results: Of patients who had recent MI, 2.1% had reinfarction perioperatively and 26% of those died. The odds ratio for infarction with vs without recent MI in inpatients age 40 years and older was 4.6. Frailty and ASA class were stronger predictors of perioperative MI and cardiac arrest than was history of MI, and risk increased as surgical work increased.

Discussion: The risk caused by preoperative MI has improved by an order of magnitude in the last 30 years. The ASA class and especially frailty are better predictors of adverse cardiac events.

The ethics of physician-patient confidentiality is often fraught with contradictions. Privacy boundaries are not always clear, and patients can leave an interaction with their physicians feeling uncomfortable about the security of their private medical information. The best way to meet confidentiality and privacy management expectations that patients have may not be readily apparent. Without realizing it, a physician may communicate a patient's information in ways that are inconsistent with that person's perceptions of how his/her medical information should be treated. A proposed model is presented as a tool for physicians to better serve the privacy and confidentiality needs of their patients. This model depends on the communication privacy management (CPM) perspective that emerged from a 35-year research program investigating how people regulate and control information they consider private and confidential. A physician's use of this model enables the ability to establish a confidentiality pledge that can address issues in understanding the best way to communicate about privacy management with patients and more likely overcome potential negative outcomes.

Compression fractures affect many individuals worldwide. An estimated 1.5 million vertebral compression fractures occur every year in the US. They are common in elderly populations, and 25% of postmenopausal women are affected by a compression fracture during their lifetime. Although these fractures rarely require hospital admission, they have the potential to cause significant disability and morbidity, often causing incapacitating back pain for many months. This review provides information on the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of compression fractures, as well as clinical manifestations and treatment options. Among the available treatment options, kyphoplasty and percutaneous vertebroplasty are two minimally invasive techniques to alleviate pain and correct the sagittal imbalance of the spine.

Rhinitis and related problems such as facial pressure and nasal congestion are a very common reason people seek medical care. There are four, often overlapping, syndromes or conditions that account for most of what patients perceive as “nose” problems or rhinitis. These conditions are irritant rhinitis, the anterior nasal valve effect, migraine with vasomotor symptoms, and allergic rhinitis. Virtually all patients with allergic rhinitis have some concomitant irritant or nonallergic rhinitis. Many migraine sufferers with vasomotor nasal symptoms will have their nasal congestion, headaches, and runny noses exacerbated by irritant rhinitis, allergic rhinitis, and/or a preexisting nasal valve effect. Failure to consider all of the causes for the symptoms will result in poor clinical outcomes. The work-up and management of these common conditions is discussed in this article.

Medical records contain an abundance of information, very little of which is extracted and put to clinical use. Increasing the flow of information from medical records to clinical practice requires methods of analysis that are appropriate for large nonintervention studies. The purpose of this article is to explain in nontechnical language what these methods are, how they differ from conventional statistical analyses, and why the latter are generally inappropriate. This is important because of the current volume of nonintervention study analyses that either use incorrect methods or misuse correct methods. A set of guidelines is suggested for use in nonintervention clinical research.

We present a case in which narrative medicine was used to assist a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who was dependent on mechanical ventilation and prolonged hospitalization. Implementing narrative medicine led to the development of more effective communication that strengthened the therapeutic relationship, enhanced humane care practices, and resulted in greater physical and psychological comfort for the patient. Narrative medicine is a discipline that has been progressively incorporated into medical training to restore a humane and individual physician-patient relationship. The patient is viewed, not merely as a case to diagnose, but as a person with a story that evokes emotions in those who assist him or her. In fact, narrative medicine can be understood as a model of medical practice based on narrative competence, ie, the ability to acknowledge, to absorb, to interpret, and to respond to a person's story. It strengthens empathy, rescues patient individuality, and facilitates solutions to conflicts in complex settings, such as critical care units, where clinicians are constantly exposed to existential issues, both moral and ethical.

Methods for analyzing data in nonintervention clinical studies are substantially different from those that are appropriate for randomized clinical trials. Although the latter methods are well known, the former are not. A systematic approach for dealing with statistical confounding in nonintervention research has been developed over the past 30 to 40 years, and the essence of this theory constitutes the contents of this article. An accompanying, less technical article explains the implications of these results for clinical research.

Background: Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center has participated in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) since January 2006. Data on general and colorectal surgical site infections (SSIs) demonstrated a need for improvement in SSI rates.

Objective: To evaluate application of a “care bundle” for patients undergoing colorectal operations, with the goal of reducing overall SSI rates.

Methods: We prospectively implemented multiple interventions, with retrospective analysis of data using the NSQIP database. The overall, superficial, deep, and organ/space SSI rates were compared before and after implementation of this colorectal care bundle.

Results: Between January 2006 and December 2009, there were 430 colorectal cases in our NSQIP report with 91 infections, an overall rate of 21.16%. Between January 2010, when the colorectal care bundle was implemented, and June 2011, there were 195 cases and 13 infections, a 6.67% overall rate. The absolute decrease of 14.49% is significant (p < 0.0001). The rate of superficial SSI decreased from 15.12% to 3.59% (p < 0.0001). The rates for deep and organ/space SSI also showed a decrease; however, this was not statistically significant. The NSQIP observed-to-expected ratio for colorectal SSI decreased from a range of 1.27 to 1.83 before implementation to 0.54 after implementation (fiscal year 2010).

Conclusions: Our institution was a NSQIP high outlier in general surgery SSIs and had a high proportion of these cases represented in colorectal cases. By instituting a care bundle composed of core and adjunct strategies, we significantly decreased our rate of colorectal SSIs.

Context: Participants in a randomized trial of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) had a linear decline in pain over 16 TCM visits.

Objective: To investigate whether reductions in pain among participants receiving TCM can be explained by increased use of pain medications, or whether use of pain medications also declined in this group.

Design: One hundred sixty-eight participants with TMD were treated with TCM or enhanced self-care according to a stepped-care design. Those for whom self-care failed were sequentially randomized to further self-care or TCM. This report includes 111 participants during their first 16 TCM visits. The initial 8 visits occurred more than once a week; participants and practitioners determined the frequency of subsequent visits.

Outcome measures: Average pain (visual analog scale, range 0–10) and morphine and aspirin dose equivalents.

Results: The sample was 87% women and the average age was 44 ± 13 years. Average pain of narcotics users (n = 21) improved by 2.73 units over 16 visits (p < 0.001). Overall narcotics use trended downward until visit 11 (−3.27 doses/week, p = 0.156), and then trended upward until week 16 (+4.29 doses/week, p = 0.264). Among those using narcotics, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) declined linearly over visits 1–16 (−1.94 doses/week, p = 0.002).

Among the top quartile of NSAID-only users (n = 22), average pain decreased linearly over 16 visits (−1.52 units, p = 0.036). Overall NSAID doses/week declined between visits 1 and 7 (−9.95 doses/week, p < 0.001) and then remained stable through 16 visits. NSAID use also declined among the third quartile (n = 23) and remained low and stable among the lower half (sorted by total intake) of NSAID users.

Conclusions: Among the heaviest NSAID users, we observed a short-term reduction in NSAID use that was sustained as TCM visits became less frequent. There was no indication that pain reduction during TCM treatment was influenced by drug use.

Background: Ultrasound guidelines for hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) have fixed minimum measurements and do not account for variation in patient weight or age. We sought to determine if preoperative pyloric measurements correlated with weight and age in patients with surgically proven HPS.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 189 patients with HPS treated at a single institution over a 5-year period (2005 to 2010). Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were used to determine if there were statistically significant associations between these combinations of factors: age and pyloric muscle thickness, weight and pyloric muscle thickness, age and pyloric length, and weight and pyloric length.

Results: Patients' mean age was 4.6 weeks (range, 1 to 17 weeks). Their mean weight was 3.9 kg (range, 2.5 to 8.0 kg). Mean pyloric muscle thickness was 0.42 cm (range, 0.18 to 0.86 cm), and mean pyloric length was 1.89 cm (range, 0.8 to 2.8 cm). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed a significant relationship between age and muscle thickness (r = 0.35, p < 0.001) as well as weight and muscle thickness (r = 0.24, p = 0.001). No significant relationship existed between pyloric length and age or weight. Linear regression analysis demonstrated similar results.

Conclusion: In patients with HPS, pyloric muscle thickness was directly related to age and weight. Practitioners should be aware that smaller and younger infants with a clinical diagnosis of HPS may still truly have HPS even though the minimum diagnostic criterion for muscle thickness or length is not found on ultrasound.

Background and Objectives: Inpatient palliative care (IPC) consults are associated with improved quality of care and less intensive utilization. However, little is known about how the needs of patients with advanced illness and the needs of their families and caregivers evolve or how effectively those needs are addressed. The objectives of this study were 1) to summarize findings in the literature about the needs of patients with advanced illness and the needs of their families and caregivers; 2) to identify the primary needs of patients, families, and caregivers across the continuum of care from their vantage point; and 3) to learn how IPC teams affect the care experience.

Methods: We used a longitudinal, video-ethnographic approach to observe and to interview 12 patients and their families before, during, and after an IPC consult at 3 urban medical centers. Additional interviews took place up to 12 months after discharge.

Results: Five patient/family/caregiver needs were important to all family units. IPC teams responded effectively to a variety of needs that were not met in the hospital, but some postdischarge needs, beyond the scope of IPC or health care coverage, were not completely met.

Conclusion: Findings built upon the needs identified in the literature. The longitudinal approach highlighted changes in needs of patients, families, and caregivers in response to emerging medical and nonmedical developments, from their perspective. Areas for improvement include clear, integrated communications in the hospital and coordinated, comprehensive postdischarge support for patients not under hospice care and for their caregivers.

Background: Data from the memberships of large, integrated health care systems can be valuable for clinical, epidemiologic, and health services research, but a potential selection bias may threaten the inference to the population of interest.

Methods: We reviewed administrative records of members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) in 2000 and 2010, and we compared their sociodemographic characteristics with those of the underlying population in the coverage area on the basis of US Census Bureau data.

Results: We identified 3,328,579 KPSC members in 2000 and 3,357,959 KPSC members in 2010, representing approximately 16% of the population in the coverage area. The distribution of sex and age of KPSC members appeared to be similar to the census reference population in 2000 and 2010 except with a slightly higher proportion of 40 to 64 year olds. The proportion of Hispanics/Latinos was comparable between KPSC and the census reference population (37.5% vs 38.2%, respectively, in 2000 and 45.2% vs 43.3% in 2010). However, KPSC members included more blacks (14.9% vs 7.0% in 2000 and 10.8% vs 6.5% in 2010). Neighborhood educational levels and neighborhood household incomes were generally similar between KPSC members and the census reference population, but with a marginal underrepresentation of individuals with extremely low income and high education.

Conclusions: The membership of KPSC reflects the socioeconomic diversity of the Southern California census population, suggesting that findings from this setting may provide valid inference for clinical, epidemiologic, and health services research.

Background: As the debate over the effectiveness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer continues, it is increasingly important to understand how PSA screening occurs in general-practice settings.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study within Kaiser Permanente Southern California, a large integrated health care system. Men aged 35 years and older at baseline, in 1998, were eligible. The proportion of men who underwent PSA screening was estimated and compared across groups defined by patient and physician characteristics. We also evaluated trends in screening across time and serum PSA levels for all subgroups.

Results: Of 2,061,047 men, 572,306 (28%) underwent PSA screening from 1998 through 2007. Patterns of PSA screening varied modestly by age, race, and physician. The lowest frequencies of screening occurred among men younger than age 45 years (19%) and men ages 85 years and older (13%). PSA screening was most common among white men (33.5%) and in men seen by physicians of the same race/ethnicity (32%), compared with men with physicians of disparate race/ethnicity (26%, p < 0.001). PSA screening increased over time for all racial/ethnic groups and among men age 75 years and older but decreased over time for men younger than age 75 years old.

Conclusions: Nearly 1 in 4 eligible men underwent PSA screening from 1998 through 2007, and screening varied only modestly by patient and physician characteristics. Estimates of the frequency of PSA screening in general-practice settings can inform the debate and provide useful insight as to how changes in cancer screening guidelines would alter practice patterns in an increasingly integrated health care environment.

Objective: To engage patients in managing their health care especially in relation to a total joint replacement (TJR). With the aging of the American population and the advent of new technology, there is an increase in TJRs. As the pendulum swings from evidence-based medicine to patient-centered medicine, presurgical education is preparing patients for their surgical experience. Most research studies on such education are quantitative in nature, preventing patients' voices from being heard.

Methods: Using a success case narrative design, 24 patients mainly from the Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center were interviewed regarding their pre- and postsurgical experiences.

Results: The study findings demonstrate that patient education, in the form of classes, with recognition of the participants' physical needs, social needs, concrete supports, and psychological needs as well as the willingness of the participants to work with their health care team can promote patient engagement and improved quality of life.

Conclusion: The TJR class was found to promote a sense of social connectedness and fostered participants' independence. The results of this study can assist health care professionals to improve their practice by designing presurgical programs to meet the needs of their patients.

The concept of patient-centered care has received increased attention in recent years and is now considered an essential aspiration of high-quality health care systems. Because of technologic advances as well as changes in the organization and financing of care delivery, contemporary health care has evolved tremendously since the concept of patient-centeredness was introduced in the late 1980s. Historically, those advocating patient-centered care have focused on the relationship between the patient and the physician or care team. Although that relationship is still integral, changes to the health care system suggest that a broader range of factors may affect the patient-centeredness of health care experiences. A multidimensional conceptualization of patient-centered care and examples from our health care system illustrate how clinical, structural, and interpersonal attributes can collectively influence the patient's experience. The proposed framework is designed to enable any health system to identify ways in which care could be more patient-centered and move toward a goal of making it a “systems property.”