Reduced Cognitive Burden and Increased Focus: A Mixed-methods Study Exploring How Implementing Scribes Impacted Physicians.

Background: Understanding how medical scribes impact care delivery can inform decision-makers who must balance the cost of hiring scribes with their contribution to alleviating clinician burden.

Objective: The objective of this study was to understand how scribes impacted provider efficiency and satisfaction.

Design: This was mixed-methods study.

Teaching while learning while practicing: reframing faculty development for the patient-centered medical home.

Soaring costs of health care, patients living longer with chronic illnesses, and continued attrition of interest in primary care contribute to the urgency of developing an improved model of health care delivery. Out of this need, the concept of the team-based, patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has developed. Amidst implementation in academic settings, clinical teachers face complex challenges not previously encountered: teaching while simultaneously learning about the PCMH model, redesigning clinical delivery systems while simultaneously delivering care within them, and working more closely in expanded interprofessional teams.

An observational study on the adherence to treatment guidelines of osteopenia.

Background: Osteopenia/low bone mineral density (BMD) can lead to osteoporosis and is far more prevalent than osteoporosis. The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) has recommendations for prevention and treatment of low BMD; however, the condition remains underrecognized and undertreated. We assessed practice patterns between physician knowledge of low BMD and prescribing of additional pharmacological therapies as defined by the NOF guidelines.

Update on nonhormonal approaches to menopausal management.

The risk-benefit evaluation for managing vasomotor symptoms and other menopause-related health issues should be tailored to each individual woman, taking into account her own assessment of the most bothersome symptom(s) and her personal weighting of risks versus quality of life. For most symptomatic menopausal women, hormone therapy (HT) remains the best treatment, but various nonhormonal options are available for treating menopausal symptoms and bone loss in women who are unable or unwilling to take HT. Low doses of local vaginal estrogen remain an option for treatment of vaginal atrophy in these women.

Secondary osteoporosis: are we recognizing it?

Background: As a growing percentage of Americans will be reaching their elderly years in the next decade, the prevalence of osteoporosis and its effects will have an even greater impact on the healthcare system. Advancements in bone research and development of newer treatments have allowed for the establishment of more refined guidelines and a growing awareness of the need to prevent, screen, and diagnose osteoporosis. Thus, more women are now being screened with dual x-ray absorptiometry scans (DXA) than ever before.