Patient Partnership Tools to Support Medication Safety in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Stepped Wedge Clinical Trial.

Background: Preventable harms from medications are significant threats to patient safety in community settings, especially among ambulatory older adults on multiple prescription medications. Patients may partner with primary care professionals by taking on active roles in decisions, learning the basics of medication self-management, and working with community resources.

Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of a set of patient partnership tools that redesign primary care encounters to encourage and empower patients to make more effective use of those encounters to improve medication safety.

A Multisite Qualitative Analysis of Perceived Roles in Medication Safety: Older Adults' Perspectives.

Older adults and caregivers play an essential role in medication safety; however, self-perception of their and health professionals' roles in medication safety is not well-understood. The objective of our study was to identify the roles of patients, providers, and pharmacists in medication safety from the perspective of older adults. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were held with 28 community-dwelling older adults over 65 years who took five or more prescription medications daily.

Patient Research Interest Differences by Gender and Race/Ethnicity: A North Texas Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (NorTex) Study.

Background: Recruiting and increasing participation of women and racial/ethnic groups remains an ongoing struggle despite the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act mandating the inclusion of these populations. This study examined gender and racial/ethnic differences in research interest in participating in Practice-Based Research Network studies focused on cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, cancer, and mental health research.

Methods: A total of 1348 participants and 18 NorTex clinics from the North Texas Primary Care Registry Project (NRP) database were included in this cross-sectional study.

Primary care clinics can be a source of exposure to virulent Clostridium (now Clostridioides) difficile: An environmental screening study of hospitals and clinics in Dallas-Fort Worth region.

C. difficile is an endospore-forming pathogen, which is becoming a common cause of microbial health-care associated gastrointestinal disease in the United States. Both healthy and symptomatic patients can shed C.

Recruiting Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) physicians to be research participants: lessons learned from the North Texas (NorTex) needs assessment study.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine strategies for recruiting physician subjects in a practice-based research network continuing education research study, using different recruitment methods at four systems, or health plan arrangements.

Methods: The North Texas Primary Care Practice-based Research Network Needs Assessment Study consisted of a survey and five self-directed medical record abstractions. Physicians were recruited to be research subjects from four systems, using different recruitment strategies.

The influence of research compensation options on Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) physician participation: a North Texas (NorTex) PBRN study.

Objective: To study the effect of two compensation approaches, continuing medical education (CME) credits (5 hours) or monetary ($150), on the participation rate of a physician needs assessment study.

Methods: Physicians representing family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric, and geriatrics specialties, and practicing in ambulatory primary care clinics affiliated with the North Texas Primary Care (NorTex) PBRN clinics, were recruited to complete a survey relevant to their subspecialty and to conduct a self-audit/abstraction of five medical records. Physicians were recruited from four health care systems, and the recruiting methods varied by system.