Reaching and Supporting At-Risk Community Based Seniors: Results of a Multi-church Partnership.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a nurse-led, church-based educational support group for "at-risk," older African Americans on hospitalization and emergency department use. Study nurses enrolled 81 "at-risk" older adult members of ten churches. Participants completed a trifold pamphlet identifying personal health information and support, and they attended eight monthly educational/support group sessions in their church during the 10-month intervention.

Influences of a Church-Based Intervention on Falls Risk Among Seniors.

Background And Objectives: Prior studies illustrate that community-based programs effectively decrease falls risk in older adults and that faith-based programs improve health behaviors. The literature is unclear whether faith-based initiatives reduce seniors' fall risks. To tackle this gap, a long-term partnership led by 10 urban churches, a nearby nursing school, and a medical school developed a study with 3 objectives: determine baseline health concerns associated with falls (eg, depression, polypharmacy), implement a nurse-led, faith-based health education initiative for community-dwelling African American seniors at-risk of hospitalization, and assess pre- to post -program fall frequency.

Students' Critical Incidents Point the Way to Safer Patient Care Transitions.

Introduction: Patient care transitions are prevalent in health care, and faulty transition-related communications are associated with 80% of serious medical errors. While medical student curricula on care transitions are increasing, there are limited evaluation reports and little guidance on primary care transition training.

Methods: The Medical College of Wisconsin initiated an annual 2-hour patient care transition intersession for third-year medical students.

Clinical clerkship students' perceptions of (un)safe transitions for every patient.

Purpose: As calls for training and accreditation standards around improved patient care transitions have recently increased, more publications describing medical student education programs on care transitions have appeared. However, descriptions of students' experience with care transitions and the sender/receiver communication that supports or inhibits them are limited. To fill this gap, the authors developed this project to understand students' experiences with and perceptions of care transitions.

Training lay volunteers to promote health in central-city African American churches.

In a nation plagued by skyrocketing healthcare costs, is there an affordable way to address health needs of older African Americans in medically underserved areas? The Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Elder Community Health Upholder (ECHU) project indicates yes, we can. The key: A partnership that guides committed volunteers focused on establishing and sustaining health initiatives in faith-based settings.

Improving the value of CME: impact of an evidence-based CME credit designation on faculty and learners.

Background And Objectives: The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) designates enhanced continuing Medical education (CME) credit (evidence based [EB] CME) to activities that meet specific criteria incorporating EB medicine principles. However, little is known about the effect of this innovation on EB-CME faculty or their learners.

Methods: Subjects were faculty presenters and participants at the 2006 AAFP Annual Scientific Assembly.

The influence of double-credit evidence-based continuing medical education on presenters and learners.

Background: Medical specialties are adopting methods to improve continuing medical education (CME). A "double credit" option, sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, is now available for presentations submitted and approved as evidence based (EB).

Purpose: To compare usual and double-credit CME presentations to determine differences in preparation resources and time, and to compare conference attendees' satisfaction.

The influence of academic projects on the professional socialization of family medicine faculty.

Background: Successful academic physicians acquire and maintain productive colleague relationships, understand unwritten rules of academe, and effectively manage their careers. Developing these professional socialization skills are goals of some faculty development programs (FDPs), but there is scant evidence about whether such programs are effective.

Methods: A nationwide retrospective, cross-sectional written survey was conducted in two phases: (1) FDP directors who received US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration support between 1994 and 1997 described program activities and provided enrollee rosters and (2) enrollees reported socialization and colleague outcomes.

Outcomes of a comprehensive faculty development program for local, full-time faculty.

Background And Objectives: Family medicine has a long history of using faculty development programs (FDPs). Recent evaluation reports of those programs highlight participant achievements in FDPs but underscore the need for stronger evaluations of those programs. This study examined the outcomes of a comprehensive, 2-year, within-institution FDP focused on participants' productivity and retention in academics.

A new program to reward and retain volunteer clinical faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM: Volunteer clinical faculty (VCF) are vital to the educational mission of medical schools. At the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), VCF are increasingly relied upon to meet clinical training needs in medical student and resident education. However, many VCF receive little or no preparation to excel in their teaching roles, and they are under increasing time demands that limit their availability to teach.

Logic modeling: a tool for improving educational programs.

Purpose: Palliative care education programs must be systematically designed and accurately evaluated in order to account for their impact on learners and learning communities. Logic modeling is a framework for designing educational programs and monitoring their influence.

Methods: We applied a logic modeling process to a Palliative Care Educational Program (PCEP), embedded within a required month-long geriatrics rotation for third-year general internal medicine residents at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A nationwide study of the influence of faculty development programs on colleague relationships.

Purpose: Academic colleague relationships (CRs) promote career development and professional advancement. Some primary care faculty development programs (FDPs) have begun to examine their influence on enrollees' colleague development. Using a nationwide sampling, the authors examined the effects of FDPs on the formation and benefits of enrollees' academic CRs.