Ambulatory Training Program to Expand Procedural Skills in Primary Care.

Introduction: Outpatient procedures are an important component of primary care, yet few programs incorporate procedural training into their curriculum. We examined a 4-year procedural curriculum to improve understanding of ambulatory procedures and increase the number of procedures performed.

Methods: A total of 56 resident and 8 faculty physicians participated in a procedural curriculum directed at joint injections (knee, shoulder, elbow, trochanteric bursa, carpal tunnel, wrist, and ankle), subdermal contraceptive insertion/removal, skin biopsies, and ultrasound use in primary care.

Factors Associated with the Accurate Diagnosis of Obesity.

Obesity is a growing epidemic, yet few patients with obesity receive a clinical diagnosis of obesity or appropriate counseling. We examined the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with the accurate diagnosis of obesity during ambulatory care visits. We used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory and National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NHAMCS and NAMCS) to determine if a patient with obesity had been clinically diagnosed with obesity during the visit by either of the following: (1) a diagnosis listed in the patient's record; or (2) the provider's answer to the question "despite the diagnoses listed, does this patient have obesity?" We used multivariate models to examine the association between the accurate diagnosis of obesity and socioeconomic and demographic factors.

Factors Associated With Resident Continuity in Ambulatory Training Practices.

Background: Continuity of care is a critical element of residents' educational experience in primary care programs.

Objective: We examined how continuity in resident practices compares to nonteaching practices, identified factors associated with increased continuity, and explored the association between continuity and quality measures.

Methods: We analyzed 117 235 patient visits to 4 resident practices (26 resident teams in internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, and medicine-pediatrics) and 270 242 visits to nonteaching community practices between July 2013 and May 2014.

Overweight children and adolescents: a risk group for iron deficiency.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has increased at an epidemic rate, and obesity has become one of the most common health concerns in the United States. A few small studies have noted a possible association between iron deficiency and obesity.

Objective: To investigate the association between weight status, as measured by body mass index (BMI), and iron deficiency in a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents.