Association of Unmet Social Needs With Metformin Use Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between social needs and metformin use among adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Research Design And Methods: In a prospective cohort study of adults with T2D (n = 722), we linked electronic health record (EHR) and Surescripts (Surescripts, LLC) prescription network data to abstract data on patient-reported social needs and to calculate metformin adherence based on expected refill frequency using a proportion of days covered methodology.

Results: After adjusting for demographics and clinical complexity, two or more social needs (-0.

A Tailored SMS Text Message-Based Intervention to Facilitate Patient Access to Referred Community-Based Social Needs Resources: Protocol for a Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Background: Health care providers are increasingly screening patients for unmet social needs (eg, food, housing, transportation, and social isolation) and referring patients to relevant community-based resources and social services. Patients' connection to referred services is often low, however, suggesting the need for additional support to facilitate engagement with resources. SMS text messaging presents an opportunity to address barriers related to contacting resources in an accessible, scalable, and low-cost manner.

Addressing Organizational Barriers to Adolescent Access to High-Quality, Low-Cost, Confidential Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in a Community Health Center.

Adolescents face a number of barriers to accessing high-quality, confidential sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. Although federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), a type of community health center (CHC), are a critical source of health care for medically underserved adolescents, they often lack the capacity and resources to provide specialized SRH services to adolescents. In this article, we describe the development and implementation of an initiative aimed at improving an FQHC's capacity to provide high-quality confidential SRH services to adolescents.

"Let's Talk About Sex": pilot study of an interactive CD-ROM to prevent HIV/STIS in female adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot-test an interactive CD-ROM aimed at the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in female adolescents. The CD-ROM includes prevention information, models skills for negotiating abstinence and consistent condom use, teaches media literacy, and allows the user to choose a culturally appropriate host to guide them through the CD-ROM. Forty-seven female adolescents attending a health department clinic were randomized to receive the CD-ROM plus an educator-led didactic session versus the didactic session alone.

Parent opinion of sexuality education in a state with mandated abstinence education: does policy match parental preference?

Purpose: Despite public debate about the content of sexuality education in schools, state and federal policy has increasingly financed and legislated abstinence-only education over the past decade. Although public schools strive to meet the needs of parents who, as taxpayers, fund the educational system, little is known about parental desires regarding sexuality education in states with mandated abstinence education. The objective of this study was to assess parental opinion about sexuality education in public schools in North Carolina, a state with mandated abstinence education.

Five-year clinical and echocardiographic evaluation of the Das AngelWings atrial septal occluder.

Background: The late outcome of patients treated with atrial septal occluder devices remains incompletely defined. The purpose of this study was to assess the late outcome (range 4-7 years postprocedure) of patients in whom the Das AngelWings septal occluder device was implanted in the atrial septum. We report the clinical and echocardiographic outcome, at an average of 5 years following the procedure, of patients treated with the Das AngelWings device used to close either a secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) or a patent foramen ovale (PFO).