Publications by authors named "Kristina L Hruska"

Objective: Treating chronic low back pain (CLBP) with spine-focused interventions is common, potentially dangerous, and often ineffective. This preliminary trial tests the feasibility and efficacy of caring for CLBP in older adults as a geriatric syndrome in Aging Back Clinics (ABC).

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

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Background: In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) nationally implemented a transgender e-consultation (e-consult) program with expert clinical guidance for providers.

Objective: This mixed-methods project aimed to describe providers' program experiences, reasons for nonuse of the program, and ways to improve the program use.

Methods: From January to May 2017, 15 urban and rural VA providers who submitted at least one e-consult in the last year participated in semistructured interviews about their program experiences, which were analyzed using content analysis.

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Although scholarship during residency training is an important requirement from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, efforts to support resident scholarship have demonstrated inconsistent effects and have not comprehensively evaluated resident experiences. We developed the Leadership and Discovery Program (LEAD) to facilitate scholarship among all non-research-track categorical internal medicine (IM) residents. This multifaceted program set expectations for all residents to participate in a scholarly project, supported faculty to manage the program, facilitated access to faculty mentors, established a local resident research day to highlight scholarship, and developed a didactic lecture series.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates VA cardiovascular clinicians' attitudes towards quality-of-care processes, clinical outcomes, and healthcare value through interviews with 31 providers from various VA hospitals.
  • Most participants were aware of process-of-care measurements and utilized regular feedback to modify their practices, but fewer used clinical outcomes data and almost none used value data to inform decision-making.
  • The findings suggest that while there is enthusiasm for quality measurement efforts, the limited use of clinical outcomes and value data could lead to inefficiencies and potentially impact patient care negatively.
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