Building Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Into the Fabric of a New Medical School: Early Experiences of the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.

In July 2020, the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine opened in Pasadena, California, with an inaugural class of 50 students. The school endeavors to address systemic barriers that have contributed to health care and educational disparities in the United States.

Annual Performance Reviews Of, For and By Faculty: A Qualitative Analysis of One Department's Experiences.

Purpose: Although annual performance reviews and feedback are recommended for faculty development, best practices and faculty perceptions have not been documented. The authors sought to evaluate the process in one medical school department that established and has sustained an innovative review tradition for 25 years.

Method: Content analysis of faculty reports and immersion/crystallization to analyze interviews.

Advancing Professional Development Through a Community of Practice: the New England Network for Faculty Affairs.

Introduction: In an era of competing priorities, funding is increasingly restricted for offices of faculty affairs and development. Opportunities for professional staff to grow and network through attendance at national meetings and to share best practices are limited. We sought to describe a community of practice established to enhance the professional development of faculty affairs professionals and to document its impact.

The Impact of a Junior Faculty Fellowship Award on Academic Advancement and Retention.

Purpose: Academic faculty experience barriers to career development and promotion. In 1996, Harvard Medical School (HMS) initiated an intramural junior faculty fellowship to address these obstacles. The authors sought to understand whether receiving a fellowship was associated with more rapid academic promotion and retention.

Academic women faculty: are they finding the mentoring they need?

Background: Although women comprise an increasing proportion of US medical school faculty, they are underrepresented at higher ranks. Lack of effective mentoring may contribute to this disparity. We examined the role of academic rank, research focus, parenting, and part-time work on mentoring importance, needs, and gaps.

A model of integrative care for low-back pain.

Objectives: While previous studies focused on the effectiveness of individual complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, the value of providing patients access to an integrated program involving multiple CAM and conventional therapies remains unknown. The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility and effects of a model of multidisciplinary integrative care for subacute low-back pain (LBP) in an academic teaching hospital.

Design: This was a pilot randomized trial comparing an individualized program of integrative care (IC) plus usual care to usual care (UC) alone for adults with LBP.

Hormone therapy initiation after the Women's Health Initiative.

Objectives: To describe hormone therapy (HT) initiation after the 2002 publication of the Women's Health Initiative.

Design: Observational cohort (1999-2003) of women ages 40 to 79 years, five health plans, used HT in July 2002 and subsequently discontinued or never used before August 2002.

Results: Of discontinuers, 15.

Patient expectations as predictors of outcome in patients with acute low back pain.

Background: Few studies have evaluated the association between patient expectations for recovery and clinical outcomes, and no study has evaluated whether asking patients to choose their therapy modifies such an association.

Objective: To evaluate the association between patients' expectations and functional recovery in patients with acute low back pain (LBP), and to determine whether that association is affected by giving patients choice of therapy.

Design And Participants: A secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing usual care alone to usual care plus choice of chiropractic, acupuncture, or massage in 444 adults with acute LBP, lasting less than 21 days.

How the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) influenced physicians' practice and attitudes.

Background: The landmark Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Trial published in 2002 showed that the health risks of combination hormone therapy (HT) with estrogen and progestin outweighed the benefits in healthy postmenopausal women. Dissemination of results had a major impact on prescriptions for, and physician beliefs about HT. No study has fully examined the influence of the widely publicized WHI on physicians' practice and attitudes or their opinions of the scientific evidence regarding HT; in addition, little is known about how physicians assist women in their decisions regarding HT.

Addition of choice of complementary therapies to usual care for acute low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Study Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness and cost of usual care plus patient choice of acupuncture, chiropractic, or massage therapy (choice) compared with usual care alone in patients with acute low back pain (LBP).

Summary Of Background Data: Few studies have evaluated care models with facilitated access to and financial coverage for adjunctive complementary and alternative medicine therapies.

Health system responses to the Women's Health Initiative findings on estrogen and progestin: organizational response.

Recent randomized trials have indicated that the risks of hormone therapy for menopausal women may outweigh the benefits. The purpose of this study was to describe how health plans responded to the findings of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) estrogen plus progestin trial. We surveyed five health plans affiliated with the HMO Research Network and the Cancer Research Network to document the response of each plan to the WHI in terms of patient and provider education and guidelines.

Changes in women's use of hormones after the Women's Health Initiative estrogen and progestin trial by race, education, and income.

Background: We examined the impact of race, education, and household income on changes in rates of discontinuation and initiation of hormone therapy before and after release of the Women's Health Initiative estrogen plus progestin trial results.

Methods: We conducted an observational cohort study of 221 378 women aged 40-80 years enrolled in five health maintenance organizations to estimate the prevalence and rates of discontinuation and initiation of estrogen plus progestin and estrogen only between September 1, 1999, to June 31, 2002 (baseline), and December 31, 2002 (follow-up). We identified the census block group for each participant by geocoding her 2003 residential address.

The impact of comorbidities on hormone use. After the 2000 release of the Women's Health Initiative.

Objective: Determine the impact of fracture, coronary disease, and diabetes on changes in rates of discontinuation and initiation of estrogen therapy with (EPT) and without (ET) progestin, before (September 1, 1999 to June 30, 2002, baseline) versus 5 months after (follow-up) release of the Women's Health Initiative EPT trial results (WHI).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Observational cohort; 169,586 women 40 to 80 years old from 5 U.S.

Hormone therapy prescribing patterns in the United States.

Objective: We sought to examine prescribing patterns (prevalence and rates of initiation and discontinuation) for estrogen plus progestin (hormone therapy [HT] and estrogen alone [ET]) in the United States in the 2 years before the published results of Women's Health Initiative's (WHI) HT trial's early termination and for 5 months after their release.

Methods: We conducted an observational cohort study of 169,586 women aged 40-80 years who were enrolled in 5 health maintenance organizations in the United States to estimate the prevalence of HT and ET and discontinuation and initiation rates between September 1, 1999, to June 31, 2002 (baseline), and December 31, 2002 (follow-up). We used automated pharmacy data to identify all oral and transdermal estrogen and progestin dispensed during the study period.

Complementary and alternative medical therapies for chronic low back pain: What treatments are patients willing to try?

Background: Although back pain is the most common reason patients use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, little is known about the willingness of primary care back pain patients to try these therapies. As part of an effort to refine recruitment strategies for clinical trials, we sought to determine if back pain patients are willing to try acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, meditation, and t'ai chi and to learn about their knowledge of, experience with, and perceptions about each of these therapies.

Methods: We identified English-speaking patients with diagnoses consistent with chronic low back pain using automated visit data from one health care organization in Boston and another in Seattle.

Differential association of modifiable health behaviors with hot flashes in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Objective: To determine the association of modifiable factors, such as smoking, body mass index, and alcohol use, with hot flashes, and to ascertain whether the association with hot flashes varies by menopausal stage.

Design: A written survey completed by perimenopausal and postmenopausal women enrolling in a randomized, controlled trial of a menopause risk management program in 1999. Survey items included questions on demographics, health status, and health behaviors.

Variation in predictors of primary care career choice by year and stage of training.

Context: It is not known whether factors associated with primary care career choice affect trainees differently at different times or stages of medical education.

Objective: To examine how role models, encouragement, and personal characteristics affect career choice at different stages (medical school vs residency) and periods (1994 vs 1997) of training.

Design: A split-panel design with 2 cross-sectional telephone surveys and a panel survey in 1994 and 1997.