Development and Preliminary Evaluation of an Implementation Facilitation Training Program.

Unlabelled: Implementation scientists are identifying evidence-based implementation strategies that support the uptake of evidence-based practices and other clinical innovations. However, there is limited information regarding the development of training methods to educate implementation practitioners on the use of implementation strategies and help them sustain these competencies. To address this need, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a training program for one strategy, implementation facilitation (IF), that was designed to maximize applicability in diverse clinical settings.

Residency application content and considerations based on residency director review of a fictitious CV: What really matters?

Purpose: This research was conducted to evaluate the influence of a pharmacy residency candidate's prior work or research experience on the potential for selection for an interview. Additionally, residency program directors (RPDs) were asked to evaluate the importance of letters of intent and recommendation, rank the importance of typical curriculum vitae (CV) items along with general preferences, and provide advice for a standout CV.

Methods: This cross-sectional, survey-based study recruited RPDs to review a work-focused or research-focused fictitious residency candidate CV and complete a 33-question survey regarding interest in interviewing the fictitious candidate and their general perceptions of significant factors in interview candidate selection.

Enhancing Implementation of Measurement-Based Mental Health Care in Primary Care: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Objective: The complex practice of measurement-based care (MBC) for mental health conditions has proven challenging to implement. This study aimed to evaluate an intensive strategy to implement MBC in U.S.

Time and Organizational Cost for Facilitating Implementation of Primary Care Mental Health Integration.

Background: Integrating mental health services into primary care settings is complex and challenging. Although facilitation strategies have successfully supported implementation of primary care mental health integration and other complex innovations, we know little about the time required or its cost.

Objective: To examine the time and organizational cost of facilitating implementation of primary care mental health integration.

The Collaborative Chronic Care Model for Mental Health Conditions: From Evidence Synthesis to Policy Impact to Scale-up and Spread.

Background: Extensive evidence indicates that Collaborative Chronic Care Models (CCMs) improve outcome in chronic medical conditions and depression treated in primary care. Beginning with an evidence synthesis which indicated that CCMs are also effective for multiple mental health conditions, we describe a multistage process that translated this knowledge into evidence-based health system change in the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Evidence Synthesis: In 2010, recognizing that there had been numerous CCM trials for a wide variety of mental health conditions, we conducted an evidence synthesis compiling randomized controlled trials of CCMs for any mental health condition.

Heart Rate Variability and Cognitive Bias Feedback Interventions to Prevent Post-deployment PTSD: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: There is a long history of pre-deployment PTSD prevention efforts in the military and effective pre-deployment strategies to prevent post-deployment PTSD are still needed.

Materials And Methods: This randomized controlled trial included three arms: heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB), cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I), and control. The hypothesis was that pre-deployment resilience training would result in lower post-deployment PTSD symptoms compared with control.

Heart rate variability: Pre-deployment predictor of post-deployment PTSD symptoms.

Heart rate variability is a physiological measure associated with autonomic nervous system activity. This study hypothesized that lower pre-deployment HRV would be associated with higher post-deployment post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Three-hundred-forty-three Army National Guard soldiers enrolled in the Warriors Achieving Resilience (WAR) study were analyzed.

Outcomes of a partnered facilitation strategy to implement primary care-mental health.

Background: Implementing new programs and practices is challenging, even when they are mandated. Implementation Facilitation (IF) strategies that focus on partnering with sites show promise for addressing these challenges.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of an external/internal IF strategy within the context of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mandate of Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI).

A multipreceptor approach to ambulatory care topic discussions.

Objective: To assess the impact of a multipreceptor approach to facilitating topic discussions on students' knowledge and confidence in clinical decision-making during an ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

Design: Faculty members with relevant expertise and experience facilitated discussions with fourth-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students regarding 7 ambulatory care topics. A student self-assessment survey and knowledge-assessment instrument was administered before and after discussions.

Effect of transdermal isopropyl alcohol on the international normalized ratio in five warfarin-treated patients.

Warfarin, an anticoagulant with a narrow therapeutic window, is largely metabolized by cytochrome P450 2C9. Isopropyl alcohol has been shown to inhibit the activity of this enzyme. Use of topical isopropyl alcohol as a rubefacient may place patients at risk for systemic exposure.

The short of it: abbreviating the temporal discounting procedure.

A typical temporal discounting procedure determines the present, subjective value (indifference point) of a delayed outcome at 5 to 8 different delays to that outcome. These indifference points are used to determine a single index of discounting called a discounting rate. One concern that remains in the collection of this data is the high number of trials or choices, resulting in participant fatigue or other factors that may affect the validity of the data.

Analytical methods to detect within-individual changes in discounting.

Discounting, as a quantifiable measure of impulsivity, is often estimated within individuals via nonlinear regression. Here, we describe how to directly estimate within-individual change of the discounting parameter between 2 conditions and subsequently statistically test for that change using the discounting data from a single individual. To date, there has been no systematic description of how to conduct such an analysis.

Congruence of BOLD response across intertemporal choice conditions: fictive and real money gains and losses.

Intertemporal choice is predicated on the valuation of commodities with respect to delay until their receipt. Subjective value of a future outcome decreases, or is discounted, as a function of that delay (Bickel and Johnson, 2003). Although behavioral studies suggest no difference between the devaluation of real and fictive outcomes, no neuroimaging studies have investigated potential differences in the underlying deliberative process.

Cognitive dysfunctions associated with PTSD: evidence from World War II prisoners of war.

The authors aim to delineate cognitive dysfunction associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by evaluating a well-defined cohort of former World War II prisoners of war (POWs) with documented trauma and minimal comorbidities. The authors studied a cross-sectional assessment of neuropsychological performance in former POWs with PTSD, PTSD with other psychiatric comorbidities, and those with no PTSD or psychiatric diagnoses. Participants who developed PTSD had average IQ, while those who did not develop PTSD after similar traumatic experiences had higher IQs than average (approximately 116).

The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Between 10% and 15% of patients with the amnestic variety of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) convert to Alzheimer disease (AD) per year.

Objective: Characterize cognitive markers that may herald conversion from MCI to AD and directly assess semantic memory in patients meeting criteria for amnestic MCI.

Design: Thirty-five amnestic MCI patients and 121 healthy aging controls enrolled at an Alzheimer Disease Center received a battery of standard neuropsychologic tests, and the Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT), a test that we have developed for the assessment of semantic memory and subsequent name production, and that has been shown to be able to differentiate between normals and patients with AD.

The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in normal aging and Alzheimer disease.

Objective: To characterize performance on a test of semantic object retrieval (Semantic Object Retrieval Test-SORT) in healthy, elderly subjects and patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).

Background: Although the initial presentation of patients with AD often reflects impairment in delayed recall for verbally encoded memory, common complaints of patients with early AD are actually related to semantic memory impairment.

Design: Thirty-eight AD patients and 121 healthy aging controls enrolled in an Alzheimer's Disease Center received a battery of standard neuropsychologic tests including the SORT.

Behavioral and neuroeconomics of drug addiction: competing neural systems and temporal discounting processes.

We review behavioral- and neuroeconomic research that identifies temporal discounting as an important component in the development and maintenance of drug addiction. First, we review behavioral economic research that explains and documents the contribution of temporal discounting to addiction. This is followed with recent insights from neuroeconomics that may provide an explanation of why drug-dependent individuals discount the future.

Neuroanatomic organization of sound memory in humans.

The neural interface between sensory perception and memory is a central issue in neuroscience, particularly initial memory organization following perceptual analyses. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify anatomic regions extracting initial auditory semantic memory information related to environmental sounds. Two distinct anatomic foci were detected in the right superior temporal gyrus when subjects identified sounds representing either animals or threatening items.