Leveraging telementoring platforms to enhance PA capacity and education.

Telementoring is a valuable workforce development resource that connects subject matter experts with healthcare providers via videoconferencing. This technology can deliver training, education, and ongoing technical support to build workforce capacity. Arizona State University (ASU) has leveraged a widely used telementoring platform, Project ECHO, to disseminate best practices in palliative medicine.

Physician Leadership and Advocacy for Team-Based Care.

Team-based care is a strong focus and narrative in medical and health education and within health care systems. Yet it is essential to consider that there are vast differences in power, education, compensation, and job security among team members in most health professional teams. How should clinicians of status play a role in advocating for lower status members of their health care teams, and why is that role important in improving equity within clinic walls and equity and better patient care for the communities they serve?

Holistic Admissions and Underrepresented Minorities in Physician Assistant Programs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess holistic review use in physician assistant (PA) programs and determine whether a relationship between holistic review and underrepresented minority (URM) matriculation exists.

Methods: Using data from the 2016-2017 Physician Assistant Education Association annual survey of PA programs, we examined the frequency of holistic review use across PA programs. Bivariate correlation analyses and binary logistic regression were used to examine relationships between holistic review practices and program percentages of first-year underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students.

What Are Best Practices for Ethical Use of Nanosensors for Worker Surveillance?

Many employers now offer workers wearable or implantable devices that can monitor their health, productivity, and wellness. Nanotechnology enables even more powerful and functional monitoring capacity for these devices. A history of workplace monitoring programs suggests that, despite nanosensors' potential benefits to employers and employees, they can only be successful and sustainable when a company's motivations for offering them are acceptable and transparent to workers.

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, Part 2: Cancer Risk, Prevention, and Surveillance.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, fibroinflammatory, progressive cholangiopathy. In a clinically significant proportion of patients, the disease course of PSC is punctuated by carcinogenesis, namely cholangiocarcinoma, gallbladder carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and/or colorectal carcinoma. Indeed, malignancy is arguably the most consequential sequela and the cause of nearly 50% of deaths in patients with PSC.

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, Part 1: Epidemiology, Etiopathogenesis, Clinical Features, and Treatment.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, idiopathic cholangiopathy that can progress to cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, hepatobiliary cancer, and/or colorectal cancer. The course of PSC is often complicated by portal hypertension, symptoms of cholestasis, and recurrent bacterial cholangitis, among other conditions, with a consequent decrease in survival (median, approximately 20 years) and quality of life. The etiopathogenesis of PSC remains poorly understood, and, as such, pharmacotherapy has yet to be definitively established.

Women, family medicine, and career choice: An opportunity cost analysis.

Objective: This study compared the cost of physician versus physician assistant (PA) education for women practicing in family medicine.

Methods: Using 2013 salary survey data from both the Medical Group Management Association and the American Academy of PAs as well as other publicly available data sources, the authors compared the current net present value (NPV) of physician and PA training for women practicing in family medicine.

Results: Considering a base case scenario involving a 24-year-old woman, the NPV to become a family medicine physician was $2,015,000 compared with an NPV of $1,751,000 to become a family medicine PA.

Navigating the gluten-free boom.

Gluten-free diets have gained popularity with the public at a rate greater than would be expected based on the prevalence of gluten-related disorders such celiac disease, nonceliac gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergy. This article reviews gluten-related disorders, indications for gluten-free diets, and the possible health benefits of gluten. Despite the health claims for gluten-free eating, no published experimental evidence supports weight-loss with a gluten-free diet or suggests that the general population would benefit from avoiding gluten.

Awaiting diagnosis of breast cancer: strategies of enduring for preserving self.

Purpose/objectives: To explicate the emotional experiences of women undergoing breast cancer diagnosis who are waiting for the results of breast biopsy.

Research Approach: Glaserian Grounded Theory.

Setting: Urban area in western Canada.

Liver transplantation in a critically ill patient.

The United Network for Organ Sharing recently changed its policies for liver allocation to give patients with severe hepatic failure priority due to their greater risk of morbidity and mortality. This case illustrates the benefit of transplant in critically ill patients.

Ethics, equity, and economics: a primer on women in medicine.

Women account for more than 70% of physician assistant (PA) students, 62% of practicing PAs, and 57% of faculty in PA programs. About half of all US medical students, 30% of actively practicing physicians, and 37% of faculty at academic medical centers are female. However, women in medicine are paid less than men for equal work effort and achieve fewer leadership positions within academia and medicine.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: evaluating and disseminating the impact of an evidence-based intervention: show and tell.

This is the 11th article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Rolling out the rapid response team.

The pilot phase begins.This is the 10th article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: implementing an evidence-based practice change.

This is the ninth article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: Critical appraisal of the evidence: part III.

This is the seventh article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: critical appraisal of the evidence: part II: digging deeper--examining the "keeper" studies.

This is the sixth article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: searching for the evidence.

This is the fourth article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Evidence-based practice, step by step: asking the clinical question: a key step in evidence-based practice.

This is the third article in a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Evidence-based practice: step by step: the seven steps of evidence-based practice.

This is the second article in a new series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to the delivery of health care that integrates the best evidence from studies and patient care data with clinician expertise and patient preferences and values. When delivered in a context of caring and in a supportive organizational culture, the highest quality of care and best patient outcomes can be achieved.

Storytelling intervention for patients with cancer: part 1--development and implementation.

Purpose/objectives: To develop a nurse-led storytelling intervention for patients with cancer and implement the intervention using trained oncology nurses.

Design: Descriptive pilot project using qualitative methods to assess implementation of an intervention tool kit, with investigators blinded to control and intervention group membership.

Setting: Local regional medical center in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.