Behavioral & Community Health Research Works

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1636

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Author: search.filters.author.Hsu, Chiehwen EdSubject: search.filters.subject.Physician Survey

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    Assessing the Readiness and Training Needs of Non-urban Physicians in Public Health Emergency and Response
    (Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Preparedness, 2005-10) Hsu, Chiehwen Ed; Soto Mas, Francisco; Jacobson, Holly; Nkhoma, Ella; Zoretic, James
    Emergency readiness has become a public health priority for United States communities after the 9/11 attacks. Communities that have a less developed public health infrastructure are challenged to organize preparedness and response efforts and to ensure that health care providers are capable of caring for victims of terrorist acts. A survey was used to assess nonurban physicians’ prior experience with and selfconfidence in treating, and preferred training needs for responding to chemical, biologic, radiologic, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) cases. Data were collected through a mailed and Web-based survey. Although the response rate was calculated at 30%, approximately one third of the surveys were not able to be delivered. Most respondents reported never having seen or treated CBRNE-inflicted cases and were not confident in their ability to diagnose or treat CBRNE cases, but many were willing to participate in a state-led response plan. Almost half of the individuals had not participated in any related training but expressed interest in receiving training in small group workshops or through CD-ROM. These results provide potential direction for strategic preparedness planning for non-urban health care providers.
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    Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices: a cross-sectional study
    (BMC Public Health, 2005-11-14) Soto Mas, Francisco G; Papenfuss, Richard; Hsu, Chiehwen Ed; Jacobson, Holly E; Urrutia-Rojas, Ximena; Kane, William M
    Background: U.S. Hispanic physicians constitute a considerable professional collective, and they may be most suited to attend to the health education needs of the growing U.S. Hispanic population. These educational needs include tobacco use prevention and smoking cessation. However, there is a lack of information on Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices, their level of awareness and use of cessation protocols, and the type of programs that would best address their tobacco training needs. The purpose of this study was to assess the tobacco intervention practices and training needs of Hispanic physicians. Methods: Data was collected through a validated survey instrument among a cross-sectional sample of self-reported Hispanic physicians. Data analyses included frequencies, descriptive statistics, and factorial analyses of variance. Results: The response rate was 55.5%. The majority of respondents (73.3%) were middle-age males. Less than half of respondents routinely performed the most basic intervention: asking patients about smoking status (44.4%) and advising smoking patients to quit (42.2%). Twenty-five percent assisted smoking patients by talking to them about the health risks of smoking, providing education materials or referring them to cessation programs. Only 4.4% routinely arranged followup visits or phone calls for smoking patients. The majority of respondents (64.4%) indicated that they prescribe cessation treatments to less than 20% of smoking patients. A few (4.4%) routinely used behavioral change techniques or programs. A minority (15.6%) indicated that they routinely ask their patients about exposure to tobacco smoke, and 6.7% assisted patients exposed to secondhand smoke in understanding the health risks associated with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The most frequently encountered barriers preventing respondents from intervening with patients who smoke included: time, lack of training, lack of receptivity by patients, and lack of reimbursement by third party payers. There was no significant main effect of type of physician, nor was there an interaction effect (gender by type of physician), on tobacco-related practices. Conclusion: The results indicate that Hispanic physicians, similarly to U.S. physicians in general, do not meet the level of intervention recommended by health care agencies. The results presented will assist in the development of tobacco training initiatives for Hispanic physicians.