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Home arrow Vol XXVI, Jul `06
First FPIN Voting Booth Produces LTC Research Questions PDF Print E-mail
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Vol XXVI, July `06
The first "voting booth" for long term care research questions in the Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN) resulted in several issues that clearly are of interest for practitioners in this setting. Long term care researchers had the opportunity to submit questions that they would like to see studied and answered. A total of 19 questions came in, and these were presented to FPIN's long term care panel, comprised of AMDA Foundation Research Network members. These individuals had the opportunity to vote "yes" if they thought the question would be most interesting, relevant, and/or useful to them and other physicians; "no" for questions they thought are less interesting, relevant, and/or useful; or "maybe" if they were unsure of the question's value.

Questions that received 50% or more "yes" votes will become clinical inquiries that will be submitted for publication to the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA). Questions that qualified are:

  • Does implementation of a facility-wide weight bearing exercise program decrease the prevalence of falls for long term care residents in the nursing home? (86% "yes" votes)
  • Are there differences in outcomes (e.g., death, incidence of delirium, functional recovery) when treating nursing home acquired pneumonia in the nursing facility versus the hospital? (83% "yes" votes)
  • Are there any proven methods to prevent recurrent infections in chronic indwelling urinary catheters? (73% "yes" votes)
  • What are the current best options for treatment of depression in the elderly? (71% "yes" votes)
  • What is the most cost effective method for treating venous stasis ulcers (69% "yes" votes)
  • What is the most effective method for screening for depression in the nursing facility setting (65% "yes" votes)
  • What are the most important components of the clinician's history and physical examination when evaluating a nursing facility resident with unintentional weight loss (64% "yes" votes)
  • What is the best single or combination of lab tests to diagnose iron-deficiency anemia in the setting of an inflammatory disease process? (54% "yes" votes)
  • What are safe and effective treatments for sleep phase disorders in elders? (57% "yes" votes)
  • What are the most common neuropsychiatric complications of vitamin B12 deficiency in the nursing facility setting? (57% "yes" votes)
  • Does calcium and vitamin D use in men have any role in preventing osteoporosis? (53% "yes" votes)
  • Do nursing facility residents who test positive for Clostridium difficile after two courses of metronidazole but who are asymptomatic need any further treatment? (50% "yes" votes)

The questions that received lower percentages of "yes" votes will not necessarily be eliminated. Some of these may be put back in the pool and voted on again in the future.

To see all of the questions and results of the voting, click here. To read more about the voting booth and process, see the interview below with FPIN Membership Coordinator and Clinical Inquiries Managing Editor Heather Stewart.

 
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