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In The NEWS...

National Institute on Aging Award

Brown To Create Most Comprehensive Long-Term Care Database

The National Institute on Aging has awarded members of Brown University’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research a major grant to create a first-ever national database that will allow researchers to study the impact of state policies and market forces on the quality of long-term care. The award comes at a time of increasing demand for the services of nursing homes and other long-term care providers; By 2020, an estimated 12 million U.S. elderly will need some form of long-term care.

click HERE for more

December 2010

Hospice care increasing for nursing home patients with dementia

More nursing home patients with dementia are seeking hospice care and using it longer, according to a new study by gerontologist Susan Miller and colleagues. Their findings appear online in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.

http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2010/12/dementia

September 2010

Two new faculty have recently joined Brown University’s Health Services Policy and Practice (HSPP) Section in the Program in Public Health.  Dr. Ira Wilson is Professor of Community Health and Chair of HSPP Section and Dr. Omar Galarraga is Assistant Professor of Community Health.  Dr. Wilson’s work has examined quality of care in persons with HIV infection.  Dr. Galarraga’s work examines cost/benefit economic analyses to improve healthcare delivery around the world, particularly for poor people and those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. 

http://today.brown.edu/faculty/2010/wilson
http://today.brown.edu/faculty/2010/galarraga

March 2010

Assistant Training and Certification Programs Within Nursing Homes, 1997–2007:
Denise A. Tyler, Hye-Young Jung, Zhanlian Feng and Vincent Mor

We found that the preva­lence of nursing home (NH)-based nurse aide training and certification programs dropped throughout the study period, 1997-2007, so it is likely that most certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are now receiving their pre-employment training outside the NH setting.  In addition, we found that those CNAs trained outside the NH are paying a greater share of their train­ing costs. The shifting of CNA training to venues other than NHs raises important questions about the quality of training and states’ ability to monitor training programs. In addition, increased costs for CNAs receiving training outside NHs may possibly create a disin­centive to entering this field.

Click here for the article.

February 2010

JAMA Report - "Placing Feeding Tubes in Hospitalized Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Dementia Varies Widely," the story is available at www.jamamedia.org

It is also available on the JAMA YouTube, here is the link: http://pubs.ama-assn.org/homepage/media/pastreleases.dtl.  

This is freely available and no password sign-in needed.

November 2009

LTCFocUS.org is a new website from the Shaping Long-Term Care in America Project being conducted at the Brown University Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research and supported, in part, by the NIA.  LTCFocUS.org provides users with research abstracts and publications and allows users to create their own tables and maps to gather information by state, county, or facility, including information on facility characteristics, geo-coded facility locations, resident characteristics, market characteristics, and state long-term care policies. http://ltcfocus.org/

Faculty In The News

David Dosa - February 2010 - Book Published by Hyperion Books "Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat"

Terrie Fox Wetle - January 2010 - December 2013 Has been appointed to the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.

Richard Besdine - December 2009 - Appointed as Chief Medical Officer for the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)

Vince Mor - 2009 NCCNHR Public Service Award for his series of studies revealing racial and socioeconomic inequality in nursing home care in the United States at NCCNHR’s Annual Meeting on October 25, 2009 in Washington DC

Joan Teno - 2009 Distinguished Researcher Award in recognition of scholarship and substantial body of research enhancing knowledge and practice in the field of end of life care at NHPCO’s 10th Clinical Conference and Scientific Symposium September 24-26, 2009 in Denver, CO.

Mary Fennell - NIH 2009 Director’s Award. The honor recognizes her exemplary leadership in developing and implementing the National Cancer Institute’s Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) to enhance community-based cancer care and research. She received the award during a presentation in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 29, 2009.

Amal Trivedi is featured in the Spring Edition of Brown Medicine. To read more click here.

Linda Resnik is mentioned in the Vanguard MayJune 2009 edition. To read more about Linda's research click here. To read the complete Vanguard May/June 2009 edition, click here.

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2009 Article of the Year
by
Academy Health

Amal Trivedi’s article entitled “Insurance Parity and the Use of Outpatient Mental Health Care Following a Psychiatric Hospitalization” has been selected as the 2009 Article of the Year by Academy Health.

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Faculty of the Month October/November 2009:

LINDA RESNIK, PHD, PT, OCS
Associate Professor of Community Health (Research)

To see recent award, grants, invited presentations and publications: Please click here.

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Faculty of the Month
August/September 2009:

MARY FENNELL, PHD
Professor of Sociology and
Community Health

To see recent award, publications and current grant information: Please click here.

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Faculty of the Month
June 2009:

VINCE MOR, PHD
Professor of Medical Science
Florence Pirce Grant University Professor of Community Health
Chair, Department of Community Health

To see recent invited presentations, awards, and currrent grant information: Please click here.

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Schwartz Communication Session - March 10, 2009

An innovative learning experience was launched at Alpert Medical School of Brown University on March 10, 2009. With support from the Schwartz Center in Boston, the first “Schwartz Communication Session” was held.  The sessions are intended to teach 1st and 2nd year medical students sensitive and compassionate communication skills with families and patients to improve care quality. The Schwartz Center was established to honor Kenneth Schwartz, a young lawyer who wrote compellingly about how communication with health professionals vitally affected his and his family’s comfort and quality of life during his struggle with terminal cancer. The Center funds monthly “Schwartz Rounds,” in which health professionals at more than 150 hospitals, including Rhode Island and The Miriam, discuss a patient case with difficult communication issues. Since most 1st and 2nd year medical students are not yet equipped for the complex conversations and dynamics of hospital Schwartz Rounds, the Schwartz Sessions for students are designed to prepare them for career success as compassionate and effective communicators.  As part of the Doctoring course, the Schwartz Sessions provide guidance in effective communication to enable students to participate in and benefit from local hospital Schwartz rounds when they begin their 3rd year clinical clerkships. 

Prior to this week’s Schwartz Session, first year medical students read a Boston Globe article by Ken Schwartz and the narrative of a challenging real life case. During lunch, they viewed 2 powerful short films showcasing problematic as well as effective communication: “When Things Go Wrong,” by Tom Delbanco, MD - interviews of patients who had been harmed by medical errors and their families; and “One Story, Two Voices - a moving set of interviews with a young woman dying of cancer and her physician. 

After hearing a brief introduction to the rationale and structure of the Schwartz Session, students moved to their small groups in which they role-played the real-life case, then discussed the communication of the role play and the case with their physician and social/behavioral scientist group leaders. The Session concluded with a 45-minute large group wrap-up, led by Janet Cooper-Nelson (Brown University Chaplain) and a panel of discussants (William Kirkpatrick, Chief of Social Work for Lifespan; Iris Tong, MD, director of the year 1 Doctoring Course; and Richard Besdine, MD, Chief of the Division of Geriatrics). The energetic and highly participatory discussion was enriched by the panelists’ professional perspectives on communication issues that were highlighted in the case.  Evaluations were positive and replete with constructive critical feedback.

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Faculty of the Month
April 2009:

AMAL N. TRIVEDI, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor for Community Health

To see recent presentations, grants awarded and academic honors: Please click here.

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Faculty of the Month
March 2009:

JOAN M. TENO, MD, MS
Professor of Community Health and Medicine
Associate Director of the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research

Joan Teno has co-written a guide to help doctors place their patients in the best possible hospice care. Details on the guide will be published in the Feb. 11, 2009, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.  http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2009/02/end 

To see recent invited presentations and current grants awarded: Please click here.

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Faculty of the Month February 2009:

Susan Miller, PHD, MBA
Associate Professor (Research)
Community Health

To see recent invited presentations and grants awarded: Please click here.

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Faculty in the News
.
2009 Article of the Year by Academy Health

Schwartz Communication

October/November 2009 Faculty of the Month

August/September 2009 Faculty of the Month

June 2009 Faculty of the Month

April 2009 Faculty of the Month

March 2009 Faculty of the Month

February 2009 Faculty of the Month

Brown University | Alpert Medical School | Health Services Policy and Practice Section

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