LEAWOOD, Kansas—Articles appearing in an Annals of Family Medicine special supplement published yesterday contain observations, insights, and ideas for advancing health care equity, promoting interprofessional collaboration, transforming education, and improving primary care practices.
The supplement, titled, “Advancing Primary Care through Research, Education and Practice: Work of the Health Resources and Services Administration–Supported Academic Units for Primary Care Training and Enhancement,” highlights activities of six HRSA-funded academic units for primary care training enhancement. These units were tasked with examining and improving health equity; bolstering primary care training to better serve the needs of patients, families, and communities; and generating new research in these focus areas.
HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
This supplement consists of seven original research articles, one theory article, one scoping review, seven special reports, two essays, and one editorial, from nationally recognized experts in primary care research and practice transformation.
Original Research Findings
EDITORIAL
Stephen D. Persell, MD, MPH, and Christine A. Riedy, PhD, MPH, write the special supplement’s editorial, placing the supplement’s articles within the wider context in which primary care and family medicine doctors function today, outlining challenges, opportunities and communities that foster education on how the profession can move forward. Supplement articles tackle more specific areas of concern, including having in place a workforce trained to care for those among marginalized groups; eliminating stigmas and barriers associated with mental health care seeking; tackling socioeconomic issues; and making primary care more all-encompassing in regard to health care provision, such as overlapping services to address oral as well as mental health care. Although the research is new and not widely implemented yet, Persell and Riedy hope that it will contribute momentum to other existing efforts to reimagine primary care and create health care that is whole-person oriented, interprofessional, community focused and equitable.
Guest Editors: Stephen D. Persell, MD, MPH, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine and Center for Primary Care Innovation, Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; and Christine A. Riedy, PhD, MPH, Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
SPECIAL REPORTS
By Mytien Nguyen, MS, et al, New Haven, Connecticut
Shenam Ticku, BDS, MPH, et al, Boston, Massachusetts
By Aramandla Ramesh, PhD, et al, Nashville, Tennessee
By Memoona Hasnain, MD, MHPE, PhD, Chicago, Illinois and Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP-BC, FAAN, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
By Oluwatoyin Akinnusotu, BS, et al, Rochester, Minnesota
THEORY PAPER
SCOPING REVIEW
By Mita Sanghavi Goel, MD, MPH, et al, Chicago, Illinois
ESSAYS
By Alicia Gonzalez-Flores, MD, et al, Sacramento, California
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About Annals of Family Medicine
Annals of Family Medicine is a peer-reviewed, indexed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care disciplines. Launched in May 2003, Annals of Family Medicine is sponsored by seven family medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, NAPCRG, and the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Annals of Family Medicine is published six times each year and contains original research from the clinical, biomedical, social and health services areas, as well as contributions on methodology and theory, selected reviews, essays and editorials. Complete editorial content and interactive discussion groups for each published article can be accessed free of charge on the journal’s website, www.annfammed.org .
The Annals of Family Medicine