Happy Friday! Here is your NCMS Morning Rounds.
Jan. 22, 2021
COVID-19’s Impact on Clinicians in Safety Net Practices
The University of North Carolina’s Carolina Health Workforce Research Center and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently published its interim report, ‘Survey of the Pandemic Experiences and Effects on Clinicians in Safety Net Practices in 20 States.’
The NCMS Foundation’s Community Practitioner Program (CPP) participants are among the respondents to the survey that forms the basis of this report. The CPP offers school loan repayment help to clinicians who agree to practice in underserved NC communities. Learn more about the CPP here.
This interim report, which covers the period up to Dec. 22, 2020, includes insights into:
- how work and jobs for clinicians in safety net practices have changed with the pandemic,
• how well supported these clinicians have been in their jobs and their current work well-being, and
• the changes clinicians have experienced in their loan repayment or scholarship program contracts
A more complete and detailed final report with in-depth analyses will follow this March or April.
Some initial takeaways include that, not surprisingly, clinicians have felt moderately to severely stressed over the past year with the political atmosphere being the most often reported stressor (82 percent) with uncertainty over personal finances (44 percent) and the possibility of losing their jobs (37 percent) being the next most mentioned stressors.
Overall, 45 percent of clinicians/providers scored low on well-being. Among disciplines, physicians feel most supported by their practices and have best well-being scale scores. On a positive note, 85 percent of clinicians overall reported that work was meaningful to them during the past month.
Read more of the report’s results here.
Working Toward a DiabetesFreeNC Even During a Pandemic
The NCMS, the AMA and other organizations across the state are asking physicians, care teams and health care organizations to lead the way to a ‘diabetes free NC’ by identifying patients with prediabetes and referring them to an evidence-based National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle change program.
Even during the pandemic, the YMCA continues to offer DPP virtually. This recent article by the AMA describes how Duke Health in Durham has identified patients who might benefit from such a program and then seamlessly refer them to a DPP in the area. Read ‘How the EHR Can Help ID, Refer Patients for Diabetes Prevention’ here.
Learn more about the DiabetesFreeNC effort and why it’s important here.
Deadline Extended for Primary Care Transformation Fellowship
The Duke University Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has extended the deadline to apply for its two-year Primary Care Transformation Fellowship. The new deadline to apply is Feb. 22, 2021.
The goal of the fellowship, which begins July 1, 2021, is to train physicians and physician assistants (PAs) to lead health care transformation and improve health within their communities and community-based practice settings. The fellowship includes coursework from the Duke University Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Leadership program, primary care preceptor training, a mentored transformation project, and a fellowship seminar series. Fellows will have 25 percent committed time to complete program requirements.
In The News
Rapid Blood Test Helps Predict COVID-19 Severity, Researchers Find, Becker’s Hospital Review, 1-20-21
Learning Opportunities
Boosting Rural/Remote Recruitment and Retention Webinar, Jan. 28 from 1 to 2 p.m.
Globally, patients in rural or remote areas have worse health outcomes compared to their peers in metropolitan areas. A major contributor to this trend is the acute and growing workforce shortage of physicians, nurses, and other necessary positions in these areas. In this session, we’ll discuss how rural and remote organizations can address this shortage by boosting recruitment and retention.
If you have policies you’d like your NCMS Board of Directors to consider, please complete the Board input form here. Thanks for reading!