Third Quarter 2023

Welcome to the quarterly newsletter for the FCM Research Group! This newsletter covers happenings during July-September 2023.  Highlights of this quarter include the site visit by Dr. Ron Stout, President and CEO of Ardmore Institute of Health, and the FCM Research Group Lake Day get-together. 

Thank you and Welcome!

We appreciate the efforts of research assistants Nathaniel Lambert, and Ally Southworth on the various research projects they have supported during this time. Their input has been invaluable in helping us administer surveys, extract data, and analyze qualitative data. 

It has been a pleasure to welcome Jeremy Brookman and Ashley Gordon as new members of our team, adding to our ability to accomplish several projects. Jeremy Brookman is a registered nurse who also serves as a director at Carilion Clinic and joins our team as an independent contractor to primarily support several NSAID-related projects. Ashley Gordon is a Virginia Tech MPH student currently serving as an intern in Carilion’s Quality Program, she will be providing support to the lifestyle medicine clinic registry. 

Ardmore Institute of Health Site Visit  

FCM Research Group was pleased to host Dr. Ron Stout, President, and CEO of Ardmore Institute of Health on September 12, at our Roanoke-Salem Family Medicine  Clinic. His visit was part of our recent Ardmore grant application for the lifestyle medicine registry project. Elizabeth Polk, MD, coordinated his visit, making sure all aspects of the lifestyle medicine clinic project including community-based services and collaborations were well represented. 

• An overview of the lifestyle medicine project was presented by Dr. Epling.

• A representative from Carilion Community Health and Outreach presented community-based lifestyle-related interventions in line with Ardmore’s Full Plate Living program 

Surveys 

The FCM Research Group sent lots of surveys recently through various platforms for several projects: 

• Delayed Discounting and Probability Discounting: Follow-up surveys were sent by our collaborators (AAFP National Research Network and the DARTNet Institute) to family medicine clinicians in Carilion as well as across the country with a target of 250 responses. 

• Colorectal Cancer Screening: Patient-reported sludge surveys were sent out to 5,000 participants by email and social media, seeking their responses in relation to administrative burden encountered in the process of colorectal cancer screening. 

• Over-The-Counter NSAIDs Study: We received a total of 900 responses from Carilion Clinic patients for this study. This study randomized participants to a brief educational NSAIDs video in one arm and FDA standardized labels in the other. 

• Results of all these studies to come...

FCM Research Group Lake Day 

• The FCM Research Group spent a day at Smith Mountain Lake participating in recreational activities (including boat rides, swimming), and eating lots of delicious food from different cultures. Family members were also invited to participate in these refreshing and much needed health and wellbeing activities. A good time was had by all.

Presentations 

• Emma Gahima Oyese presented findings from his practicum project regarding colorectal cancer screening and referrals at Carilion Clinic, offering a foundation for further research to be carried out in this area. 

New FCMRG Papers 

• Rockwell MS, Oyese EG, Singh E, Vinson M, Yim I, Turner JK, Epling JW. A Scoping Review of Interventions to De-implement Potentially Harmful Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in Healthcare Settings. medRxiv. 2023 Jul 30;2023.07.29.23293362. PMCID: PMC10402

• Rockwell M, Frazier M, Stein J, Dulaney K, Parker S, Davis G, Rockwell J, Castleman B, Sunstein C, Epling J. A “Sludge Audit” for Health System Colorectal Cancer Screening Services. American Journal of Managed Care [Internet]. 2023 Jul 27 [cited 2023 Sep 21];29. Available from: https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-sludge-audit-for-health-system-colorectal-cancer-screening-services

Ongoing Research 

• Our 1-year iThriv pilot award period for Patients' Experiences with Sludge in the Colorectal Cancer Screening Pathway continues, with the study now into the data analysis phase. This study continues to be a full-team effort, with additional collaborators brought on board to assist with qualitative data analysis. 

• Data for over 260 patients has been uploaded to the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic Registry to track patients enrolled in this innovative clinic, with the intention of fully automating the registry process in the near future.

• Jeremiah Brown (PhD student at Virginia Tech's Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise), Dr. Epling, and Dr. Kim Dulaney received a Carilion RAP Tier III grant to pilot a study on the effect of Diaphragmatic Deep Breathing (DDB) on reducing hypertension readings in the primary care office.