Journal Articles

Orkin FK, Forte GJ, McGinnis SL, Peterson MD, Garfield JM, Katz JD, et al. In Reply. Anesthesiology. 118(6):1484-1485, June 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e318291d93b

The authors are gratified that Drs. Steinbrook and Weinstein have read their article in such a depth that they question as “most likely incorrect” the estimate for the mean retirement age (57.4 yr) among anesthesiologists retiring before 1985. Although Steinbrook and Weinstein’s conclusion appears valid—because no one older than 58 in 1985 would have been included in a 2006 survey of anesthesiologists aged 50–79 yr—the authors standby their estimate. A more detailed report, which the authors note is available at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Web site, can provide further documentation supporting the suspect estimate’s validity.

Dall TM, Forte GJ, Storm MV, Gallo P, Langelier MH, Koory RM, and Gillula JW. Executive Summary of the 2013 US Veterinary Workforce Study. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 242(11):1507-1514, June 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2460/javma.242.11.1507

The 2013 US Veterinary Workforce Study was commissioned by the American Veterinary Medical Association to estimate the current and future supply of and demand for veterinarians and veterinary services; results are expected to help inform strategies that will ensure the economic viability of veterinary medicine as the profession works to attract and retain highly qualified professionals.

Forte GJ, Hanley A, Hagerty K, Kurup A, Neuss MN, Mulvey TM. American Society of Clinical Oncology National Census of Oncology Practices: Preliminary Report. Journal of Oncology Practice. 9(1):9-19, January 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JOP.2012.000826

In response to reports of increasing financial and administrative burdens on oncology practices and a lack of systematic information related to these issues, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) leadership started an effort to collect key practice-level data from all oncology practices in the United States. The result of the effort is the ASCO National Census of Oncology Practices (Census) launched in June 2012. In this article, the authors present preliminary highlights from the data.

Orkin FK, McGinnis SL, Forte GJ, Peterson MD, Schubert A, Katz JD, et al. United States anesthesiologists over 50: Retirement decision making and workforce implications. Anesthesiology.117(5):953-963, November 2012.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e3182700c72

Anesthesiology is among the 21 medical specialties that have or are expected to have a physician shortage in the near future. Physician workforce shortages reflect the confluence of many trends, including an aging physician population, burdensome medical-education indebtedness, a relatively static production of new physicians, reduced physician work hours, growth and aging of the general population, growth and expansion of health services, and enhanced access to health care. To increase our understanding of such issues in relation to the work effort and retirement decision making of older anesthesiologists, the American Society of Anesthesiologists participated in a survey of U.S. physicians aged 50 yr and older, which aimed to identify the major factors influencing their decisions to remain clinically active or to retire and then evaluated the impact of their retirement decision making on the size of the clinical workforce now and into the future.

Maniccia D, Davison K, Marshall S, Manganello J, Dennison B. A meta-analysis of interventions that target children’s screen time for reduction. Pediatrics. 2011.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-2353

Screen time, especially television viewing, is associated with risk of overweight and obesity in children. Although several interventions have been developed to reduce children’s screen time, no systematic review of these interventions exists to date. This review is a systematic meta-analysis of interventions targeting a reduction in children’s screen time.

Abramson E, McGinnis S, Edwards A, Maniccia D, Moore J, Kaushal R, et al. Electronic health record adoption and health information exchange among hospitals in New York State. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. 2011.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01755.x

Unprecedented national and state initiatives are underway to promote adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) with health information exchange (HIE). New York State leads the nation in state initiatives and is conducting ongoing surveillance of its investments. Lessons learned from studying states like New York can inform federal policies and will be essential to evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives. This is the first in a series of planned surveys to assess EHR adoption and HIE activities by New York State hospitals.

Martiniano R, McGinnis S, Moore J. Understanding the supply and distribution of registered nurses: Where are the data and what can they tell us? Annual Review of Nursing Research. 2010;28:43-61.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21639023

In order to quantify RN supply/demand gaps, it is important to have accurate data on RNs, including the number of active RNs as well as their demographic, education, and practice characteristics, and work location(s). A lack of relevant and timely data on the nursing workforce is a significant barrier to identifying where nursing shortages exist, where they are most severe, and determining the factors that contribute to them. This lack of understanding impedes the development of effective health workforce programs and policies to mitigate shortages and the ability to evaluate these programs and policies for effectiveness. This study describes the national data sources available to nursing researchers to study the supply and distribution of the RN workforce and assesses the sources’ strengths and limitations. This study also explores the potential for using state-level data for nursing workforce research.

Continelli T, McGinnis S, Holmes T. The effect of local primary care physician supply on the utilization of preventive health services in the United States. Health & Place. 2010;16(5):942-951.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.05.010

Little research has examined the effect of physician supply on health-related measures at the individual and community level simultaneously. Using telephone survey data from six counties in upstate New York, a commuting radius was constructed between the zip codes of respondents and their primary care physicians. The relationships between local physician supply, the probability of having a primary care physician, and receiving preventive health care checks were analyzed. Both logistic regression and multilevel modeling results indicated the local supply of primary care physicians affects the probability of having a primary care physician, which in turn affects preventive healthcare service utilization.

McGinnis SL, Brush BL, Moore J. Cultural similarity, cultural competence, and nurse workforce diversity. West J Nurs Res. 2010;32(7):894-909.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0193945910361727

Proponents of health workforce diversity argue that increasing the number of minority health care providers will enhance cultural similarity between patients and providers as well as the health system’s capacity to provide culturally competent care. Measuring cultural similarity has been difficult, however, given that current benchmarks of workforce diversity categorize health workers by major racial/ethnic classifications rather than by cultural measures. This study examined the use of national racial/ethnic categories in both patient and registered nurse (RN) populations, and subsequently found other, more significant, indicators of cultural similarity.