Research
A PART OF ORPCS DISCOVERY NEWSLETTER
“The Past and Future of Race as a Variable in Health Research” Webinar
In July, Dr. Michelle Y. Williams, PhD, RN of the Office of Research Patient Care Services presented “The Past and Future of Race as a Variable in Health Research,” as part of the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education, Stanford Medicine HEAL) Network, Stanford Medicine REACH Initiative, and the Stanford Medicine GME Diversity Committee’s monthly webinar series – the Building a Culture of Health Equity program!
In addition, Dr. Michelle Y. Williams and Dr. Alice Yan of ORPCS worked together to publish a systematic review examining the needs of social determinants of health screening and interventions.
In May 2022, the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education, Stanford Medicine HEAL (Health Equity Action Leadership) Network, Stanford Medicine REACH (Racial Equity to Advance a Community of Health) Initiative, and the Stanford Medicine GME Diversity Committee launched a new monthly webinar series – the Building a Culture of Health Equity program. The series supports Stanford Medicine’s effort to achieve health equity by educating clinicians on anti-racism strategies, structural determinants of health, and other root causes of health inequity.
For the July session, Dr. Michelle Williams, PhD, RN of the Office of Research Patient Care Services and colleagues presented “The Past and Future of Race as a Variable in Health Research.” Dr. Alice Yan, PhD also assisted in preparing the presentation. The webinar featured historical examples of race and its application to medicine, race-based algorithms that lead to health care disparities, and racial narratives that have affected clinical care among. In addition, the ORPCS team shared examples of current research initiatives that aim to reduce racial bias in health research.
Stanford Medicine approved the webinar as Enduring Material for 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and Stanford staff can access the recorded webinar via the following link. ORPCS hopes that this webinar will serve as a resource for clinical staff in advancing health equity both here at Stanford Health Care and beyond.
Article By: Ashley Son, MS
Does screening for food, housing, and transportation insecurity improve health outcomes? Studies that measured processes involved in linking patients to resources led to improved access to services
In June 2022, Dr. Alice Yan and Dr. Michelle Y. Williams from ORPCS recently published a systematic review in the journal Health Equity.
Key Findings:
In 28 US studies that analyzed the effect of social needs screening and intervention on health outcomes:
· the lack of housing, food, childcare, and money were the most reported social needs
· interventions to address social needs ranged from as little as providing a booklet to complex care coordination by a social service organization
· those that measured processes (such as the number of patients who followed up on referrals) reported improvement with social needs
· Findings were mixed for health outcomes, costs of care, and health service use outcomes
US studies published between 2015 and 2021 were included and the team reviewed 28 studies from 4 databases to find out if recent efforts to screen for patients’ social needs resulted in improved health outcomes.
Social needs included housing instability, food insecurity, transportation, low income, unemployment, and lack of medical insurance. Health outcomes included quality of life, blood pressure, body mass index, and hemoglobin A1c.
Based on the review findings, the research team recommends that US health care systems:
· Improve efficiency of screening methods for patients’ social needs in clinical settings by standardizing how they are recorded in health records
· Incentivize social risk screening by building it into payment systems and
· Make direct investments into communities to address social needs that affect health
Conclusion:
“While effective interventions can be more complex or resource intensive than an online referral, health care organizations hoping to achieve health equity and improve population health must commit the effort and investment required to achieve this goal.”
Summary by: Michelle DeCoux Hampton, RN, PhD, MS