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By: Foundation for Care Management, Seattle, WA
Primary Investigator: Megan Dwight Johnson, MD, MPH, University of Washington, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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Project Description
The Decreasing Disparities in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression project plans to advance diagnosis and treatment of depression in the rural and underserved poor (e.g. women, Hispanics, Blacks, and Native Americans) of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon by providing educational programs to rural health care providers that will:
1) improve basic understanding of depressive disorders, their recognition, and evidence-based treatment;
2) improve knowledge about the interactions between depressive syndromes and their treatment and cultural factors; and
3) improve appropriate and effective application of culturally sensitive approaches to depression treatment in individual primary care provider and hospital practice.
The CME intervention will be developed from literature and experience illustrating the knowledge gaps of primary care physicians on the topics of depression and disparities and will include face-to-face lectures/discussions utilizing interactive techniques such as case study reviews, Q-and-A, and role-playing interviews and a web-based course.
Progress Report: July 2007
The Foundation for Care Management (FCM) is a non-profit organization that is accredited to provide continuing medical, nursing, pharmacy, and dental education. Working primarily with rural, underserved health care providers, FCM educates physicians (mostly primary care providers) and other health care providers in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska using face-to-face and Web-based programs.
With its grant from I3D, FCM and its 54 educational partners—hospitals that are too small to accommodate their own accredited CME departments—have developed a curriculum for a live program that will focus on improving the diagnosis and treatment of depression in the regional population—primarily poor, women, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans. The objectives of the course are to:
- improve the basic understanding of depressive disorders, their recognition, and treatment;
- improve knowledge about the interactions between depressive syndromes and cultural factors; and
- facilitate effective application of culturally sensitive approaches to depression.
The programs consist of lecture/discussion, case studies, Q& A, and role playing on interviewing techniques. As of June 2007, FCM has held 19 presentations with a total of approximately 1,000 attendees. The audiences have included physicians and well as other professionals who assist patients with accessing mental health care, including nurses, nurse practitioners, psychologists, social workers, and case managers. Once the program evaluations are fully analyzed, the content will be refined and developed into a 1-hour certified program posted on the FCM Web site. The online program will present prerecorded doctor-patient interviews, demonstrating techniques that deal with cultural issues.
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