Larry Gabel, PhD, Director
In September 2000, faculty from the Department of Family Medicine, the Division of General Internal Medicine, the Division of Ambulatory Pediatrics and other academic disciplines at Ohio State established the Ohio State
Primary Care Research Institute (PCRI). Funded initially by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the PCRI completed its second three-year period of infrastructure funding during 2006. Continuing on a self-sustaining basis, the PCRI fosters, facilitates and reports collaborative interdisciplinary research to optimize health. The Institute aims to be
recognized as a center of excellence for the quality, quantity and impact of its research on the professional literature, the development of public policy and health outcomes.
Ongoing Research Programs
- The PCRI’s collective laboratory is the 24-site Ohio State University Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (OSU-PCPBRN), which covers all of Franklin County and serves some 107,000 patients annually. The OSU-PCPBRN consists of 10 clinical practice sites of The Ohio State Primary Care Network, nine Close-to-Home Health Centers of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and five practices of the Columbus Neighborhood Health Center, Inc. With 107 primary care physicians, these 24 practices serve a diverse patient population and provide care through nearly 308,000 patient visits a year.
- Trial of Automated Risk Appraisal in Adolescents (TARAA)” – Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the TARAA project improves services for problem drug use/abuse and other risk-taking behavior for youth in primary care settings. This is accomplished through research on early identification and monitoring via partnerships with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Close to Home Primary Care Centers, and Flipsidemedia.com.
- Patient-Centered Communication During Chemotherapy” – Communication problems between patients and clinicians are a barrier to effective management of pain, depression
and fatigue, the most common disease and treatmentrelated symptoms experienced by cancer patients. Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), this two-year study is addressing this problem by developing and evaluating a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based patient communication intervention for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
- Ohio Patient Navigator Research Program” – Funded by the American Cancer Society’s National Division in conjunction with a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded
consortium of nine sites across the United States, this study probes the effects of patient-navigator programs on patient and health-delivery outcomes for cancer, including a process evaluation and cost-effectiveness analysis.
- Reducing Cervical Cancer in Appalachia” – A five-year NIH project based in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, this study aims to increase pap smear screening among
Appalachian women in Ohio, to identify factors related to tobacco use and study the effects of a cessation intervention, and to determine the social, behavioral and biological variables that might contribute to their increased risk of cervical cancer.
- Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening in Primary Care” – This five-year NIH-funded study tests a program to improve colorectal cancer screening among male and female patients
over age 50 in 12 primary care clinics.
- Pfizer Fellowship in Health Disparities” – Randy Wexler, MD, was the sole recipient of the 2007 award, which funded a study to reduce the burden of hypertension in the African-
American community. This project, which is further supported by the Crisafi-Monte Endowment Fund, is designed to produce culturally appropriate, patient-centered, self-management educational materials on hypertension for use by African-Americans. Investigators hypothesize that materials developed by the target community for the target community will be better received than general handouts.
- Urban Cardiovascular Diabetic F.I.T.N.E.S.S. Program: Fitness Improved Through Nutrition and Exercise Sustained by Support of Family, Friends and Community Partners” – This 15-month study is investigating the efficacy of social support and culturally appropriate behavioral modification in treating African-Americans who have type 2 diabetes. The Columbus Medical Association Foundation and the Crisafi-Monte Endowment Fund are supporting it.
Research Accomplishments of 2007
- “Efficacy of Web-Based Training in Skin Cancer” – An NCI project with Brown University, this initiative tested the efficacy of the Skin Continuing Education Course (compared
with a course on weight control) via a randomized trial in a sample of primary care physicians. The primary endpoint was physician performance of skin examination during
routine visits at 12 months after the course, and physician counseling around skin cancer issues.
- “Can Changing How Mom Eats Prevent Obesity in Toddlers?”– Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development, this project aimed to reduce the rate of overweight young children by helping mothers adopt focused eating patterns (eating regularly scheduled meals, avoiding TV while eating, avoiding between-meal calories). Infants in low-income urban families and mothers starting well-child care in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Primary Care Network constituted the study population.
- “Extended Work Hours Should Factor into Return to Job After Injury” – Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were studied regarding work-related injuries and illnesses to assess workers’ ability to return to their occupations based on whether they worked a standard day shift or one of many possible nonstandard schedules. Injured workers with nonstandard schedules were considerably more likely to be fired, to quit or to return to work at less that full-time capacity than workers with conventional work schedules.
- “Healthcare Costs and Medication Adherence Associated with Initiation of Insulin Pen Therapy in Medicaid-Enrolled Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Database
Analysis” – This study evaluated patients with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in a state Medicaid program and converted from receiving insulin with a vial/syringe to pen therapy, compared with those who remained on vial/syringe. In a second analysis, patients who initiated insulin with vial/syringe were compared with a cohort that initiated insulin pen therapy. Investigators concluded that, in a state Medicaid setting among patients with type 2 diabetes, initiating insulin therapy with a pen device was associated with comparable medication adherence, and with significant reductions in healthcare resource utilization and associated costs compared with vial/syringe insulin.
OSU Primary Care Research Institute
(614) 293-8007