In a historic first, family physician researchers are joining with their general internal medicine colleagues in a multicenter, practice-based study designed to evaluate strategies for improving depression care. And in a related trial, FPs’ psychiatry colleagues will be examining a depression measurement tool developed in and for primary care practices.
The study, just getting under way, will involve nine practices from the AAFP National Research Network and nine from the American College of Physicians’ practice-based research network, ACPNet.
Family physician Paul Nutting, M.D., M.S.P.H., is principal investigator for the study. Nutting, recipient of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s 2003 Curtis G. Hames Research Award, is research director at the Center for Research Strategies, a Denver-based policy, research and evaluation consulting firm.
FP Researchers to Collaborate With ACP, APA on Depression Studies
By News Staff
1/21/2005
This story first appeared in the Jan. 21, 2005, AAFP Direct.
Research participants in the study will utilize collaborative improvement strategies pioneered by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to assess various aspects of depression management in the primary care setting, says Debbie Graham, senior research associate for the Academy’s research network. The study is expected to last 18 months.
Each practice will designate two “champions” -- one physician and one nonphysician -- to participate in off-site learning sessions of the improvement collaborative. The champions are responsible for educating members of a designated improvement team within their own practices who, in turn, work to identify and test simple office systems that enhance care of patients with depression through appropriate monitoring and follow-up.
Other objectives of the study:
Each practice will designate two “champions” -- one physician and one nonphysician -- to participate in off-site learning sessions of the improvement collaborative. The champions are responsible for educating members of a designated improvement team within their own practices who, in turn, work to identify and test simple office systems that enhance care of patients with depression through appropriate monitoring and follow-up.
Other objectives of the study:
- Examine characteristics of office practices that are associated with initial adoption of innovative strategies and with sustaining those strategies over time.
- Identify and test methods for diffusing strategies to improve depression care to clinicians and care teams within practices.
- Test ways to help practices develop effective improvement teams to implement, diffuse and sustain office systems for depression care and expand the use of such systems for other chronic conditions.
The American Psychiatric Association will be conducting a parallel study. The APA’s primary objective will be to evaluate the use of the Patient Health Questionnaire, or PHQ-9, a depression measurement tool developed in and for the primary care setting. This two-minute test assesses the presence and severity of the nine signs and symptoms of major depression as established by the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
At press time, Forrest Laboratories, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly and Co. had contributed funding for the project, and negotiations were under way with two other potential funders. Total cost of the AAFP/ACP study is expected to be about $500,000, according to Graham.
At press time, Forrest Laboratories, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly and Co. had contributed funding for the project, and negotiations were under way with two other potential funders. Total cost of the AAFP/ACP study is expected to be about $500,000, according to Graham.
