Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides
Background. For more than 50 years, Community Health Aides and Community Health Practitioners (CHA/Ps) have resided in and provided care for the residents of their villages. Objectives. This study is a systematic description of the clinical practice of primary care health workers in rural Alaska com...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c3a6394563104fe898e22d6344954998 2023-05-15T15:13:33+02:00 Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides Christine Golnick Elvin Asay Ellen Provost Dabney Van Liere Cora Bosshart Jean Rounds-Riley Katie Cueva Thomas W. Hennessy 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 https://doaj.org/article/c3a6394563104fe898e22d6344954998 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/18543/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/c3a6394563104fe898e22d6344954998 International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 71, Iss 0, Pp 1-10 (2012) rural health care community health workers health aides primary care CHA/P Alaska Native Health Care Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 2022-12-30T23:22:13Z Background. For more than 50 years, Community Health Aides and Community Health Practitioners (CHA/Ps) have resided in and provided care for the residents of their villages. Objectives. This study is a systematic description of the clinical practice of primary care health workers in rural Alaska communities. This is the first evaluation of the scope of health problems seen by these lay health workers in their remote communities. Study design. Retrospective observational review of administrative records for outpatient visits seen by CHA/Ps in 150 rural Alaska villages (approximate population 47,370). Methods. Analysis of electronic records for outpatient visits to CHA/Ps in village clinics from October 2004 through September 2006. Data included all outpatient visits from the Indian Health Service National Patient Information Reporting System. Descriptive analysis included comparisons by region, age, sex, clinical assessment and treatment. Results. In total 272,242 visits were reviewed. CHA/Ps provided care for acute, chronic, preventive, and emergency problems at 176,957 (65%) visits. The remaining 95,285 (35%) of records did not include a diagnostic code, most of which were for administrative or medication-related encounters. The most common diagnostic codes were: pharyngitis (11%), respiratory infections (10%), otitis media (8%), hypertension (6%), skin infections (4%), and chronic lung disease (4%). Respiratory distress and chest pain accounted for 75% (n=10,552) of all emergency visits. Conclusions. CHA/Ps provide a broad range of primary care in remote Alaskan communities whose residents would otherwise be without consistent medical care. Alaska's CHA/P program could serve as a health-care delivery model for other remote communities with health care access challenges. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Indian International Journal of Circumpolar Health 71 1 18543 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
rural health care community health workers health aides primary care CHA/P Alaska Native Health Care Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
rural health care community health workers health aides primary care CHA/P Alaska Native Health Care Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Christine Golnick Elvin Asay Ellen Provost Dabney Van Liere Cora Bosshart Jean Rounds-Riley Katie Cueva Thomas W. Hennessy Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
topic_facet |
rural health care community health workers health aides primary care CHA/P Alaska Native Health Care Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Background. For more than 50 years, Community Health Aides and Community Health Practitioners (CHA/Ps) have resided in and provided care for the residents of their villages. Objectives. This study is a systematic description of the clinical practice of primary care health workers in rural Alaska communities. This is the first evaluation of the scope of health problems seen by these lay health workers in their remote communities. Study design. Retrospective observational review of administrative records for outpatient visits seen by CHA/Ps in 150 rural Alaska villages (approximate population 47,370). Methods. Analysis of electronic records for outpatient visits to CHA/Ps in village clinics from October 2004 through September 2006. Data included all outpatient visits from the Indian Health Service National Patient Information Reporting System. Descriptive analysis included comparisons by region, age, sex, clinical assessment and treatment. Results. In total 272,242 visits were reviewed. CHA/Ps provided care for acute, chronic, preventive, and emergency problems at 176,957 (65%) visits. The remaining 95,285 (35%) of records did not include a diagnostic code, most of which were for administrative or medication-related encounters. The most common diagnostic codes were: pharyngitis (11%), respiratory infections (10%), otitis media (8%), hypertension (6%), skin infections (4%), and chronic lung disease (4%). Respiratory distress and chest pain accounted for 75% (n=10,552) of all emergency visits. Conclusions. CHA/Ps provide a broad range of primary care in remote Alaskan communities whose residents would otherwise be without consistent medical care. Alaska's CHA/P program could serve as a health-care delivery model for other remote communities with health care access challenges. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Christine Golnick Elvin Asay Ellen Provost Dabney Van Liere Cora Bosshart Jean Rounds-Riley Katie Cueva Thomas W. Hennessy |
author_facet |
Christine Golnick Elvin Asay Ellen Provost Dabney Van Liere Cora Bosshart Jean Rounds-Riley Katie Cueva Thomas W. Hennessy |
author_sort |
Christine Golnick |
title |
Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
title_short |
Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
title_full |
Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
title_fullStr |
Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
title_full_unstemmed |
Innovative primary care delivery in rural Alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
title_sort |
innovative primary care delivery in rural alaska: a review of patient encounters seen by community health aides |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 https://doaj.org/article/c3a6394563104fe898e22d6344954998 |
geographic |
Arctic Indian |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Indian |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 71, Iss 0, Pp 1-10 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/18543/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/c3a6394563104fe898e22d6344954998 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18543 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
18543 |
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1766344096265273344 |