Nominal research has examined sexual harassment and workplace violence against home care workers within consumer-driven home care models such as those offered in Oregon. This study examined home care workers' experiences of violence while providing care to consumer employers, the patients who hire and manage home care workers. Focus groups and interviews were conducted in Oregon with 83 home care workers, 99 Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) employees, and 11 consumer employers. Home care workers reported incidents of workplace physical violence (44%), psychological abuse (65%), sexual harassment (41%), and sexual violence (14%). Further, three themes were identified that may increase the risk of workplace violence: (1) real and perceived barriers to reporting violence; (2) tolerance of violence; and (3) limited training to prevent violence. To ensure worker safety while maintaining quality care, safety policies and training for consumer employers, state DHS employees, and home care workers must be developed.

Introduction: Handoff miscommunications are a leading cause of medical errors. A structured handoff is an effective communication tool. We introduced the I-PASS Handoff Bundle for resident sign-out in the inpatient setting. We aimed to reduce preventable adverse events and unexpected floor calls while also improving residents’ confidence and preparedness to care for patients overnight. Methods: We conducted an observational study at a single-site family medicine residency between April 2019 and March 2020. Residents received trainings in the I-PASS standardized handoff through didactic lectures and on-the-job sessions in September and November 2019. We evaluated the effectiveness of the I-PASS Handoff Bundle by comparing pre- and postimplementation data including number of medical errors and unexpected floor calls, along with residents’ reported levels of preparedness and confidence to care for patients overnight.  Results: Prior to the I-PASS intervention, more than half of resident surveys included at least one unexpected floor call whereas postintervention about one-third of resident surveys included unexpected floor calls (P<.05). However, the intervention did not significantly affect residents’ confidence level in caring for patients overnight and residents’ rating of the usefulness of anticipatory guidance for managing night floor calls. We did not identify any medical errors related to communication issues at patient handoff within the family medicine service.      Conclusion: I-PASS intervention significantly reduced unexpected floor calls. However, the intervention did not improve residents’ reported confidence and preparedness to care for patients overnight.

Primary care physicians are well-positioned to integrate lifestyle interventions into the management of patients with unhealthy substance use, who may also have mental and physical chronic health comorbidities. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the U.S.’s poor state of health, revealing that its current approach to chronic disease management is neither effective nor sustainable. Today’s full spectrum comprehensive care model requires an expanded toolkit. Lifestyle interventions broaden current treatment approaches and may enhance Addiction Medicine care. Primary care providers have the potential to have the greatest impact on unhealthy substance use care because they are experts in chronic disease management and their frontline accessibility minimizes healthcare barriers. Individuals with unhealthy substance use are at an increased risk of chronic physical conditions. Incorporating lifestyle interventions with unhealthy substance use care at every level of medicine, from medical school through practice, normalizes both as part of the standard care of medicine and will drive evidence-based best practices to support patients through prevention, treatment, and reversal of chronic diseases.