title: Using nurse practitioners to implement an intervention in primary care for high-utilizing patients with medically unexplained symptoms.
abstract: Patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) often are a source of frustration for clinicians, and despite high quality biomedical attention and frequent diagnostic tests, they have poor health outcomes. Following upon progress in depression treatment approaches, we developed a multidimensional treatment protocol for deployment by primary care personnel. This multi-faceted intervention for MUS patients emphasized cognitive-behavioral principles, the provider-patient relationship, pharmacological management, and treating comorbid medical diseases. We deployed it in an HMO using nurse practitioners (NP) to deliver the intervention to 101 patients, while 102 controls continued to receive medical care from their usual primary care physician. Successful deployment of the intervention required training the NPs, continuing support for the NPs in their management of this difficult population, and establishing strong communication links with the HMO. This paper addresses the practical considerations of using primary care personnel to implement a complex intervention in primary care, and it includes a discussion of special challenges encountered as well as solutions developed to overcome them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing 48824, USA.
authors.forename: Judith S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lyles
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hodges
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lein
authors.forename: C William
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Given
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Given
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: D'Mello
authors.forename: Gerald G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Osborn
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goddeeris
authors.forename: Joseph C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gardiner
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010560:Personnel Selection; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce