2 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Genetic counseling has benefits for individuals and their family members in their health care decision-making. Provision of genetic counseling has been deemed standard of care by several medical organizations and incorporated into clinical guidelines, such as those of the US Preventive Services Task Force. To better comply with these guidelines, Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) recently established at the Salt Lake City, Utah VA medical center to provide genomic services and counseling as a part of VA Patient Care Services. For Veterans for whom in-person genetic counseling in not feasible, GMS conducts counseling either via telephone or videoconferencing. Although both of these methods can be effective for delivering genetic counseling, each has its relative advantages and disadvantages. The specific aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of these two modalities. This information will be useful not only for genetic counseling but also other interventions that use telephone or videoconferencing to access patients.
VA community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) typically serve only a small number of women Veterans, and generally do not have the women's health care resources that are available in larger settings. Women Veterans using these sites for primary care must sometimes travel to other sites to receive women's health care. That can create travel burdens, reduce continuity of care, and negatively affect patient outcomes. To address this, VA is implementing a clinical operations innovation that supports women's primary care providers with a technology-based intervention that combines interactive communication with women's health specialists and ongoing education. This research study is evaluating the implementation and effects of this women's healthcare delivery innovation. Findings from this research will inform VA women's health clinical practice and education, and will advance science in delivering technology-supported non-face-to-face care that is applicable to other clinical conditions and patient populations.