News and Events

News

Dr. Roter Receives Honor

Dr. Debra Roter was recently announced as a University Distinguished Service Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Roter teaches at the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Boomberg School of Public Health, in addition to her considerable work globally.

Hora de Hablar CARDIO Launches Across U.S.

Hora de Hablar CARDIO’s Spanish-speaking spokesperson, Astrid Almodóvar, M.D., M.P.A., kicked off the national launch with a satellite media tour comprised of 21 television and radio stations to announce the program to key Hispanic markets. Dr. Almodóvar discussed the need for better dialogue between patients and health care professionals, the benefit of this communication skill-building program to the Hispanic community, and included examples from her clinical experience piloting the Time to Talk CARDIO program in her practice, earlier this year. Dr. Almodóvar further emphasized that Hora de Hablar CARDIO is a free, educational program made possible by Merck, the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Canyon Ranch Institute and RIASWorks. For more information, see the press release. Also, visit the Spanish-language website.

National Award for Innovative Program

RIASWorks is proud to be part of the award-winning Time to Talk CARDIO (Creating A Real Dialogue In the Office) program. The program, an unbranded, educational initiative underwritten by Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, was developed by RIASWorks in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians and Canyon Research Institute. The program was nationally recognized in May by the Institute for Health Advancement as the recipient of the 2010 Health Literacy Award for Innovation in Research. The program includes two separate online, communication skill-building tools, one directed to health care providers and the second to patients, that feature more than 550 brief video clips demonstrating best practices to optimize communication during primary care visits. In addition, the program provides a variety of print educational resources and a strong dissemination network comprised of health professional and patient advocacy groups. The skill building tool and related video demonstrations, designed by RIASWorks was based on its LEAPS© framework, reflecting the key communication areas of Listen, Educate, Assess, Partner and Support. RIASWorks is currently working on the development of Spanish language version of the tool.


Upcoming Events

March 2013
A Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) Coding and Research Workshop will be offered by Debra Roter and Susan Larson at the Netherlands Primary Care Institute (NIVEL) in Utrecht, The Netherlands, on 19-21 March, 2013.

The course objectives:
• To provide basic training to researchers in the use of the RIAS and linked software
• To provide a forum for discussion of methodological and analytic strategies for the conduct of RIAS-related research
• To provide limited individual consultation to participants.

The workshop fee is set at $1,000 USD (750 Euros). This includes the RIAS training sessions, a copy of the RIAS software, follow-up coding support, and lunch and refreshments during the sessions. A limited number of student slots will be available. Please contact riasworks@comcast.net for details.

Venue: NIVEL, Otterstraat 118-124 3513 CR, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Suggested Hotel: Apollo Hotel Utrecht, 14 Vredenburg, info.utrecht@apollohotelsresorts.com

For further information and registration: Contact Debra Roter or Susan Larson at riasworks@comcast.net.

Archives

SEPTEMBER 2012 - Debra Roter and Susan Larson attended the EACH (European Association for Communication in Healthcare) Conference in St. Andrew’s, Scotland, on Sept 4-7, 2012. Presentations at the EACH conference included the following:
• Symposium: Implicit racial bias and communication in healthcare (Chair: Lisa Cooper, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA)
• Symposium: Physician and Patient Gender, Behavior, and Patient Response (Chair: Judith A. Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA)
• Paper: Depression Disclosure and Evaluative Judgments of Male and Female Simulated Physicians by Analogue Patients (Debra Roter and Lori Erby, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore MD, USA, and Ann Adams, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK)
• Symposium: Descartes’ Error - Part II: The role of affect in decision making (Chair: Debra Roter, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA)
• Paper: Deciding Fast and Slow: How Descartes’ Error has influenced models of medical decision-making (Debra Roter, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA)

SEPTEMBER 2012 - Debra Roter attended the Conference of the Korean Academy on Communication in Health Care in Seoul, Korea September 14-15, 2012.
• Pre-conference workshop on September 14, 2012: Introduction to RIAS; utility and flexibility.
• Plenary Keynote: September 15, 2012: “Training Strategies to Enhance Patient-centered Communication”

NOVEMBER 2011 - The 50th Annual Conference on Research in Medical Education (RIME) was held in conjunction with the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) on November 4–9, 2011, in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Debra Roter gave a presentation on Time to Talk Cardio: Impact of a Novel Communication Tool on Patient and Clinician-Reported Satisfaction and Medical Visit Behavior. Click here to view an abstract.

OCTOBER 2011 - Debra Roter was a presenting speaker at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) in Chicago October 16–19, 2011. ICCH is the largest gathering of researchers, educators and administrators from around the world focusing on improving communication in healthcare.

Dr. Roter gave two presentations:
•    Behavioral impact of a genetics focused, web CME for physician assistants: a randomized trial. Click here to view the abstract.
•    Time to Talk Cardio: web-tool impact on patient/physician reported visit satisfaction and behavior. Click here to view the abstract.

SEPTEMBER 2010 - The 2010 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare was organised by EACH (the European Association for Communication in Healthcare) in association with Patient Education and Counseling, and was hosted by the University of Verona 5–8 September. Dr. Debra Roter spoke on Communicating with Patients About Mental Health Disorders in Community-Based Primary Care and Psychiatry at the conference.


SEPTEMBER 2010 - The 13th annual meeting of the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG) was held September 23 and 24 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. The meeting focused on Genetics and Public Health. Dr. Debra Roter spoke on A Novel Evaluation of Genetics Education for Health Professionals.


AUGUST 2010 - Dr. Debra Roter was the Keynote Speaker at 16th International Social Pharmacy Workshop. Dr. Roter spoke on Interpersonal Communication Research and Practice at the 16th annual International Social Pharmacy Workshop at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2010. (Watch the video of Dr. Roter's presentation at the top of this page.)


JULY 2010 - In partnership with the American Academy of Physicians Assistants (AAPA) and the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG), RIASWorks is conducting an educational assessment of clinical care, particularly in regard to the integration of genetics-related family history assessment into routine Physician Assistant (PA) practice. Fifty PAs who attended the annual conference participated in the study by being videotaped while interviewing a RIASWorks standardized patient. Over the next year, RIASWorks will analyze the sessions and work with our partners to provide a detailed description of PA practice patterns to identify practice strengths and opportunities for future genetics-related continuing medical education programs.


DECEMBER 2009 - Dr. Debra Roter gave a keynote presentation at the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians (NCAFP) 2009 Winter Family Physicians Weekend in Asheville, NC, on December 5, 2009, in conjunction with The Time to Talk CARDIO program—Creating A Real Dialogue In the Office—a new program to help patients and health care professionals make the most of their conversations by building communication skills to help manage heart health.

The Time to Talk CARDIO tool was modeled after LEAPS©, a framework developed by Debra Roter, DrPH, MPH, of RIASWorks, to assist health care professionals and patients in improving their in-clinic conversations. LEAPS addresses five key areas: Listen, Educate, Assess, Partner and Support. Both health care professionals and patients can benefit from improved in-office dialogue.


NOVEMBER 2009 - Dr. Roter spoke at the Society for Women’s Health Research Corporate Advisory Council Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, in November 2009, on solutions to improve medical adherence.

Dr. Roter lectured at Sungkyunkan University (Samsung), School of Medicine, at Korea University, Department of Medicine, and spoke at the Global Breast Cancer Conference in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2009.

Dr. Debra Roter presented a series of lectures in Seoul, South Korea, in October:

• Tuesday, Oct 6, 2009: Lecture at the Sungkyunkwan University (Samsung), School of Medicine.

• Wednesday, Oct 7, 2009: Lecture and Workshop at Korea University, Department of Medicine.

• Saturday, October 10, 2009: Lecture at the Global Breast Cancer Conference entitled “Communication Roles of Family across the Cancer Care Continuum.”