RCHC Community Project Abstracts

Back to subject search page or search by preceptor site Hormone Replace Therapy for Menopause Symptoms: Creation of a Patient Guide to the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives Project Date: 5/1/2006 Hormone Replacement therapy (HRT) for the relief of menopause symptoms has been available to women for more than a century. For the majority of this time the use of HRT has been steadily gaining popularity despite warning signs of potential risks. Results in 2002 from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), however, dramatically decreased the use of HRT by demonstrating small but significant increases in cardiovascular and cancer risk with HRT. The latest report of HRT and breast cancer risk, published within the last month, has renewed the barrage of media coverage and concern over HRT. Women today who are tyring to decide how to deal with menopause have the challenging task of interpreting a very complex set of data in an arena where there are potentially misinformed sources. The purpose of this project was to deliver a patient education handout that succinctly and accurately summarizes the risks, benefits, and alternatives to HRT. Hormone Replacement Therapy in Baker City, Oregon Project Date: 9/23/2002 The Women's Health Initiative Study about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has had an important effect on the prescribing practices of physicians. To assess the effect on the practices of Baker City physicians, a short survey was sent to the medical providers in Baker City who were most likely to prescribe HRT. The survey asked questions about how they learned of the study and if the data reported had caused them to change their prescribing habits. The most common modes of learning of the study were through the lay press and self-study. The study caused the majority of the providers to reduce the number of HRT prescriptions they write, especially for women with risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, and pulmonary embolism. Concerns about Hormone Replacement Therapy in Florence, Oregon: Development of an Educational Handout for Patients Project Date: 8/12/2002 Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been prominently featured in recent television news broadcasts and newspaper articles, since one trial of an observational study - the Women’s Health Initiative - was stopped because the number of cases of breast cancer caused by hormone replacement therapy had exceeded acceptable safety limits. Always a difficult choice for women, HRT has become an increasingly complex treatment for both patients and physicians. Of the postmenopausal women in the United States, approximately 40%7 opt to use HRT for some length of time, though many women discontinue therapy within a few years of initiation. Because the Health Associates of Peace Harbor serves a primarily elderly population in Florence, Oregon, menopausal and postmenopausal women comprise a large part of clinic practice. Thus, HRT is a relevant and important topic to many of the female patients, whose concern regarding their possible increased risk of breast cancer and thromboembolic disease with use of HRT appears to have increased recently due to extensive media coverage. This project consists of use of observation and informal surveys to define a population - menopausal and post-menopausal women on HRT – and a need – accessible information on HRT. After consideration of the clinic’s use of informational handouts on other health topics, and the need for a form of education on HRT that is both efficient and easy to use, recent journal articles and online sources were used to create a double-sided, one-page educational patient handout. Back to subject search page or search by preceptor site