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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Asthma. 2012 Jul 13;49(7):731–737. doi: 10.3109/02770903.2012.699988

Table 1.

Codes, definitions, sub-codes with their sources used in the codebook.

Code Definition Sub-Codes Source
Patient situation Information about the patient’s environment or situation that is not overtly medical. Some aspects of a patients’ situation includes medical issues that have happened in the past or do not have immediate bearing on the current appointment. They may be part of the patient’s history if the asthma clinician knows about them. The sub category for these is “medical.” Often the medical situation is interwoven with the rest of the patient’s non-medical situation. Patient situation - nonmedical
Patient situation - medical
PA & DC
Patient reaction to study Patients tell the PAs or DCs about their reactions to the study un-prompted. A sub-category of “patient results” was used when PAs or DCs observed or were told by patients about positive results or progress that a patient is experiencing. Some results may be new and therefore not captured in the current quantitative measures of the study. Positive results or progress
Other reactions
PA & DC
Patient Concerns/Feelings about provider Specific complaints or concerns that the patient tells the PAs or DCs about providers or the health system. PA & DC
Observations Personal observations about the patients and their situation made by PAs and DCs. Observations that describe the PA’s or DC’s thoughts about the patient’s personality, improvement, and the amount that a patient may benefit from the PA program are “opinion”. Another sub-category of observation is used when a PA observes something taking place that is before or after the patient is in the medical visit with the physician: “outside the medical visit.” The final sub-category is used when the PA observes the interaction between the physician and patient in the visit “during medical visit.” Opinion
Outside medical visit
During medical visit
PA & DC
Health Issues Specific complaints or health issues that the patient is bringing into the appointment and any information about their current treatment, or beliefs about the current treatment, that would be important for the doctor to know. PA Only
Patient reaction to visit Patients’ reactions to the interaction with the physician that day or their reactions to the visit, un-prompted. PA Only
Provider reaction to the study / changing behavior The physician/provider changes his or her behavior, or engages in unusual behavior, as a direct result of the PA being in the visit. PA Only
PA Duties Documentation of the PA activities/duties in terms of: conducting the teach-back; giving the provider information about the patient’s situation either directly or by encouraging the patient to tell the provider (disclosing situation); helping the patient navigate the healthcare system by assisting with making calls, helping with referrals, providing the patients with numbers to call etc. (assisting with process); discussing specific concerns that the patient had or reviewing specific information or answering questions (getting the facts); encouraging the patient to take specific action (encouraging patient action); and looking out for the patient during the appointment to make sure all goes well (advocacy). Teach-back
Facilitating communication
Promoting navigation of the practice or health system
Getting the facts
Encouraging patient action
Advocacy
PA Only