Practice Enhancement Assistants (PEAs)Practice enhancement assistants (PEAs) are individuals who develop a relationship with a group of practices over a period of time, generally eight practices per PEA, in order to help them to evaluate and improve their quality of care. This is generally accomplished through practice audits and feedback, patient satisfaction surveys, staff training, “cross-fertilization” (sharing of ideas among the eight practices), coordination of quality improvement initiatives, and provision of specific materials and resources (flow sheets, computer training, etc.). A PEA also functions as a research assistant, making it easier for practices to participate in research projects undertaken by the network.
What can a PEA do for you?
I. A PEA can help you and your staff implement changes in your practice that is suggested by OKPRN research or clinical practice guidelines
a. Identify the changes that practices want to make
b. Provide information about how others are doing it
c. Identify resources needed
II. A PEA can help you and your staff use health information technology
a. Train physicians and staff to use information systems
b. Assist practices with glitches and problems that occur in their use of information technologies
c. Identify practice/community needs regarding consultations/referrals
d. Identify practice/community needs for CME
III. A PEA can help in the facilitation of research
a. Train physicians and staff to follow study protocols
b. Collect data for studies requiring intermittent data collection
c. Audit and or pull charts for others to audit
d. Provide additional study cards and other materials
e. Transport study data to the center
f. Update practices regarding the status and findings from recent or ongoing studies
g. Collect new research ideas from practitioners and staff
h. Collect ideas for improving research protocols
i. Get feedback on the types of studies being done
j. Get feedback on manuscripts prior to submission
Past PEA Projects
I. Quality Improvement
• Pre-intervention and Post-intervention audits on immunization rates
• Developed flow charts and educational materials for diabetes care
• Assisted with the use of the PDA/PC Hardware and PC Software
• Helped to upload patient information from paper charts to electronic medical records
• Developed and initiated surveys and questionnaires on patient satisfaction
• Brainstormed to help solve problems such as how to have high patient compliance in taking their medications
• Developed the OKPRN website
• Aided a clinic on how to optimize chart filing
• Developed databases to help improve clinic functions, for example, a database was developed to help keep track of colon screenings
• Trained staff on how to do effective cognitive testing
• Researched topics of interest, for example, the use of digital transcription and the use of digital cameras
• Found resources such as a Spanish medical dictionary or monofilaments
• Organized files, such as note cards with colon screening dates
• Helped to develop diabetes templates for electronic medical records
• Organized quality circles of several practices to improve delivery of behavioral interventions
• Collected examples of “best practice” solutions and shared them with the network
• Discovered community resources and linked practices to resources to improve patient care
II. Research
• Management of Brown Recluse Spider Bites Study
• Diabetes Best Practice Study & Diabetes Patient Tracker Project
• Palm Sleep Study
• Primary Care Network Survey (PRINS) Study
• Prescription Management (yScribeRx) Project
• Smoke Free Families/Beginnings Study
• Preventative Services Reminder System Studies (Phase I-IV)
• Laboratory Tests Results Management Study
• Delivery of Preventive Services in Primary Care Study
• Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening in Primary Care Study
• Azithromycin Trial in Community Settings (AZMATICS) Study
• Enhance the Rate and Quality of EPSDT Examinations Project
• Creating a New Model of Preventive Service Delivery Study
• Systematic Delivery of Behavioral Counseling in Primary Care Study
Quality Improvement Activities
Practice Enhancement Assistants (PEAS) can aid your practice with both quality improvement initiatives and research. With regards to quality improvement, we will work solely with your clinic and will not publish any information that might be obtained while assisting your practice. To make this possible you must sign a Business Associate Agreement with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center indicating that you are contracting with us for these QI services. This contract makes it possible for the PEA to look at personal health information for quality improvement purposes only. In the same way that you might contract out for billing or collection services, you are contracting with OU for QI services. Under this contract, no protected health information would leave your practice.
Current Practice Enhancement Assistants
Katy Duncan Smith
405-271-8000, ext. 32301
Eileen Merchen
918-599-7446, (Tulsa)
405-271-2370 (Oklahoma City)
Crystal D. Turner
405-271-8000, ext. 32304
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Emily Teasdale
405-271-8000, ext. 32217
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Cara Vaught
405-271-8000, ext. 32210
We are located at: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Department of Family & Preventive Medicine 900 Northeast 10th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73104. Our fax number is: 405-271-2784.
For more information on Practice Enhancement Assistants, contact the OKPRN Network Coordinator, Zsolt Nagykaldi, PhD at:
Additional PEA Resources
PEA Packet For Providers
Practice Facilitators - Systematic Review
PEA Training Topics