Public health

Behavioral Health Integration Toolkit
Interested in integrating behavioral health into your primary care practice? In this toolkit, you will find resources, guides, and articles to help you integrate behavioral health into your practice.
> TAFP Behavioral Health Integration Toolkit

Combating the opioid epidemic in Texas
Family physicians are on the front lines of the fight to end the scourge of substance use disorder but they often lack the tools they need to be more effective. In this article, we publish a set of resources to help you address SUD in your community.
> Resources for prescribing opioids and addressing substance use disorder

AAFP immunization resources

Family physicians play an integral role in influencing patients’ decisions to be vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases. To help facilitate communication between family physicians and their patients, AAFP offers important immunization resources, including annual immunization schedules for children, adolescents, and adults; resources for vaccine conversations with parents; and disease- and population-specific immunization information.
> Go to www.aafp.org/online/en/home/clinical/immunizationres.html for more

Access anti-obesity resources through AAFP’s AIM-HI program
Add another resource to your obesity armamentarium with the AIM-HI AIM-to-Change Toolkit. This free toolkit from AAFP contains an array of patient educational materials and office resources to help you create a fitness culture and encourage patients to live healthy lives. Also new from AIM-HI is a nutrition deficiency risk questionnaire for family physicians to use with your patients. The downloadable PDF is available to AAFP members in English and Spanish on the AIM-HI website, and patients may also access the tool directly on FamilyDoctor.org.
> Go to the AIM-HI website

Texas Poison Center Network
The Texas Poison Center Network connects physicians to medical toxicology consults and case management, toxicology questions, information on drugs or emerging trends, and educational materials for you to give to patients. Consultation with the medical professionals at poison control centers saves tax dollars and medical costs by reducing ER visits when patients call the poison network first, shortens hospital stays when a physician toxicologist is consulted, and is available simply by calling 1-800-222-1222 any time. TPCN encourages physicians to use the online resources and to educate your patients to access the network when needed.
> Texas Poison Control Network

Notifiable conditions and disease reporting
Several Texas laws require specific information regarding notifiable conditions to be reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Physicians, other health care providers, hospitals, laboratories, schools, and others are required to report patients who are suspected of having a notifiable condition.
> Notifiable conditions section of the DSHS website

Prevention, treatment, and oversight of concussions affecting student athletes
This document answers questions about the implementation of House Bill 2038, or Natasha’s Law, under which each school district and charter school must establish a “concussion oversight team.” The team must include at least one physician and each team member must have had training in the evaluation, treatment, and oversight of concussions. The document also contains resources about sport-related concussions.
> Frequently Asked Questions and Resources Regarding Implementation of Natasha’s Law 

DSHS pertussis resources for family physicians
As primary caregivers for Texas families, Texas family physicians are often the first line of defense for whooping cough cases, which are on the rise in our state. Access educational resources from the Texas Department of State Health Services on whooping cough for physicians and patients.
> DSHS clinical pertussis website
> DSHS educational pertussis website
> ImmunizeTexas.com
> Pertussis fact sheet (English and Spanish)
> Is it just a cough? Or is it pertussis/Whooping cough?

Get the latest immunization schedules on your mobile device
Need a quick reference to the latest immunization schedules for children, adolescents and adults? Check out this immunization schedule app you can download to your mobile device or computer. The application was developed by the Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.
> Visit www.immunizationed.org/AnyPage.aspx?pgid=2

CDC National Immunization Program
Visit the CDC National Immunization Program website for a comprehensive listing of vaccines and immunizations, schedules, coverage and surveillance, education, side effects, requirements and laws, and more.
> Centers for Disease Control: National Immunization Program
> CDC vaccine information sheets

TexasFlu.org
Visit the state of Texas’ official resource on the flu for information on prevention, vaccination locations, and symptoms, as well as specific information for families and individuals, health care professionals, schools, employers, and others. Physicians can also download informational posters and flyers for your waiting room.
> Go to www.texasflu.org

Free patient resource on cancer
Patient Resources Publishing offers TAFP members the opportunity to receive copies of the Patient Resource Cancer Guide free of charge to distribute in their offices to newly diagnosed and newly restaged cancer patients. The guide was created to educate cancer patients, prepare them for treatment, and empower them to become their own advocates. This comprehensive resource includes a list of cancer treatment facilities in the U.S., treatment options, cancer types, clinical trials, and patient resources.
> See the various topical guides and place an order at www.patientresource.net/place-order.aspx

AAFP disaster assistance resources
Natural disasters can quickly devastate a community’s health care delivery system. As recent Texas wildfires have demonstrated, catastrophic events can destroy whole communities, including family medicine practices. To help you assist your peers in times of disaster, prepare yourself for these events, and help rebuild and recover afterward, AAFP provides free online disaster assistance resources. Go to the Disaster Assistance Resources page of AAFP’s website to access documents on disaster response and breach notification; links to the American Red Cross, state health departments, and state medical boards; and more.
> Go to www.aafp.org/patient-care/emergency/disasters.html

Free online tobacco cessation toolkit from DSHS
The Texas Department of State Health Services has made available an online, no-cost resource for physicians to use in treating tobacco dependency in their patients. The “Yes You Can Healthcare Provider Toolkit” includes materials for identifying and tracking tobacco use, patient education, and training for clinic staff. This model follows national guidelines from the U.S. Public Health Service and is based on the Ask-Advise-Refer system for treating patients who use tobacco. It offers evidence-based intervention strategies in a single, user-friendly format that allows for quick reference while enabling the physician to keep up the pace of a busy schedule.
> Download the toolkit components at www.yesquit.org in the “Healthcare Provider Toolkit” section.

AAFP’s Ask and Act tobacco cessation program
AAFP’s Ask and Act program encourages family physicians to ASK all patients about tobacco use, then to ACT to help them quit. Go to the Ask and Act website to access a practice toolkit, patient education materials, tobacco statistics, and more.
> Ask and Act website

TAFP public health initiatives
Family physicians are on the front lines of public health and participate in a variety of initiatives to improve the health of their patients. View more information on Hard Hats for Little Heads, Tar Wars, and our public health coalition affiliations.
> TAFP public health initiatives