Scholars@Duke
Robert Joseph Sullivan Jr.

Robert Joseph Sullivan Jr.

Associate Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine and Community Health
Family Medicine and Community Health, Family Medicine
Box 3003 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
Center for Aging, 3502 Blue Zone Duke South, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

An advanced course in long term care for geriatric medicine fellows.

Journal Article J Am Med Dir Assoc · July 2013 Long term care deserves focused attention within a geriatric medicine fellowship curriculum to ensure that graduates are prepared not only for clinical care but also for the leadership, administrative, educational, quality improvement, and health policy as ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of the North Carolina long-term care polypharmacy initiative: a multiple-cohort approach using propensity-score matching for both evaluation and targeting.

Journal Article Clin Ther · September 2009 BACKGROUND: The high cost and undesirable consequences of polypharmacy are well-recognized problems among elderly long-term care (LTC) residents. Despite the implementation of the 1987 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which requires pharmacist review of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fluid intake and hydration: critical indicators of nursing home quality.

Journal Article N C Med J · 2005 Hydration issues are important considerations for the elderly and infirm. What was previously taken for granted often becomes the focus of daily attention. Nursing homes must take a proactive stance in designing systems and training staff to deal with hydr ... Link to item Cite

A pharmacy management intervention for optimizing drug therapy for nursing home patients.

Journal Article Am J Geriatr Pharmacother · December 2004 BACKGROUND: A drug therapy management service was designed to reduce polypharmacy among Medicaid recipients. This service selectively focused on patients who were high users of prescription drugs and had potential drug therapy problems (PDTPs). OBJECTIVES: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Physical function in sedentary and exercising older veterans as compared to national norms.

Journal Article J Rehabil Res Dev · September 2004 We examined the associations between sedentary older veterans, those regularly involved in an outpatient exercise program and physical function. Sedentary and currently exercising older veterans performed a 30 s chair-stand test and 6 min walk test as part ... Full text Link to item Cite

Medical assessment for health advocacy and practical strategies for exercise initiation.

Journal Article Am J Prev Med · October 2003 The universal caution to consult your family doctor before beginning an exercise program creates an image of exercise as potentially harmful. Moreover, insistence on extensive screening prior to exercise is both unrealistic and often inappropriate for the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exercise adherence and 10-year mortality in chronically ill older adults.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · December 2002 OBJECTIVES: To compare mortality of adherents and nonadherents of an exercise program. DESIGN: Prospective intervention study. SETTING: Supervised geriatric fitness program called Gerofit. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred thirty-five adults aged 65 and older who ... Full text Link to item Cite

Insomnia and the eye of the beholder: are there clinical markers of objective sleep disturbances among adults with and without insomnia complaints?

Journal Article J Consult Clin Psychol · August 2000 Previous findings suggest that some who report insomnia sleep well, whereas some noncomplaining individuals sleep rather poorly. This study was conducted to determine if mood, anxiety, and sleep-related beliefs might relate to perceived sleep disturbance. ... Link to item Cite

Patient factors related to the odds of receiving prevention services in Veterans Health Administration medical centers.

Journal Article Am J Manag Care · September 1999 OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between patient characteristics and the odds of receiving 13 health promotion/disease prevention services recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for average-risk individuals. METHODS: A mail surv ... Link to item Cite

Spinal-flexibility-plus-aerobic versus aerobic-only training: effect of a randomized clinical trial on function in at-risk older adults.

Journal Article J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci · July 1999 BACKGROUND: As exercise is associated with favorable health outcomes, impaired older adults may benefit from specialized exercise interventions to achieve gains in function. The purpose of this study was to determine the added benefit of a spinal flexibili ... Full text Link to item Cite

How many nights are enough? The short-term stability of sleep parameters in elderly insomniacs and normal sleepers.

Journal Article Psychophysiology · March 1999 Temporal stability is an important fundamental quality when measuring sleep parameters, yet it has been infrequently assessed. Generalizability theory was used to estimate the short-term temporal stability of five variables commonly used to characterize in ... Link to item Cite

Prevention services received by veterans visiting VHA facilities.

Journal Article Prev Med · 1998 OBJECTIVES: This paper presents rates with which veterans report receiving 13 recommended health promotion and disease prevention services. Results were compared with the U.S. Healthy People 2000 goals. METHODS: Random samples of 300 men and 150 women visi ... Full text Link to item Cite

The receipt of prevention services by veterans using VA versus non-VA facilities.

Journal Article Prev Med · 1998 OBJECTIVES: This paper compares the health promotion/disease prevention services received by veterans who reported receiving 90%+ of their care inside Veterans Health Administration (VA) facilities with counterparts who reported receiving 90%+ of their car ... Full text Link to item Cite

Do our methods lead to insomniacs' madness?: Daytime testing after laboratory and home-based polysomnographic studies.

Journal Article Sleep · December 1997 Complaints of daytime dysfunction are common among chronic insomniacs, but laboratory comparisons of insomniacs and age-matched and gender-matched normal controls have generally failed to document these complaints. However, a few studies, which allowed sub ... Link to item Cite

Sleep in the laboratory and sleep at home: comparisons of older insomniacs and normal sleepers.

Journal Article Sleep · December 1997 Many laboratory polysomnographic (LPSG) studies have shown only modest sleep differences between insomniacs and matched, noncomplaining normal controls. However, the extent to which LPSG methodology affects the outcome of such comparisons has yet to be tes ... Full text Link to item Cite

Five-year performance trends for older exercisers: a hierarchical model of endurance, strength, and flexibility.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · October 1996 OBJECTIVE: To examine 5-year trends in measures of physical performance, and the impact of disease upon performance, in three domains: cardiovascular fitness, musculo-skeletal strength, and flexibility among older adults participating in a medically superv ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy and clonazepam for treating periodic limb movement disorder.

Journal Article Sleep · June 1996 Many patients with periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) display inadequate sleep hygiene, and others decline conventional pharmacologic intervention for their form of sleep disturbance. Nonetheless, the use of nonpharmacologic therapies with PLMD remains ... Link to item Cite

Medication taking behaviors in the high- and low-functioning elderly: MacArthur field studies of successful aging.

Journal Article Ann Pharmacother · April 1995 OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare medication-taking behaviors in the high- and low-functioning elderly living in the community. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design with data collected by interview. SETTING: The study included 5 counties in the southern Piedm ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Gerofit Program: a VA innovation.

Journal Article South Med J · May 1994 In 1986 Gerofit, an exercise and health promotion program for older veterans, was established. This paper describes the program in detail by summarizing the patient assessment protocol, the exercise program, and program evaluation, as well as observational ... Link to item Cite

CONCERNS ABOUT DEHYDRATION/STARVATION - REPLY

Journal Article JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE · February 1, 1994 Link to item Cite

CONCERNS ABOUT DEHYDRATION/STARVATION - REPLY

Journal Article JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE · February 1, 1994 Link to item Cite

Aerobic fitness, acute exercise and sleep in older men.

Journal Article Sleep · June 1993 In the current study 12 aerobically fit and 12 sedentary older men underwent two nocturnal polysomnographic (PSG) studies. A control PSG was conducted following a day without aerobic activity, whereas a postexercise PSG study was conducted following an aft ... Full text Link to item Cite

Quantitative cerebral anatomy of the aging human brain: a cross-sectional study using magnetic resonance imaging.

Journal Article Neurology · March 1992 Seventy-six healthy adults underwent magnetic resonance imaging (1.5 T) to investigate the effects of age on regional cerebral volumes and on the frequency and severity of cortical atrophy, lateral ventricular enlargement, and subcortical hyperintensity. I ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of supervised exercise on the psychological well-being and health status of older veterans.

Journal Article J Appl Gerontol · December 1991 This study examined the impact of supervised exercise on the health status (measured by the Sickness Impact Profile [SIP]) and well-being (measured by the Psychological General Well-Being Index [PGWB]) of a sample of 43 elderly veterans. The intervention c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two-year trends in physical performance following supervised exercise among community-dwelling older veterans.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · October 1991 The extent to which exercise can delay the normal decline in physical performance associated with aging is unknown. We examined the impact of 2 years of supervised exercise on cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and strength in a group of elderly (age 65- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two-year trends in physical performance following supervised exercise among community-dwelling older veterans.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · June 1991 The extent to which exercise can delay the normal decline in physical performance associated with aging is unknown. We examined the impact of 2 years of supervised exercise on cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and strength in a group of elderly (age 65- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of a supervised exercise program in a geriatric population.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · April 1989 Most studies that assess the effects of exercise in the elderly involve subjects who are in good health. The objective of this prospective longitudinal study was to examine the impact of exercise on cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and strength in an e ... Full text Link to item Cite

EFFECTS OF A 16 WEEK EXERCISE PROGRAM ON VETERANS AGED 65 TO 90

Journal Article JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY · September 1, 1987 Link to item Cite

Occult temporal arteritis.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · November 1986 Full text Link to item Cite

On-call: now, and then.

Journal Article N C Med J · May 1986 Link to item Cite

When the get up and go has got up and went.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · April 1986 Full text Link to item Cite

Family medicine at Duke: excellence defined.

Journal Article N C Med J · June 1985 Link to item Cite

Medical specialty referrals from a student health service

Journal Article Journal of the American College Health Association · January 1, 1983 During a 10-week period, 51 referrals resulted from 3171 visits to the Student Health Service, a referral rate of 1.6%. Specialties receiving the most frequent referrals were orthopedics (31%), ophthalmology (16%), general surgery (10%), and gynecology (10 ... Full text Cite

Factors related to an effective referral and consultation process.

Journal Article J Fam Pract · October 1982 A study of 141 consecutive referrals from family physicians in four clinic sites was undertaken to obtain descriptive characteristics of the referral-consultation process and to identify factors associated with effective outcomes. Consultation reports were ... Link to item Cite

A compact course in family medicine for preclinical medical students

Journal Article Journal of Medical Education · December 1, 1980 It is possible to have a positive impact on student attitudes toward health care issues with a short, well-timed course presenting and modeling the perspectives of family medicine. ... Cite

Adherence to explicit strategies for common medical conditions.

Journal Article Med Care · April 1980 Explicit strategies (protocols) were prepared by the staff of a primary care clinic for use as professional standards by physicians, nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants to improve care and facilitate quality assessment in cases of urinary tract ... Full text Link to item Cite

Standards for practice: effectiveness and acceptance.

Journal Article Ann Intern Med · November 1978 Carefully designed and highly specific standards for medical practice can improve the pattern of practice when applied by interested and committed physicians or by other similarly motivated health care providers. However, this is not popular with the physi ... Full text Link to item Cite

The cost of auditing outpatient records.

Journal Article South Med J · October 1976 When patient records are to be auditied in a program designed to assess the quality of medical care rendered, careful consideration must be given to the cost of the system implemented. Structured data collection and a defined treatment plan are advantageou ... Full text Link to item Cite

Physician extenders, protocols, and quality medical care.

Journal Article Bull N Y Acad Med · January 1976 Link to item Cite

Viral aseptic meningitis: 12 years' experience.

Journal Article Mo Med · September 1971 Link to item Cite