Bio


Dr. Nancy Cuan is an internal medicine primary care physician at Stanford Coordinated Care (SCC). SCC is a primary care medicine practice that is a benefit for eligible members of the Stanford University, Stanford Health Care, SLAC and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital community and their covered adult dependents with ongoing health conditions. More information, including a self-assessment to determine eligibility based on health condition(s) and health insurance, can be found at the Stanford Coordinated Care website.

Prior to joining Stanford Coordinated Care, she had practiced for many years at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and helped with the resident training program there. She has had experience in working with patients with multiple ongoing medical conditions.

Clinical Focus


  • Internal Medicine

Academic Appointments


Professional Education


  • Residency: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Dept of Medicine (2000) CA
  • Internship: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Dept of Medicine (1998) CA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (2000)
  • Medical Education: University of California - San Francisco (1997) CA

2024-25 Courses


All Publications


  • Bridging the Telehealth Digital Divide With Collegiate Navigators: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study of a Service-Learning Health Disparities Course. JMIR medical education Doueiri, Z. N., Bajra, R., Srinivasan, M., Schillinger, E., Cuan, N. 2024; 10: e57077

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND: Limited digital literacy is a barrier for vulnerable patients accessing health care.OBJECTIVE: The Stanford Technology Access Resource Team (START), a service-learning course created to bridge the telehealth digital divide, trained undergraduate and graduate students to provide hands-on patient support to improve access to electronic medical records (EMRs) and video visits while learning about social determinants of health.METHODS: START students reached out to 1185 patients (n=711, 60% from primary care clinics of a large academic medical center and n=474, 40% from a federally qualified health center). Registries consisted of patients without an EMR account (at primary care clinics) or patients with a scheduled telehealth visit (at a federally qualified health center). Patient outcomes were evaluated by successful EMR enrollments and video visit setups. Student outcomes were assessed by reflections coded for thematic content.RESULTS: Over 6 academic quarters, 57 students reached out to 1185 registry patients. Of the 229 patients contacted, 141 desired technical support. START students successfully established EMR accounts and set up video visits for 78.7% (111/141) of patients. After program completion, we reached out to 13.5% (19/141) of patients to collect perspectives on program utility. The majority (18/19, 94.7%) reported that START students were helpful, and 73.7% (14/19) reported that they had successfully connected with their health care provider in a digital visit. Inability to establish access included a lack of Wi-Fi or device access, the absence of an interpreter, and a disability that precluded the use of video visits. Qualitative analysis of student reflections showed an impact on future career goals and improved awareness of health disparities of technology access.CONCLUSIONS: Of the patients who desired telehealth access, START improved access for 78.7% (111/141) of patients. Students found that START broadened their understanding of health disparities and social determinants of health and influenced their future career goals.

    View details for DOI 10.2196/57077

    View details for PubMedID 39353186

  • Incorporating the Patient Voice Into Practice Improvement: A Role for Medical Trainees. Family medicine Hsu, K. Y., Contreras, V. M., Vollrath, K., Cuan, N., Lin, S. 2019; 51 (4): 348–52

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Many primary care clinics rely on providers and staff to generate quality improvement (QI) ideas without explicitly including patients. However, without understanding patient perspectives, clinics may miss areas for improvement. We identified practice improvement opportunities using a medical student-driven pilot of QI design that incorporates the patient voice and explored provider/staff perceptions of patient perspectives.METHODS: One medical student interviewed eight patients for their perspectives on QI opportunities at a university-based primary care practice. Two trainees independently coded interview transcripts using directed content analysis (final codebook: 11 themes) and determined frequency of mentions for each theme. We surveyed 11 providers/staff by asking them to select 5 of the 11 themes and place them in rank order based on their perceptions of patient concerns; their surveys were aggregated into one ranked list.RESULTS: Patients most frequently identified the following themes as QI opportunities: relationship (ie, feeling of personal connection with providers/staff), specialty care, convenience, sustainability, and goal follow-up. While patients frequently identified relationship (rank=1) and goal follow-up (rank=3) as QI opportunities, the provider/staff top five list did not include relationship (rank=10) or goal follow-up (rank=7).CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates two things: (1) there are areas of discordance between provider/staff perceptions and patient perspectives regarding practice improvement opportunities; and (2) medical students can participate meaningfully in the QI process. By harnessing patient perspectives with the help of medical trainees, clinics may better understand patient concerns and avoid potential QI blind spots.

    View details for PubMedID 30973624