Public Health Commons^™

Opening A Student-Run Pro Bono Occupational Therapy Pediatric Clinic, Anne H. Zachry

Faculty Presentations

This presentation described the opening of a student-run pro bono pediatric therapy clinic that provides services to children/families who are economically disadvantaged. The benefits of participation for students and clients were reviewed, and fund-raising and the development of a mission statement were discussed.

A Validated Measure For Fertility Awareness: An Essential Step Toward Informed Reproductive Decision-Making, Brennan Peterson

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

"The efforts by Kudesia and colleagues (1) to create and validate a fertility awareness survey is a vital development in the field of reproductive health care. The 29-item Fertility and Infertility Treatment Knowledge Score (FIT-KS) was created to measure fertility awareness and infertility treatment knowledge in the general population and among medical trainees. Using a combination of existing questionnaires, consultation with specialists in test construction, and clinical recommendations of an expert panel of 15 reproductive endocrinologists, the FIT-KS is the first of its kind in the United States. The authors should be commended for their foresight and attempts to address …

Web Resources For Physician Wellness, Elizabeth C. Lawrence

Office of Physician and Student Wellness (OPSW)

A current listing of websites, TED talks, and podcasts related to physician wellness and resiliency.

Refugee-Centered Medical Home:A New Approach To Care At The University Of Louisville Global Health Center, Rahel Bosson, Ruth M. Carrico, Anupama Raghuram, Paula Peyrani, William A. Mattingly, Rebecca Ford, Stephen P. Furmanek, Julio A. Ramirez

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

Refugees arrive to the United States with a full spectrum of health conditions, many of which involve intense case management requiring significant financial investments and use of healthcare resources. Kentucky receives more than 3,000 new refugees each year and ranked 10th in the nation for numbers of new arrivals resettled during 2015. These refugees arrive from diverse countries representing different cultures and speaking different languages. In addition, they arrive with diverse health conditions and medical needs. The aims of this paper are to share experiences from the University of Louisville Global Health Center regarding conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of a …

Aligning Opioid Prescribing Pathways, Andrea Lai, Outpatient Pharmacy, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

There is a drug epidemic sweeping the State of Maine and it continues to worsen each passing year. In 2017, the Maine legislature passed Public Law Chapter 488 to strengthen the controlled substance prescription monitoring program. An outpatient pharmacy, located in a large acute care hospital, created a performance improvement project to clarify opioid prescription and resolve any non-compliance with Chapter 488.

After a root cause analysis, several KPIs were established to include tracking the number of phone calls made by pharmacists to non-compliant providers to clarify scripts, provide one on one education and ultimately resolve non-compliance. Repeat offenders were …

Effective Methods For Domestic Violence Screening In The Emergency Department, Megan Bryan

Grace Peterson Nursing Research Colloquium

Abstract

Background: The CDC reports that one in four women and one in ten men will experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetime that will have either a short-term or long-term impact on their well-being. Often the first place these victims are seen where they can receive help is the emergency department. Objectives: The goal of this systematic integrative literature review was to explore existing literature on domestic violence screening methods used in the emergency department and determine which methods prove most effective. Concurrently, this review examined the barriers to effective domestic violence screening and how nursing education …

Improving Access And Utilization Of Data To Support Research And Programs Intended To Eliminate Disparities And Promote Health Equity, Rosaly Correa-De-Araujo

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Numerous Federal initiatives are addressing health and health care disparities. The ultimate goal is to achieve “a nation free of disparities in health and health care.” Social determinants of health remain mostly responsible for health/health care disparities among population groups within and between countries. In the United States, there is little evidence that disparities associated with such determinants are decreasing, with only 10% of those associated with race/ethnicity and income having demonstrated improvement in recent years. A variety of data sources are available from the Federal and private sectors to support research on disparities, but no single national survey seems …

Bibliography Of Physician Wellness Resources, Elizabeth C. Lawrence

Office of Physician and Student Wellness (OPSW)

Current list of articles and books on physician wellness.

Implementation Of The National Asthma Guidelines In A Residential Pediatric Clinic, Patricia A. Foster-Staples

Dissertations

Abstract

Purpose: Foster care children admitted to residential facilities are a unique and vulnerable group, many presenting with undiagnosed or poorly managed asthma. The alarming rate of residents admitted to a particular residential primary care clinic with a diagnosis of asthma led to the project question: “Based on record reviews, does staff education about the importance of utilizing the national guidelines for asthma education influence the implementation of such guidelines in a residential pediatric clinic?” The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement a systematic process to influence practice change. The project was conducted over a period …

Unm Gme Resources - July 2017, Elizabeth C. Lawrence

Office of Physician and Student Wellness (OPSW)

No abstract provided.

Vitamin C To Decrease The Effects Of Smoking In Pregnancy On Infant Lung Function (Vcsip): Rationale, Design, And Methods Of A Randomized, Controlled Trial Of Vitamin C Supplementation In Pregnancy For The Primary Prevention Of Effects Of In Utero Tobacco Smoke Exposure On Infant Lung Function And Respiratory Health, Cindy T. Mcevoy, Kristin F. Milner, Ashley J. Scherman, Diane G. Schilling, Christina J. Tiller, Brittany Vuylsteke, Lyndsey E. Shorey-Kendrick, Eliot R. Spindel, Robert Schuff, Julie Mitchell, Dawn Peters, Jill Metz, David Haas, Keith Jackson, Robert S. Tepper, Cynthia D. Morris

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite strong anti-smoking efforts, at least 12% of American women cannot quit smoking when pregnant resulting in > 450,000 smoke-exposed infants born yearly. Smoking during pregnancy is the largest preventable cause of childhood respiratory illness including wheezing and asthma. Recent studies have shown a protective effect of vitamin C supplementation on the lung function of offspring exposed to in utero smoke in a non-human primate model and an initial human trial. Vitamin C to Decrease the Effects of Smoking in Pregnancy on Infant Lung Function (VCSIP) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate pulmonary function at 3 months of age …

Immunizations And Health Disparities: Immunizations Provided Across A Diverse Population, Jeffery A. Goad, Tania Gregorian

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"Vaccines help contain the spread of diseases and reduce morbidity and mortality. For any vaccination effort to succeed, vaccine uptake must be widespread across the entire population. However, the US population is very diverse, and there are various groups with different attitudes and beliefs regarding vaccination; this leads to disparities in vaccination rates. The Healthy People initiative, a program managed by Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the US Department of Health and Human Services HHS that aims to provide Americans with evidence-based, 10-year national objectives for improving their health defines a disparity in health care as 'a …

Therapy Dogs And The Impact On Employees In The Pediatric Medical Setting, Laine Foith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than 40% of nurses reported experiencing significant burnout. Burnout is characterized by disengagement, cynicism, negative views of personal accomplishment and ability, and emotional exhaustion. The healthcare providers that experience burnout can possibly expect a decrease in ability to recognize/report errors, increase of negative feelings toward the patient, and decrease levels of patient satisfaction (Ernest, 2014). One of the ways Schub (2015) suggested to regulate burnout for employees was to provide psychosocial support to colleagues to reduce stress. This study is one of the first attempts to bridge the gap between the unknown correlation between qualitative and quantitative benefits of …

Determining The Knowledge, Attitudes And Beliefs Of Healthcare Providers In Treating Non-Specific Acute And Chronic Back Pain, Stacey L. Kale

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

An Abstract of the Scholarly Project by

Stacey Kale

Managing back pain has become a public health and clinical challenge (Krein et al., 2016). Incidence of back pain related complaints requiring treatment in the US is estimated at 11.2% of the adult population (Dowell, Haegerich, & Chou, 2016). New research suggests that it is the most common pain problem (Pauline, 2016). It is the third most expensive health disorder and is exceeded only by cancer and heart disease. Many health care providers lack formal pain management education and training thus leaving them at risk for failing to properly manage patients …

Female Circumcision: Attitudes, Knowledge And Beliefs Within The Deaf Community, Morgane Vincent

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Female Genital Circumcision (FGC) is a cultural practice by which female genitalia are cut for non-medical purposes. Although the Western world has seen the number of circumcised youth rise, very few studies have been conducted in developed countries. Even fewer are studies on minority groups regarding female circumcision; none explicitly involve deaf people. For this study, 76 deaf or hard of hearing individuals living in the U.S., whose primary means of communication was English or American Sign Language, completed a survey about FGC before and after viewing videos. One video showed an African woman who had experienced FGC, and the …

New Outpatient Experience Survey Design: A Quality Improvement Case Study, Nathan Paluso

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The purpose of this capstone project is to evaluate the implementation process for a new survey methodology introduced by Maine Medical Partners (MMP), by following the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) quality improvement cycle framework. This new survey has been implemented to collect data on patients’ experiences in the MMP outpatient facilities, and is offered to the patients via iPad at check-out after their appointment. Through observation at MMP practices and MMP staff interviews, strengths and weaknesses of the implementation process have been identified. Evidence-based solutions pertaining to the identified weaknesses have been selected through a literature review and are incorporated in recommendations …

Humor In Medicine: A Literature Review Of Humor’S Potential Therapeutic Value In Health Care, Weston Michael Grant

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Using humor and laughter within the health care field has the potential to be relevant to patients during treatment, to the patient-caregiver relationship, to the subjective well-being of health care providers, and to the environments’ (e.g., work settings) impact on group relationships (e.g., colleagues). A review of the literature examines how the psychological and physiological effects of laughter and humor within the human body impact health and well-being, how humor and laughter improve the patient-practitioner relationship, and if humor and laughter can potentially impact physician burnout. Several possible implications for these findings are discussed, such as professional medical comedians, improvements …

Emergency Preparedness Competencies Among Nurses In Northwest Arkansas, Taylor A. Matlock

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite years of training and experience, evidence suggests nurses report wide gaps in emergency competencies and disaster preparedness. Further, nurses report low levels of familiarity in competencies related to planning for disasters, implementing disaster guidelines, and assessing patients exposed to biological and chemical agents. This research sought to establish the self-reported level of emergency preparedness competencies of nurses in Northwest Arkansas, an area that faces a diverse set of potential disasters ranging from nuclear accidents to pandemic disease. Additionally, differences between of the level of preparedness by education level or work specialty were studied. The results are alarming in that …

How Safe Is Healthcare? Perceptions Within The Healthcare Community And The General Public., Rodhan A. Khthir, Shahed Elhamdani, Ibrahim Hatab, Felyn Espina, Gerry Asuncion, Sutoidem Akpanudo

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Objectives: Complexity of health care is progressively increasing and with that the number of medical errors and adverse events are increasing to an alarming level. The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of healthcare safety within the healthcare community and the general public and examine the association between the perception regarding healthcare safety and the prior exposure to medical errors.

Methods: The study is a cross-sectional online survey. The online survey included basic demographics and a series of questions related to the knowledge and perception about healthcare safety and personal healthcare experience.

Results: 504 respondent …

Experiences Of Communication Barriers Between Physicians And Immigrant Patients: A Systematic Review And Thematic Synthesis, Salim Ahmed, Sonya Lee, Nusrat Shommu, Nahid Rumana, Tanvir Turin

Patient Experience Journal

Frequent immigration of peoples from outside often challenges various systems of any country; healthcare sector is the most confronted one. One of the most prominent reasons for this confrontation is communication gap between physicians and immigrant patients. In this systematic narrative review, we studied existing literature on physician-immigrant patient communication. We systematically searched the repositories of literature and followed some criteria to select literature. We selected 32 literatures for information extraction. Three themes emerged from the synthesis: Physicians’ viewpoint about communication barrier with their immigrant patients, Immigrant patients’ viewpoint about the communication barrier with their physicians, and Interpreter as a …

Health Literacy Skills Of Aging Populations And Its Impact On The Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease, Peter Gorman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a threat to both the economic and social well being of Switzerland. Cardiovascular disease is easily a preventable disease, yet continues to take over the world. One’s ability to read and comprehend health information from medical professionals is a vital component of maintaining and improving an individuals’ overall health. Health literacy can have an impact on the effectiveness of preventive interventions in health behaviors and the success of health outcomes. Studies have shown that well-educated and financially improved persons have a higher health competence than lower educated persons.1 Given that cardiovascular disease is the number one …

Development And Validation Of Measures To Evaluate Adolescents' Knowledge About Human Papillomavirus (Hpv), Involvement In Hpv Vaccine Decision-Making, Self-Efficacy To Receive The Vaccine And Fear And Anxiety, A. S. Forster, K. A. Mcbride, C. Davies, T. Stoney, H. Marshall, K. Mcgeechan, Spring C. Cooper, S. R. Skinner

Publications and Research

Objectives: We describe the development and validation of measures of human papillomavirus (HPV)/HPV vaccination knowledge, fear/anxiety about vaccination, involvement in HPV vaccine decision-making, and self-efficacy with regard to getting the vaccine, designed to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to affect these domains (collectively termed the HAVIQ: HPV Adolescent Vaccine Intervention Questionnaire). Study design: Literature search, cognitive interviews and cross-sectional survey.

Methods: A literature search identified existing items that were modified for the present measures. Experts reviewed draft measures for face and content validity. Cognitive interviews with adolescents were also used to assess content validity. Adolescents completed the measures and …

A Place-Based Community Health Worker Program: Feasibility And Early Outcomes, New York City, 2015, Priscilla M. Lopez, Nadia Islam, Alexis Feinberg, Christa Myers, Lois Seidl, Elizabeth Drackett, Lindsay Riley, Andreas Mata, Juan Pinzon, Elisabeth Benjamin, Katarzyna Wyka, Rachel Dannefer, Javier Lopez, Chau Trinh-Shevrin, Karen Aletha Maybank, Lorna E. Thorpe

Publications and Research

Introduction: This study examined feasibility of a place-based community health worker (CHW) and health advocate (HA) initiative in five public housing developments selected for high chronic disease burden and described early outcomes.

Methods: This intervention was informed by a mixed-method needs assessment performed December 2014–January 2015 (representative telephone survey, n¼1,663; six focus groups, n¼55). Evaluation design was a non-randomized, controlled quasi-experiment. Intake and 3-month follow-up data were collected February–December 2015 (follow-up response rate, 93%) on 224 intervention and 176 comparison participants, and analyzed in 2016. All participants self-reported diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes, or asthma. The intervention consisted of chronic disease …

Communicative Behaviors Elicited By Leisure Activities In Memory Care Units, Tarynn Clune

Honors Projects

A wide variety of leisure activities used in reminiscence care have been studied for their merits in terms of preventing cognitive decline, and increasing quality of life; however, little is known about what different types have to offer in terms of communicative opportunities. Communication with peers is imperative for quality of life, and is crucial for maintenance of relationships between the person with dementia (PWD) and their loved ones. As a result of this importance, an exploration of communication elicited by different activities facilitated in a unit was conducted. The communication explored in this study was solely vocal, and included …

A Community-Driven Intervention For Improving Biospecimen Donation In African American Communities, Kushal Patel, Wendelyn Inman, Jemal Gishe, Owen Johnson, Elizabeth Brown, Mohamed Kanu, Rosemary Theriot, Maureen Sanderson, Pamela Hull, Margaret Hargreaves

Public Health, Health Administration, and Health Sciences Faculty Research

Introduction

Human biospecimens are an invaluable resource for addressing cancers and other chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention on biospecimen knowledge and attitudes.

Methods

The participants consisted of 112 African Americans, 18 years and older, and who had not provided biospecimens for any health-related research in the past. A total of 55 participants received the educational brochure, and 57 received the educational video. The main outcomes of the study were knowledge and attitudes for biospecimen donation. This information was collected pre- and post-intervention.

Results

The average knowledge scores increased ( …

A Critical Discussion Of Patient Engagement In Research, Andrea Elaine Bombak, Heather M. Hanson

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Patients are increasingly expected to take a more involved role in research. Funding for some projects now requires incorporating patients’ viewpoints or involvement in research processes. While intended to achieve commendable goals, it is important to critically assess the means used to achieve these aims. Presently, there may be issues of valuing only certain epistemologies, failing to evaluate existing programs and their impacts, marginalizing less “engaged” patients, and promoting only tokenism. These are areas that require exploration and reflection before assuming that patient engagement approaches are sufficient or the only means of incorporating patient perspectives into research.

Fusion, 2017, George Washington University, William H. Beaumont Medical Research Honor Society

Fusion

No abstract provided.

Peru : Zika Virus, Benjamin Martin

Global Public Health

This document covers zika virus as a public health issue in Peru. Peru is a coastal country in South America. It has a population of 31,777,000 and faces many problems in the years to come. Some of those problems are a largely informal economy, the melting of glaciers, and lots of the population are impoverish and under-educated. These challenges the country is facing makes zika virus more dangerous. Zika virus is a disease that is spreading across the world and is most dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause birth defects for the child, such as microcephaly. In this …

Liberia : Maternal Health & Ebola, Chelsey Hernandez

Global Public Health

Throughout the world, many low-income countries suffer from poor nutrition, lack of health resources, and little to no access to other valuable resources. Previous research has demonstrated the poor state of health in Liberia as a result of these various socioeconomic factors. Although Liberia faces many public health issues, the 2014 Ebola epidemic reversed whatever progress was made. Maternal and child health in particular has severely decreased, especially in recent years. This brief focuses on the impact of the 2014 Ebola epidemic had on maternal health.

Training Us Health Care Professionals On Human Trafficking: Where Do We Go From Here?, Clydette Powell, Kirsten Dickins, Hanni Stoklosa

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Some 21 million adults and children are labor-trafficked or sex-trafficked through force, fraud, or coercion. In recognition of the interface between trafficking victims and the healthcare setting, over the last 10 years there has been a notable increase in training of health care professionals (HCPs) on human trafficking (HT) and its health implications. Many organizations have developed curricula and offered training in various clinical settings. However, methods and content of this education on trafficking vary widely, and there is little evaluation of the impact of the training. The goal of this study was to assess the gaps and strengths in …