Drug overdose death rates have increased steadily in the United States since 1979. In 2008, a total of 36,450 drug overdose deaths (i.e., unintentional, intentional [suicide or homicide], or undetermined intent) were reported, with prescription opioid analgesics (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone), cocaine, and heroin the drugs most commonly involved . ...

OBJECTIVE:: To test feasibility of yoga within a high school curriculum and evaluate preventive efficacy for psychosocial well-being. METHODS:: Grade 11 or 12 students (N = 51) who registered for physical education (PE) were cluster-randomized by class 2:1 yoga:PE-as-usual. A Kripalu-based yoga program of physical postures, breathing exercises, relaxation, and ...

The Media Ready Program was designed as a middle school, media literacy education, preventive intervention program to improve adolescents' media literacy skills and reduce their intention to use alcohol or tobacco products. In a short-term efficacy trial, schools in North Carolina were randomly assigned to conditions (Media Ready: n = 214; control: ...

PURPOSE: We determined whether a web based interview process for resident selection could effectively replace the traditional on-site interview. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the 2010 to 2011 match cycle, applicants to the University of New Mexico urology residency program were randomized to participate in a web based interview process via ...

OBJECTIVEWe evaluated the impact of an automated decision support tool (DST) on clinicians' ability to identify glycemic abnormalities in structured self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) data and then make appropriate therapeutic changes based on the glycemic patterns observed.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSIn this prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter study, 288 clinicians (39.6% ...

The authors used a multipronged approach to gain resident involvement in institutional quality improvement over a 3-year period; the initiative included a survey, a retreat, workgroups, a resurvey, and another retreat. Survey results (from 2007 compared with those of 2010) demonstrated significant improvement in almost all the top issues concerning ...

OBJECTIVES: The school environment has been the focus of many health initiatives over the years as a means to address the childhood obesity crisis. The availability of low-nutrient, high-calorie foods and beverages to students via vending machines further exacerbates the issue of childhood obesity. However, a healthy overhaul of vending ...

BACKGROUND: Improvements in the safety of the prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines are identified as a priority across international healthcare systems. It is therefore essential that higher education institutions play their part in helping to meet this patient safety objective. New developments in clinical skills education which are aligned ...

In Patricia Benner's book, Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation, she recommends essential changes in policy, curriculum, and in the way nursing programs approach student learning. This study explored how two of Benner's key recommendations, (1) integrating the theoretical component and the clinical component and (2) moving education from ...

The cost analysis of a real facility for the production of high value microalgae biomass is presented. The facility is based on ten 3m(3) tubular photobioreactors operated in continuous mode for 2years, data of Scenedesmus almeriensis productivity but also of nutrients and power consumption from this facility being used. The ...

Rationale, aims and objectives  One of the main barriers against the implementation of evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the lack of search skills, an element that affects the finding of the best available evidence. Faculty staff should be capable of using the best evidence in practice and of teaching students to ...

IntroductionThe natural disaster in South-East Asia had a great impact in Sweden affecting many individuals and families. In this paper, a series of strategies from Ersta Association for Diaconal Work (Ersta) are described to reach survivors by the tsunami of 26 December 2004, from January 2005 to August 2007.AimsTo find ...

There is a growing body of literature concerning the needs of informal carers, however, there is little relating to the needs of carers who are also university students. There are a number of publications concerning the difficulties university studies may cause and in particular the stress that some healthcare students ...

BACKGROUND: This study tested in children with cerebral palsy (CP) whether motor habilitation resembles motor learning. METHODS: Twelve children with hemiplegic CP ages 5 to 12 years with moderate to severe motor impairments underwent a 16-session robot-mediated planar therapy program to improve upper limb reach, with a focus on shoulder ...

INTRODUCTION: Technology and market forces are driving the demand for cancer risk assessment services in the community setting, where few clinicians are trained to order and interpret predictive genetic tests. City of Hope conducts a three-phase course in genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA) for community-based clinicians, comprised of distance didactics, ...

This article describes Participatory Training Evaluation Method (PATEM) of measuring participants' reaction to the training. PATEM provides rich information; allows to document evaluation findings; becomes organic part of the training that helps participants process their experience individually and as a group; makes sense to participants; is an interesting and exciting ...

This prospective, mixed-methods study investigated how the nature of joint activities between volunteer mentors and student mentees corresponded to relationship quality and youth outcomes. Focusing on relationships in school-based mentoring programs in low-income urban elementary schools, data were obtained through pre-post assessments, naturalistic observations, and in-depth interviews with mentors and ...

Drawing on interviews and survey results from a national study of nursing education, this article discusses student learning related to professional responsibilities. It explores what is missing when students do not have the opportunity to reflect on the multiple commitments they will meet in nursing. Inspired by the moral philosopher ...

A follow-up program to help patients suffering from severe osteoporosis during their therapy with teriparatide or PTH(1-84) has been designed and performed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the 18-month persistence on these therapies in patients participating in the program. We enrolled 382 patients who started teriparatide or ...

ObjectivesChild fatality review (CFR) is the systematic, interdisciplinary, multi-agency examination of paediatric deaths. While CFR findings may influence policies and reduce preventable fatalities, limited resources challenge accurate CFR data collection and prevention recommendations. Therefore, using technology to improve efficiency of reviews and access to remote participants could enhance the CFR ...

Objective. To investigate students' views on and satisfaction with faculty feedback on their academic performance.Methods. A 41-item survey instrument was developed based on a literature review relating to effective feedback. All pharmacy undergraduate students were invited via e-mail to complete the self-administered electronic questionnaire relating to their views on feedback, ...

Objective. To assess the impact of an audience response system (ARS) on student engagement at a multi-campus college of pharmacy.Methods. An online questionnaire was designed and administered to measure the impact of an ARS on student engagement, distance education, projected use, and satisfaction among pharmacy students for a course delivered ...

Objective. To introduce pharmacy students to a patient-centered mnemonic to aid them in remembering the most important parameters when assessing a patient's drug therapy and to determine whether use of the device improved students' clinical examination scores.Design. Second-year pharmacy students were randomized to an intervention group or a control group. ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: This study seeks to extend earlier Australian school drug education research by developing and measuring the effectiveness of a comprehensive, evidence-based, harm reduction focused school drug education program for junior secondary students aged 13 to 15 years. The intervention draws on the recent literature as to the common ...

The teamwork that is required for interprofessional collaboration in healthcare is not an inherent attribute of the current system, and must be fostered. Education, training, and role modelling are important enablers. From our experience we posit that participating in a quality improvement project can be also be an excellent vehicle ...

Significant advances in the measurement of atmospheric mercury species have been made in the past 10 years yet limited protocols on quality control (QC) and assurance on this data have been published in the literature. Recently, considerable work has been done to develop quality control and assurance programs within North ...

Integrating organizationally targeted wellness strategies into the routine conduct of business has shown promise in engaging captive audiences at highest risk of obesity and obesity-related health consequences. This paper presents a process evaluation of the implementation of the University of California, Los Angeles, Working Out Regularly Keeps Individuals Nurtured and ...

PURPOSE.: Many programs aimed at mitigating the problem of uncorrected refractive error and the resulting avoidable blindness use recycled (donated) spectacles as a seemingly inexpensive expedient. This article analyses the costs and benefits of recycled spectacles and compares them with alternative methodologies. Although well intentioned, it is argued that recycled ...

One of the biggest challenges that a physician will face is conveying difficult news (CDN) to a patient. The ability to provide this information may either strengthen or destroy the patient-physician relationship. Despite the importance of this skill, formal education for medical students has been limited. To improve upon skill ...

Students in an undergraduate legal and ethical issues course continually told the authors that they did not have time to study for the course because they were busy studying for their clinical courses. Faculty became concerned that students were failing to realize the value of legal and ethical concepts as ...

Identity formation and the perceived quality of one's peer relationships are theorized to be intimately linked in emerging adulthood. The present study examined the associations between identity styles (i.e., information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant styles) and the quality of relationships with peers (as indexed by friendship quality and loneliness) in a ...

Essential evaluator competencies as identified by Stevahn, King, Ghere, and Minnema (2005) were studied in regard to how well they generalize to an Asian (Taiwan) context. A fuzzy Delphi survey with two iterations was used to collect data from 12 experts. While most competencies fit Taiwan, there were a number ...

All of the costs associated with decontamination following the 2001 anthrax letter attacks were summarized, estimated, and aggregated based on existing literature and news media reports. A comprehensive list of all affected structures was compiled. Costs were analyzed by building class and decontamination type. Sampling costs and costs of worker ...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of surgical diseases in low income countries is thought to be very large, but to date no population-based survey has documented the need. The Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need (SOSAS) is a survey tool programmed for use with iPads to measure the prevalence of surgical conditions. ...

This paper discusses the findings of a multiple case study of a European health promotion project-Shape Up-a school-community approach to influencing determinants of a healthy and balanced growing up. The project sought to develop children's capacity to critically explore and act to improve health-related conditions at school and in the ...

Purpose: The Independence through Community Access and Navigation (I-CAN) intervention was developed to increase community participation in adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) through identification of interest-based recreation activities and supported participation. Method: Ten individuals consented to participate in a 10-week pilot intervention. Eight individuals participated in the intervention, during ...

OBJECTIVE:To examine trends in pediatric residents' training and job search experiences from 2003 through 2009.METHODS:Annual national random samples of 500 graduating pediatric residents from 2003 through 2005 and 1000 from 2006 through 2009 were surveyed. Responses were compared across years to identify trends. We examined resident demographics, training, satisfaction, career ...

Pay for performance (P4P) has become a popular approach to performance improvement in health care. Most of the P4P literature has focused on the United States and there is limited insight in the characteristics of major programs initiated in other countries. This article systematically describes and reviews P4P programs outside ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Children who witness interparental violence are at a heightened risk for developing psychosocial, behavioral and cognitive problems, as well as posttraumatic stress symptoms. For these children the psycho-educational secondary prevention program 'En nu ik...!' ('It's my turn now!') has been developed. This program includes specific therapeutic factors focused ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This analogue study served as a proof of concept trial for inoculation/resilience training with emergency services personnel. METHODS: Eighty people from the general community participated in a randomized controlled trial of inoculation training to increase resilience in the mitigation of stress and trauma-type symptomatology following a stressful ...

Rationale, aims and objectives  Healthcare professionals need a new skill set to ensure the success of quality improvement in healthcare. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiated the VA National Quality Scholars fellowship in 1998; its mission is to improve the quality of care, ensure safety, accelerate healthcare re-design, and ...

There are many mandated school-based programs to prevent adolescent alcohol and drug (AOD) use, but few are voluntary and take place outside of class time. This cluster randomized controlled trial evaluates CHOICE, a voluntary after-school program for younger adolescents, which reduced both individual- and school-level alcohol use in a previous ...

Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide emissions and options for its reduction are integral to climate policy. In addition to providing potentially low cost and near-term options for reducing global carbon emissions, reducing deforestation also could support biodiversity conservation. However, current understanding of the potential benefits ...

PURPOSE: Epilepsy has been linked to divine, demonic and supernatural powers throughout its long history. This study was conducted to explore if misconceptions such as possession by demons (Jinns) are still believed to be a cause of epilepsy among educated Saudis today. METHOD: This study was conducted among university-educated school ...

Strategies that promote the independent demonstration of skills across educational settings are critical for improving the accessibility of general education settings for students with ASD. This research assessed the impact of an individual work system on the accuracy of task completion and level of adult prompting across educational setting. Student ...

Abstract Prior research involving response rates in Web-based surveys has not adequately addressed the effect of the reputation of a sponsoring corporation that contracts with a survey provider. This study investigates the effect of two factors, namely, the reputation of a survey's provider and the reputation of a survey's sponsoring ...

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the background, design and evaluation of a theory-informed education and decision support program for cancer patients considering complementary medicine (CM). METHODS: The program was informed by the Shared Decision Making theory, the Ottawa Decision Support Framework and the Supportive Care Framework. Previous empirical evidence and baseline ...

Collaborative Evaluation systematically invites and engages stakeholders in program evaluation planning and implementation. Unlike "distanced" evaluation approaches, which reject stakeholder participation as evaluation team members, Collaborative Evaluation assumes that active, on-going engagement between evaluators and program staff, result in stronger evaluation designs, enhanced data collection and analysis, and results that ...

Worldwide, more than 247 billion e-mails are sent each day. Little empiric evidence is available to guide how e-mail presentation style, tone, and content affect e-mail recipients and whether these factors impact opinions about the sender and the rapidity of response. In a study of physicians in training assessing a ...

This article discusses the issue of creative compliance in pharmaceutical markets. In particular, we explore the case of profit controls in the UK as an indirect way of regulating prices of in-patent originators. We study creative compliance in the presence of profit controls, rather than price controls or the Pharmaceutical ...