PAcific Pulse (Spring 2012)

Essential Health Clinic Become a Preceptor! New Rural Health Care Track Simulation Lab International Service Learninghttps://commons.pacificu.edu/panews/1001/thumbnail.jp

Sexting among adolescents: examining the association between sexting and self-esteem

The primary objective of this study is to provide a systematic review of the published literature, examining the association between sexting and self-esteem in adolescents, and to identify gaps in existing knowledge to provide recommendations for future research

Innovative solutions using online interactive, adaptive technologies to promote well-being and resilience in healthcare educators and students amidst the chaos caused by COVID-19

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting health care institutions and is disrupting the training of future healthcare providers at a time when it is more important than ever to ensure that the educators and students have access to high-quality educational materials and technologies to ensure trainee preparedness for clinical and global health challenges. During this disruption, healthcare teachers are feeling a profound professional loss and burnout due to the challenges of losing their familiar means of teaching and adapting to totally online course delivery. Teachers also struggle to motivate their students through two layers of computer screens. To meet this challenge, online tools have become a viable option with the recent development of information technology. Online learning or E-learning can be used to enhance a classroom course, or as a stand-alone course. These online tools include online labs, videos, high resolution images (X-ray, CT-scan, histology), cadaver labs and adaptive, interactive technology such as practice exams, virtual patients, and learning games. At its core, such systems are intended to identify what a student does and doesn’t understand, identify and provide content that will help the student learn, assess again, help again, etc., until some defined learning goal is achieved. One of its greatest potentials is to target instruction at just above the student’s ability level (to challenge but not discourage the student) and at the student’s specific content needs. Objective: The increasing number of online teaching tools and fast pace of new technology becomes an over-whelming learning curve for the healthcare teacher who must quickly adapt to online teaching. This paper will describe how this author used interactive online resources to deliver an online course in anatomy and physiology, including self-directed modules and learning activities that could be converted to virtual interactions. It will showcase the technology that is available and how to incorporate it into existing courses to utilize what research has shown increases student acceptance and learning outcomes. Methods: A literature review was conducted on the reported research of utilizing on-line, interactive, adaptive technology in healthcare education. In addition, e-learning tools were incorporated into medical education courses taught by the author in online courses. Results: The assessment of suitability revealed that interactive online tools, online cadaver lab and subject-specific assignments for teaching medicine were predominantly viewed as constructive teaching tools. A strong causative factor in improved learning was the interactive, adaptive portions of the e-learning tools. Conclusion: The understanding, study, and use of e-learning educational tools, their place in the hype cycle, and their application in the education of healthcare providers are increasingly important. There is no single solution in moving forward with innovative teaching and learning techniques. Technology changes and advances, learners come in all types and learning styles as do faculty, and time and money are almost always at odds with the day to day operations. However, taking a step and trying out even one new technique, technology, or training experience can create a huge step in a new direction to improving healthcare education even more dramatically over the next decade and assist the stressed out healthcare teacher with delivering effective teaching outcomes and motivating her students in an online teaching situation

Utilizing On-line, Interactive, Adaptive Technology in Nursing Education

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting health care institutions and is disrupting the training of future nurses. It is more important than ever to ensure that the educators and students have access to high-quality educational materials and technologies to ensure trainee preparedness for clinical and global health challenges. To help meet this challenge, online tools have become a viable option with the recent development of information technology. E-learning can be used to enhance a classroom course, or as a stand-alone course. These online tools include online labs, videos, high resolution images (X-ray, CT-scan, histology), cadaver labs and adaptive, interactive technology such as practice exams, virtual patients, and learning games. At its core, such systems are intended to identify what a student does and doesn’t understand, identify and provide content that will help the student learn, assess again, help again, etc., until some defined learning goal is achieved. One of its greatest potentials is to target instruction at just above the student’s ability level (to challenge but not discourage the student) and at the student’s specific content need

Embracing Interactive Technology to Teach Didactic Year Physician Assistant Students [Conference Proceedings Excerpt]

Idea: Integrate adaptive technology into Anatomy curriculum. Need: Physician assistant departments do not have the extensive resources and instruction time to teach anatomy like medical schools. With faster computers and large data storage on the cloud, interactive technology has become quite useful and affordable. Interactive technology is algorithm-based systems that take advantage of advanced mathematical formulas and machine learning concepts to adapt specifically to individual learners. At its core, such systems are intended to identify what a student does and doesn’t understand, identify and provide content that will help the student learn it, assess again, help again, etc., until some defined learning goal is achieved. One of its greatest potentials is to target instruction at just above the student’s ability level (to challenge but not discourage the student) and at the student’s specific content needs. A recent study concluded that some adaptive systems were nearly as effective as one-on-one human tutoring. Methods: Access to the LearnSmart interactive technology will be made available to didactic physician assistant students in the Anatomy course. Lectures using the technology will be given as well as class and after class assignments using the technology. Evaluation Plan: At the end of the course, didactic presentations will be evaluated through review of the student’s responses about the course structure and curriculum. Presence of comments/recommendations about the course and usage of interactive online technologies will be reviewed in written feedback from the course. A PA student’s survey at the end of the course after implementation will assess perceptions about the effectiveness and learning outcomes from using interactive online tools. End of course student evaluations about course content will be monitored for depth of reflection and for effectiveness of teaching. Student performance will be evaluated against the other cohorts. Potential Impact: Interactive technology will assist the learner and will provide effective and affordable tools to utilize to improve learning outcomes. Examples are cadaver labs, histology and CT scan, and Xray imaging labs providing the means to conduct labs without tying up resources

Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Its Importance in the Development of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Helicobacter Pylori (HP) infection has been associated with chronic inflammation of the stomach and may also be associated with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). A literature review was conducted on the reported research of HP infection associated with ITP

Education Research: Neurologic Education in Physician Assistant Programs

Background and Objectives A growing number of advanced practice providers (APPs) are entering neurologic practice, and educational initiatives focused on postgraduate training in neurology for these providers are growing in turn. Neurologic education in APP degree programs is not well defined, which limits the ability to tailor these initiatives to the specific needs of APPs. We aim to describe neurologic education in physician assistant (PA) degree programs to better inform these efforts. Methods The 2018 American Academy of Neurology clerkship director survey was adapted for directors of PA programs via an iterative approach. The survey was distributed to program directors (PDs) of accredited programs in Fall 2021 and again in Spring 2022 for nonresponders. Simultaneously, websites of accredited programs were systematically reviewed for content related to neurologic education. Results Sixty of 255 contacted PDs completed the survey (23.5%). All PDs reported education in selected neuroscience topics. Neuroradiology instruction was included less frequently (66.7%) than neuroanatomy (91.7%) or neurologic examination techniques (95.0%). Twenty-six PDs (43.3%) reported a dedicated neuroscience course; 53 of 260 websites reviewed identified dedicated neuroscience courses (20.8%, k = 0.41). Directors of 10 (38.5%) reported neuroscience courses were neuroscience trained. Only 1 program required a neurology clinical rotation in both the website review (0.4%) and the PD survey (1.7%, k = 1.00). Elective neurology rotations were offered by 51 programs (85.0%) and used by less than 20% of students in 46 programs (92.0%). More programs with dedicated neuroscience didactics (80.0% vs 74.2%) and offerings in clinical neurology (78.7% vs 66.7%) reported graduates pursuing careers in neurology, but these differences were not statistically significant. Discussion Survey respondents reported the inclusion of most of the queried preclinical neuroscience topics, typically distributed throughout the curriculum. Dedicated neuroscience courses were less common and most commonly not taught by a neurologist or neurology APP. Clinical neurology rotations are almost never required, but most programs offer an elective. These results suggest opportunities for augmenting neurologic education in APP degree programs, including encouraging students to take clinical neurology rotations and increasing exposure to APPs practicing neurology. These findings additionally inform key targets for postgraduate educationa

Work-Life Balance Policies and Productivity

To remain viable, businesses must stay competitive in the global marketplace of today, and to be competitive, businesses must maximize all their resources. Employees are a major resource of a business, and it is imperative that a business maximize the productivity of its employees to stay competitive. Employees who are stressed from demands and issues of family and life outside of work do not make productive employees. Work-life balance practices have been adopted by businesses to provide some relief for employees from this stress with the assumption is that these policies will decrease the stress of the employee making the employee more productive and increase the productivity of the business overall. Research has shown that these policies helped the workers in some circumstances, but recent research is showing little to no correlation between adapting these policies and the overall productivity of the business unless the business is a large in size, has a manufacturing focus, or is mainly involved in electronic commerce. The major factor that is showing the most correlation to increased productivity is high-involvement management, or transformational leadership, which incorporates work-life balance practices when needed on an individual basis. The research suggests that a business should put more emphasis on hiring and training good, high-involvement managers and having work-life practices in place for the managers to use rather than just adapting general work-life balance practices

10 Patient-Centered Questions for Clinical Encounters with Transgender Patients

Transgender (TG) individuals face extensive barriers to care that result in detrimental health disparities and increased prevalence of certain medical conditions such as mood disorders, HIV, and substance abuse. Existing research details multiple approaches to aid healthcare providers in reducing these disparities, but they tend to either generalize the transgender community or provide a surplus of information that may potentially overwhelm healthcare providers. This best practices review aims to provide clinicians with an approach that includes 10 patient-centered questions in hopes of improving patient-clinician rapport and addressing the main disparities and health concerns a TG patient may have

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Use in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis: A Literature Review

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies have been growing in popularity in research due to their anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and regenerative properties. Many ongoing clinical trials are investigating the safety and efficacy of MSC therapies to treat osteoarthritis, also known as “wear and tear” arthritis. As the average life expectancy increases, with age people are more prone to developing this disease, therefore, increasing its prevalence. This condition is progressive and will lead to functional decline, decreased quality of life, and increased medical costs. Our focus is to discuss the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell injections in alleviating pain, improving functionality, and slowing the disease progression of osteoarthritis in adults. We systematically reviewed studies through multiple databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, AccessMedicine, and Iceberg using the search terms mesenchymal stem cells, osteoarthritis, stem cell therapy, and degenerative joint disease. We limited searches to 2018 and newer, studies in English, and human trials. A total of 20 studies that met the criteria out of 65 full-text studies were included in this review. Clinical outcomes such as pain, functionality, and tissue regeneration were assessed using WOMAC, KOOS, and other validated clinical outcome scales, and resonance imaging were used for disease progression rating. Studies reviewing mesenchymal stem cell injections in arthritic joints have shown positive clinical outcomes with results showing pain level, joint function and regeneration. To realize stem cell injections outside of studies, long-term and larger-scale randomized clinical trials are required to strengthen the interpretations and validity of current studies