Advising Honors Students: Motivational Interviewing as a Tool for Identity Building and Development

Section headings: Advising needs of the honors population Motivational interviewing The spirit of motivational interviewing The four processes of motivational interviewing Motivational interviewing within an honors advising model Honors advising and the spirit of motivational interviewing Honors advising and the four processes of motivational interviewing Honors advising and the skills of motivational interviewing Motivational interviewing resources Conclusion Arthur W. Chickering and Linda Reisser (1993) noted that “to be effective in educating the whole student, colleges must hire and reinforce staff members who understand what student development looks like and how to foster it” (p. 44). Advising an honors student requires spending more time on the whole student rather than focusing on academics and degree requirements. Advising conversations should ideally involve looking at vocational goals and objectives, identity and self-image outside of academics, connections to the community and larger university, and building autonomy and self-efficacy. These conversations, while necessary, are difficult to have with students and require a great deal of rapport and trust between student and advisor. In addition, trusting relationships take time to build; consequently, it is essential that each advising interaction be meaningful. Motivational interviewing provides a mindset shift for advising that enables advisors to gain their students’ respect and trust with each meeting. MI provides advisors with four processes for supporting change and growth and for guiding difficult conversations on problematic behaviors such as perfectionism and negative self-efficacy. Finally, it provides a set of four core communication skills that advisors can use during their interactions with students. Implementing the spirit, skills, and processes of MI can help advisors to navigate difficult conversations on stresses related to academic pressures and connection to a community. Although these needs are common within the honors student population, traditional advising models do not address them. Guided by MI, however, academic advisors can meaningfully address problematic areas during an advising session. Most importantly, the changes brought about by MI are enacted by the students, so advisors are never fixing a situation; instead, students are always the agent of positive change. MI represents a deviation from standard advising practice but is flexible enough to allow for nuance and personal style. Honors advising can often become transactional and focused on a style where advisors provide solutions and answers to students. This directive and retention-focused model fails to empower students to dig deeper into their own autonomy, which is a central need of the honors population (Clark et al., 2018). MI spirit, skills, and processes empower students to be agents of change in their own education and provide a workable advising model for the honors population

Preserving Real Estate Contract Financing in Washington: Resisting the Pressure to Eliminate Forfeiture

There is pressure in Washington to abolish the forfeiture remedy from real estate contracts. Eliminating forfeiture would cripple the real estate contract and thus provide a disincentive for sellers to finance sales of their property. This result would be economically unsound and in conflict with the public policy in favor of promoting home ownership. Instead of abolishing forfeiture, the Washington State Legislature should amend current legislation to provide a more sensible and certain forfeiture remedy

Development of an Electromechanical Valvetrain

The Electromechanical Valvetrain Conversion Team designed and implemented a new system to improve internal combustion engine performance and efficiency. This system replaces the traditional camshaft-based valvetrain with a computer-controlled pneumatic actuation system. This new system has the potential to reduce emissions without sacrificing the benefits which have made combustion engines a popular power source.https://pilotscholars.up.edu/egr_project/1026/thumbnail.jp

Pharmacy Technician-Administered Vaccines: On Perceptions and Practice Reality

Doucette and Schommer recently surveyed U.S. community pharmacy technicians on their willingness to perform tasks including the administration of vaccines. They found that 47.1% of technicians reported they were “unwilling” to administer a vaccine, although this finding must be placed into proper context. The first nationwide survey of U.S. pharmacist perceptions on immunizations in 1998 revealed only 2.2% of pharmacist respondents had administered adult vaccines and only 0.9% had administered childhood vaccines. They also found pharmacists to be “slightly negative on administering immunizations” with many perceived barriers. Nonetheless, pharmacist-provided immunizations have been an unqualified public health success. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) predicts intention from attitude and perceived behavioral control, among other factors. Given low involvement, exposure, and perceived behavioral control to administer vaccinations, technicians’ attitudes or willingness to participate from the Doucette and Shommer study can be regarded as quite positive. Given the results of a successful pilot project in Idaho and that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control will likely shift upward, one can only expect technicians’ willingness to participate in vaccinations to become more favorable and ultimately become a success

A low-cost needle-based single-fiber reflectance spectroscopy method to probe scattering changes associated with mineralization in intervertebral discs in chondrodystrophoid canine species - A pilot study

Background and objectives: Intervertebral disc herniation is a common disease in chondrodystrophic dogs, and a similar neurologic condition also occurs in humans. Percutaneous laser disc ablation (PLDA) is a minimally invasive procedure used increasingly for prevention of disc herniation. PLDA is performed on thoracolumbar discs to which the same laser energy is applied regardless of their mineral content. Knowledge of individual disc mineral composition would allow laser energy dosage adjustments and more accurate treatment of degenerative discs. Usually, PLDA is guided by radiography/ fluoroscopy, which has a limited sensitivity of approximately 60 % for identification of mineralized discs. An imaging or sensing technology that provides a more accurate pre-operative in-situ assessment of the disc mineralization, and potentially rapid post-operative feedback, could optimize the outcome of the PLDA procedure. A sensing technology of needle-probing single-fiber reflectance (SFR) spectroscopy is therefore proposed that is considered to be compatible with PLDA work flow. The objective of this study was to demon strate the feasibility of this technology in assessing the increased light scattering associated with mineralization in intervertebral discs in chondrodystrophoid canine species. Materials and methods: A pilot study was performed on a total of 21 intervertebral discs from two cadaveric dogs ("Dog A" and "Dog B"). The discs were imaged by computed tomography (CT), radiography, and SFR spectroscopy, before histopathologic examination. SFR spectroscopy in the visible/near-infrared band was performed on the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc through a 20-gauge spinal needle placed percutaneously for PLDA. A normalization method was applied to the raw remission spectra to extract a dimension-less and wavelength-dependent intensity profile in the 500 - 950 nm spectral range. Results: In total, six discs were determined to be degenerative on histopathology, five discs of "Dog A" and one disc of "Dog B". CT diagnosed all six degenerated discs, whereas radiography missed two of the five degenerated discs of " Dog A ". The wavelength-dependent mean scattering intensity profiles of the six degenerated discs were noticeably higher than the mean scattering intensity profiles of the 15 " normal " or insignificantly mineralized discs over the entire spectral range. The mean scattering intensities, averaged over each of the entire profiles, were 2.79 ± 0.58 (mean ± SD) for the six degenerated discs and 1.48 ± 0.37 for the 15 " normal " or insignificantly mineralized discs. A two-sample t -test showed p < 0.001 for the difference of the averaged scattering intensity between these both groups of discs. Conclusions: SFR spectroscopy measurements indicate that the increase of light scattering intensity across the entire 500 - 950 nm spectral range is associated with the mineralization in canine intervertebral discs. However, the scattering characteristics of the nucleus pulposus measured in this study may not necessarily represent the optical properties of the nucleus pulposus at the laser wavelength used for PLDA (2100 nm). More studies on cadaveric and eventually in-vivo samples are necessary before the clinical feasibility can be proved.Electrical and Computer EngineeringVeterinary Clinical Science

Advancing a global pharmacy support workforce through a global strategic platform

The pharmacy support workforce (PSW) is the mid-level cadre of the global pharmacy profession, referring to pharmacy technicians, assistants and other cadres that assist in the delivery of pharmaceutical services in a variety of practice contexts. The PSW undertake technical tasks delegated under the supervision of a pharmacist or performed collaboratively. The PSW are not intended to replace pharmacists, but rather work side-by-side with the pharmacist to achieve a shared goal. However, extensive variation in the PSW exists globally, ranging from an educated, regulated, and highly effective workforce in some countries to unrecognized or non-existent in others. Vast differences in education requirements, specific roles, regulatory oversight, and need for pharmacist supervision, inhibit the development and advancement of a global PSW. As clinical care providers, pharmacists worldwide need for a competent support workforce. Without the confidence to delegate technical responsibilities to a well-trained and capable PSW, pharmacists will be unable to fully deliver advanced clinical roles. A clear vision for the role of the PSW in the expanding scope of pharmacy practice is needed. One organization working to unite global efforts in this area is the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). The FIP Workforce Development Hub Pharmacy Technicians & Support Workforce Strategic Platform was established to address the pharmacy workforce shortage in low and middle-income countries. Further developments were made in 2019, with the creation of a representative global PSW advisory panel, to provide guidance towards the development of the global PSW. Provision of frameworks and strategic input to support quality in education, development of legislative frameworks, guidelines for registration and licensure, and advice on appropriate role advancement are critical to move the PSW forward. In order to produce substantial advancement of roles and recognition of the PSW and advancement of pharmacists as patient care providers, global collaborative work is needed

In what ways does classroom discourse support the development of students' mathematical reasoning?

The purpose of this action research project was to understand how classroom discourse affects student reasoning in mathematics. I conducted three action research cycles with the goal of answering the research question: In what ways does classroom discourse support the development of students' mathematical reasoning? In cycle one, I studied how teacher questions influenced student reasoning. In cycle two, I considered how peer questioning affects student reasoning. In cycle three, I learned students' perceptions about their mathematical learning, reasoning and our classroom community and communication. The findings indicate that teachers need to improve their questioning strategies by asking questions that are timely and appropriate to build their students' conceptual understandings. I also found that effective student to student discourse can occur in the classroom given the proper context and can help advance reasoning skills. Lastly, teachers can benefit from looking at their classroom context through the eyes of their students

Implementing Immunizing Pharmacy Technicians in a Federal Healthcare Facility

Background: Pharmacy technicians are legally allowed to administer immunizations in specific U.S. states, provided they meet certain criteria, including the completion of an accredited immunization training course. Immunizing pharmacy technicians were incorporated into an Indian Health Services federal facility, Whiteriver Service Unit (WRSU), in 2018. The objective of this research was to gather information about implementing immunizing pharmacy technicians in a federal facility serving a large rural and medically underserved population. Methods: WRSU launched a Pharmacy Technician Immunization Program in June 2018 after seven federally employed pharmacy technicians participated in the Washington State University accredited technician immunization training. The types of vaccinations administered, and the ages of patients immunized by pharmacy technicians, were tracked from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Results: Seven immunization-trained pharmacy technicians administered 4394 injections for a total of 4852 vaccinations in one year. Vaccinations were administered to patients ranging in age from 2 months old to 85 years old and included protection against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and B, H. influenza, human papillomavirus, seasonal influenza, meningococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, pneumonia, and rotavirus. Conclusion: In one year, seven pharmacy technicians administered more than 4800 vaccinations to underserved patients. Pharmacy technicians trained and certified to administer immunizations increase access to vaccination care and have the potential to drastically increase the number of immunizations given and reduce the number of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases

The role of community pharmacies in the HIV and HCV care continuum

Introduction: In 2019, there were over 1.1 million people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and 2.4 million people living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States. One in seven (14%) are unaware of their HIV infection and almost half of all HCV infections are undiagnosed. People with unstable housing are disproportionately affected by HIV and HCV. The present study will evaluate interventions by community pharmacists that may reduce HIV and HCV transmission and promote linkage to care. Methods: This study was conducted in an independent community pharmacy in Spokane, Washington. Eligible study participants were walk-in patients of the pharmacy, over the age of 18, and experiencing homelessness. Pharmacy patients were excluded if they had a history of HIV or HCV diagnosis, received a screening for HIV or HCV in the last six months or were unable to give informed consent. The intervention included administration of HIV and HCV point-of-care testing (POCT) using a blood sample, risk determination interview, comprehensive HIV and HCV education, and personalized post-test and risk mitigation counseling followed by referral to partnering health clinics. Results: Fifty participants were included in the final data analysis. Twenty-two participants (44%) had a reactive HCV POCT, and one participant had a reactive HIV POCT. Of the 94% of participants who reported illicit drug use, 74% reported injection drug use. Seventy-six percent (n = 38) qualified for PrEP. Pharmacist referrals were made for 28 participants and 71% were confirmed to have established care. Conclusion: Individuals experiencing homelessness are at an increased risk for acquiring HIV and HCV due to risky sexual behaviors and substance misuse. PrEP is underutilized in the U.S. and pharmacist involvement in the HIV and HCV care continuum may have a significant impact in improving linkage and retention in care of difficult to treat populations