From Listening to Experiencing: Changing Evidence-Based Pharmacy Library Instruction

OBJECTIVE: Adapt bibliographic instruction from a traditional 50-minute lecture format to a hands-on, small group approach to more closely align with a team-based assignment. METHODS: First year students in the School of Pharmacy\u27s PharmD program are assigned to teams and work together on projects for lecture-based courses. In the second year, they are introduced to Team-Based Learning (TBL). To improve library instruction for first year students, two librarians used a team-based approach with hands-on examination of pharmacy resources to provide a better student learning experience than the traditional 50-minute lecture. Librarians led 90 minute interactive sessions for two teams for a total of 20 teams. Individual team members investigated and assessed a variety of print and online pharmacy resources to complete their team assignment. Librarians designed an appraisal checklist that students used to evaluate the resources. With librarians acting as facilitators, the teams reconvened to discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the resources and appropriateness for the assignment. CONCLUSION: At the end of the semester, four questions pertaining to the library instruction sessions were included in the students\u27 course evaluation. The students\u27 predominately positive responses in their course evaluations suggest that the Evidence-based Pharmacy Library Instruction objectives

Evolving librarian participation in a specialized primary care medical education program

Objectives: To describe the extent to which health sciences librarians are embedded into a program that gives medical students focused experiences in underserved international, rural, or inner city primary care settings. Methods: Since 2009, librarians at a large urban research university have worked with a longitudinal program that gives medical students focused education and experience in underserved international, rural, or inner city primary care settings. Initially, the library offered a meeting space for the program and librarians led a class on library resources prior to students beginning work on a required capstone projects. Librarians cultivated relationships with faculty and students through interactions in classes and in individual consultations. As the program matured and its needs changed, librarians offered services and expertise to match the growth of the curriculum. Results: Librarians currently co-teach two capstone training sessions for third year medical students, which has progressed from a basic orientation on library resources and searching to in-depth instructions on literature reviews and leading small group discussions on student capstone projects. As a result of these sessions, librarians hold regular consultations with students at various stages of the projects to train them in library resources and assist them in conducting literature reviews. A librarian also met with faculty to revise, and subsequently co-teach, a journal club for first and second year students focusing on issues health care in underserved populations and critical appraisal of research literature. More recently, a librarian was asked to serve as part of an interdisciplinary panel that reviews student capstone project proposals. Conclusions: Over the past several years, librarians have taken on increasingly complex roles in a small specialized program within a school of medicine. Through regular contact with faculty and students and a willingness to participate at any level of the program, librarians have moved well past teaching one-shot sessions to being fully embedded in the program

Public Reporting as a Communication Tool to Aid Vulnerable Consumers in Healthcare Decisions: What Do We Know?

Background/Introduction: There is tremendous variation in quality, healthcare service utilization and disparities experienced by the poor, certain minorities, and other priority populations. Public reporting is identified as one method of bringing these differences to light and by informing consumers through documented comparison of provider performance to influence change and encourage improvement in healthcare. The federal Accountable Care Act has the stated mandate “to improve the dissemination of measures of healthcare quality and resource use, (and) to build the science of public reporting.” However, early studies on the design and use of consumer reports cite the public’s confusion and lack of understanding regarding the utility of such reports. Objectives: 1. Determine if public reporting is being utilized in making healthcare decisions: by vulnerable consumers defined as African American, Latino and White populations who are Medicare beneficiaries by vulnerable consumers with chronic diseases such as diabetes 2. Determine the gaps in knowledge of healthcare public reports utilization by vulnerable populations 3. Identify barriers and facilitators to help vulnerable diabetic populations make informed decisions about personal healthcare services Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted of relevant databases, reports, books, websites, and grey literature. Conclusions/Lessons Learned: While consumer reports are designed for consumers, consumers rarely use them and seem unaware of the availability of such reports. Little evidence that reports are designed for vulnerable populations. Much work needed to assist consumers in using consumer reports

Plasma Leak From the Circulation Contributes to Poor Outcomes for Preterm Infants: A Working Hypothesis

Preterm infants are at high risk of death and disability resulting from brain injury. Impaired cardiovascular function leading to poor cerebral oxygenation is a significant contributor to these adverse outcomes, but current therapeutic approaches have failed to improve outcome. We have re-examined existing evidence regarding hypovolemia and have concluded that in the preterm infant loss of plasma from the circulation results in hypovolemia; and that this is a significant driver of cardiovascular instability and thus poor cerebral oxygenation. High capillary permeability, altered hydrostatic and oncotic pressure gradients, and reduced lymphatic return all combine to increase net loss of plasma from the circulation at the capillary. Evidence is presented that early hypovolemia occurs in preterm infants, and that capillary permeability and pressure gradients all change in a way that promotes rapid plasma loss at the capillary. Impaired lymph flow, inflammation and some current treatment strategies may further exacerbate this plasma loss. A framework for testing this hypothesis is presented. Understanding these mechanisms opens the way to novel treatment strategies to support cardiovascular function and cerebral oxygenation, to replace current therapies, which have been shown not to change outcomes

They Saw It Coming: Rising Trends in Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Creative Students and Potential Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis

Previous research has established that creative adolescents are generally low in neuroticism and as well-adjusted as their peers. From 2006 to 2013, data from cohorts of creative adolescents attending a counseling laboratory supported these results. Clinical findings of increased anxiety, depression, and suicidality among creative students in 2014 led the researchers to create 3 studies to explore these clinical findings. Once artifactual causes of these changes were ruled out, a quantitative study was conducted. Study 1, an analysis of mean differences of pre-2014 and post-2014 cohorts showed that post-2014 cohorts scored significantly higher in Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness and lower in Extraversion on Big 5 inventories. Regression analyses suggested that while Neuroticism was associated with gender, Conscientiousness and Grade Point Average for the earlier group, Neuroticism in the post 2014 groups was related to complex interplay of all personality dynamics except Agreeableness. In the qualitative Study 2, focus groups of 6–10 students, for a total of 102 participants were queried about the reasons they perceived for increased anxiety and depression in creative students. Increased achievement pressures and awareness of environmental and social problems were major sources of external stressors; perfectionism and desire to fulfill expectations of others were the primary sources of internal stress. The authors suggest that creative students' openness to experience and advanced knowledge made it possible for these students to see the potential for environmental and social crises and respond to their inability to solve these problems with anxiety and depression. Study 3 was a qualitative study that followed up 19 participants from the post-2014 cohort to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and creativity. While the majority perceived a negative effect of the pandemic on their mental health, most also produced a surprising variety of creative works during that time. In conclusion, rapid changes in the lives of creative adolescents since 2014 suggest that scholars focus on current cohorts and the ways in which adolescent personality is shaped by internal expectation and external pressures and global events. Despite the pandemic, creative young people continued to create

‘Buffers’ against crime? Exploring the roles and limitations of positive relationships among women in prison

A considerable amount of research focuses on the detrimental influence that relationships pose for women offenders while relatively little attention has been given to the potential positive impact of relationships in their lives. This study investigates how women offenders’ positive relationships work as ‘buffers’ against their criminal involvement, as well as why some positive influences do not elicit long-term change in women. We examine various forms of relationships (both romantic and non-romantic) that female offenders develop and explore the mechanisms by which these relationships might influence their behavior. Life history interviews conducted with 60 incarcerated women revealed that women’s family members, friends, significant others, and children provided support, social capital, motivation, and opportunities which can buffer women from criminal behavior, but that women’s drug use, disadvantage, interest in, pride or shame, and desire to make positive changes limited the effectiveness of these relationships

The Law of Genetic Privacy: Applications, Implications, and Limitations

Recent advances in technology have significantly improved the accuracy of genetic testing and analysis, and substantially reduced its cost, resulting in a dramatic increase in the amount of genetic information generated, analysed, shared, and stored by diverse individuals and entities. Given the diversity of actors and their interests, coupled with the wide variety of ways genetic data are held, it has been difficult to develop broadly applicable legal principles for genetic privacy. This article examines the current landscape of genetic privacy to identify the roles that the law does or should play, with a focus on federal statutes and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). After considering the many contexts in which issues of genetic privacy arise, the article concludes that few, if any, applicable legal doctrines or enactments provide adequate protection or meaningful control to individuals over disclosures that may affect them. The article describes why it may be time to shift attention from attempting to control access to genetic information to considering the more challenging question of how these data can be used and under what conditions, explicitly addressing trade-offs between individual and social goods in numerous applications

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profile of NCAA Division III Intercollegiate Football Athletes: A Pilot Study

Concerns about the long-term cardiovascular health implications of American football participation have been investigated at the professional and Division I levels, but limited research is available at the less resourced Division III level. Therefore, the objective of this pilot study was to assess the cardiovascular disease risk profile of NCAA Division III intercollegiate football athletes