A Rapid Review of the Literature: Cardiovascular Disease Preventive Practices and Rural Black Women

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among Black/African American women. Rural Black women have the highest CVD prevalence and are more likely to have modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity than any other race. Accessible evidence-based culture-appropriate self-care programs for risk reduction and CVD prevention can address these disparities. This rapid review aims to provide a comprehensive collection of such programs. Methods. Searches were performed in PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Psychinfo-Embase, and Scopus for studies reporting CVD prevention programs for rural Black women. Three articles met the inclusion criteria, with two promising but not meeting all criteria. Findings. Rural Black women\u27s perceptions, cultural beliefs, and poor access to culturally sensitive health-promoting interventions contribute to the CVD disparities. Partnering with the community to develop self-care and health-promoting interventions that use appropriate language contributed to the acceptability and effectiveness of the interventions. Conclusions. Rural Black women\u27s self-care is inadequately represented in the conventional scholarly literature. Community partnership from the beginning of the problem and intervention identification, development research proposal, and program adaptation until the testing stage was proven to positively impact rural Black women\u27s self-care

COVID-19 in Congregate Settings: A Literature Review

Purpose: Virginia has numerous and varying congregate living facilities, to include correctional facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and 13 state-operated mental/behavioral health/rehabilitation facilities. The purpose of this literature review is to review COVID-19 trends in congregate settings and identify suggested mitigation efforts. Methods: The target population for the literature search was individuals in congregate living facilities. Both correctional facilities and nursing homes were included as congregate settings. Findings: Studies reviewed reported on disease transmission, the use of universal and serial testing, and reported additional information. Early and frequent testing to guide resident cohorting and exclusion of individuals from work was recommended. This includes the testing of asymptomatic individuals. Pre-emptive testing was associated with significant lower overall disease prevalence in one study. Conclusions: Researchers across studies recommended testing early and often to inform prompt cohorting of infected individuals and to guide infection control measure. As such, early and frequent testing of individuals living and working in congregate settings is an important tool in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Recommendations: In addition to frequent and early testing, further research regarding the spread and control of COVID-19 within Virginia congregate living facilities is recommended to inform future mitigation efforts

Re-envisioning the Virginia Journal of Public Health: Leveraging the institutional repository for publishing success

Lightning talk presented at 2021 Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries conference

Re-envisioning the Virginia Journal of Public Health: Leveraging the Institutional Repository for Publishing Success

This case study presents what happened when new leadership for the Virginia Journal of Public Health brought new questions about journal quality, value, and impact. Conversations initially began with the liaison librarian about the nature of journal publishing and open access today. As the conversation evolved, the Digital Collections team joined the working group to think through journal publishing for this title. This session will describe this collaborative evolution and how we worked to re-envision and migrate the journal from its prior website to the university’s institutional repository. The session will feature considerations for publishing with the institutional repository, highlight the steps involved in migrating a journal from one platform to another, and offer lessons learned from the experience. This session would be appropriate for journal editors and managers, institutional repository managers, and those seeking to learn more about the behind the scenes work of academic publishing

Lessons Learned: COVID-19 in Post-Corrections Secured Behavioral Rehabilitation

Background: The COVID-19 case rate on June 5, 2020, for prisoners in the United States (US) was 5.5 times higher than the US population case rate (Saloner et al., 2020). Secure facilities were challenged to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. One secure behavioral rehabilitation facility made many changes to facility and program protocols to meet this challenge. Methods: The purpose of this program evaluation was to assess newly implemented infection control measures at a secure behavioral rehabilitation facility and to inform policy and procedure recommendations for the mitigation of COVID-19 transmission in congregate living facilities in the future. Case rates, percent positivity, and case fatality rates were used as surrogate measures to evaluate this facility\u27s COVID-19 program. A PRECEDE/PROCEED logic model was used to guide the program evaluation. Results: Attack rates varied significantly by unit, from 1 resident case (3.94%) to 31 cases (92.26%). The 7-day rolling average ranged from 0.0% to 4.34% positivity during the study period, and 205/355.6 residents (57.56%) were infected during the 3-month study period. Conclusions: COVID-19 places significant logistical and human strain on residents, employees, and administrators of secured congregate settings. Despite extensive infection control measures the study facility experienced a significant number of cases, special hospitalizations, and deaths. Further research is recommended to define adequate infection control measures to vulnerable populations in such settings

Use of a Decision Aid to Improve Decisional Comfort in College Students Treated for Respiratory Tract Infections

Decision aids have been shown to facilitate shared decision making, recognize and respect patient values, improve patient experience by designing care around those values and increase patient comfort with decisions made. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a decision aid to 1) increase decisional comfort with the appropriate use of antibiotics for respiratory tract infections and 2) maintain antibiotic prescribing rates at current levels. Participants were English-speaking college students age 18 and over diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection in the general medical clinic of a university health center from August 31, 2015-May 6, 2016. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were used to measure decisional conflict of students. Intervention included staff training in shared decision making and the use of a decision aid. Students who received routine care were 2.2 times [N=643; p

Expanding Rural Opioid Addictions Treatment: An Inter-institutional, Inter-professional Telehealth Case Study Simulation

Purpose: To determine if inter-institutional collaboration, using telehealth technology, inter-professional education techniques, and case study methodology is a feasible way to teach health professions students how to appropriately address opioid addictions, especially in rural populations with limited health care access. Study subjects: Ten health professions students from four Virginia universities participated. Professions represented included medicine, nursing, physical therapy, social work, nutrition, and psychology at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Methods: Inter-professional faculty from four Virginia universities developed an opioid addiction simulation case study using a standardized patient. Students from different regions engaged in a facilitated patient interview and care planning via secure virtual meeting platform. Faculty observation and feedback, student feedback, and inter-professional education assessments were used to assess this pilot study. Findings: Inter-institutional faculty collaboration and telehealth technology was successfully employed to convene multiple health professions students from different sites; simulation case study methodology using a standardized patient was effective and compelling; students effectively utilized interprofessional competencies and skills to develop a comprehensive and holistic care plan for opioid addiction treatment. Conclusions: Telehealth technology, inter-professional education, and simulation case study methodology can be successfully used to teach health professions students how to collaborate to address the opioid crisis, especially in resource-limited rural areas. Implications: Many resources are necessary to successfully treat opioid addictions. By using telehealth technology combined with inter-professional concepts and skills, resources can be shared between institutions and professions to successfully treat patients with opioid addictions in resource-limited areas

Influenza in Bristol Bay, 1919

The 1918 influenza pandemic has been blamed for as many as 50 million deaths worldwide. Like all major disasters, the full story of the pandemic includes smaller, less noted episodes that have not attracted historical attention. The story of the 1919 wave of the influenza pandemic in Bristol Bay Alaska is one such lost episode. It is an important story because the most accessible accounts—the Congressional Record and the Coast Guard Report—are inconsistent with reports made by employees, health care workers, and volunteers at the site of the disaster. Salmon fishing industry supervisors and medical officers recorded their efforts to save the region’s Native Alaskans in private company reports. The federal Bureau of Education physician retained wireless transmission, reports, and letters of events. The Coast Guard summarized its work in its Annual Report of 1920. The independent Bureau of Fisheries report to the Department of Commerce reveals the Coast Guard report at striking odds with others and reconciles only one account. This article explores the historical oversight, and attempts to tell the story of the 1919 wave of the pandemic which devastated the Native Alaskan population in this very remote place