Hispanic Construction Workers and Assertiveness Training

BACKGROUND: Hispanic (Latino) construction workers experience disparities in occupational death and injury rates in the United States. The cultural value of respect for those in authority may hinder these workers from requesting safe working conditions from supervisors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether Hispanic construction workers in Las Vegas, Nevada found assertiveness training more useful than non-Hispanic trainees and whether or not they practiced this behavior at work after the training. METHODS: An assertiveness training simulation was part of fall prevention classes offered to area construction workers. Eight weeks after the training, participants were interviewed by telephone about class topics they found most useful and whether or not they had made any subsequent behavior changes at work. RESULTS: More than half of the 760 fall prevention trainees completed telephone interviews. A smaller proportion of Hispanic trainees found assertiveness training to be useful (11%) than non-Hispanics (28%) (p _ 0.001). Only 2% of both groups identified practicing assertiveness at work. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of Hispanic trainees valued other knowledge more highly. They may weigh job security as more important than speaking up about safety issues, which might threaten their employment. Interventions to improve safety should focus instead on improving work safety climate and engineering controls

Health Effects Associated with Foreclosure: A Secondary Analysis of Hospital Discharge Data

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the health effects of high home foreclosure rates in an area of the United States of America and the utility of hospital discharge data for this purpose. Methods: We analyzed hospital discharge data from three postal zip codes using the principal diagnosis for 25 Diagnostic Related Groups associated with stress. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize hospital discharge rates for each condition by year and zip code. To test for differences across time, the Cochran-Armitage trend test was performed. Results: Most conditions did not demonstrate a statistical change between 2005 and 2008. There was a marked spike in bipolar and depressive disorders in 2007 in all zip codes. Conclusions: The sharp rise for bipolar and depressive disorders in 2007 coincides with the doubling of foreclosure filings nationally. There are many confounding factors affecting hospital discharge data, which limit its specificity for assessing the health effects of foreclosure

Community Themes and Strengths Assessment: Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP)

The Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) is a strategic planning framework for improving community health. This project partners with the Southern Nevada Health District to enable completion of the Community Themes and Strengths Assessment (CTSA) phase of MAPP. CTSA will provide information on how Southern Nevada residents perceive their health and quality of life, while tracking their knowledge of community assets. The results will identify issues that will guide the planning, implementing, and evaluating of additional assessments and a strategic plan to improve public health, while at the same time providing data for external grant applications

Low Back Pain in Student Nurses: Literature Review and Prospective Cohort Study

There is consensus that registered nurses worldwide have a high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, particularly of the back. Patient handling activities such as lifting present the highest risk of injury, activities that begin in nursing school. A literature review identified 21 studies of back pain in nursing students, indicating a wide range of prevalence rates. A prospective cohort study of nursing students in a United States baccalaureate program followed 119 students who completed the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire upon beginning the 16 month upper division major and then a year later. There was no statistically significant change in low back pain prevalence over time. While nursing students have intermittent and brief exposure to patient handling activities, nursing schools must nevertheless protect them before they enter the high risk profession of nursing by teaching evidence-based safe patient handling techniques, empowering students to refuse unsafe manual lifts, and ensuring that the clinical settings with which they affiliate have adequate mechanical equipment available

Effectiveness of an evidence-based curriculum module in nursing schools: Targeting safe patient handling and movement

Nursing schools in the United States have not been teaching evidence-based practices for safe patient handling, putting their graduates at risk for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The specific aim of this study was to translate research related to safe patient handling into the curricula of nursing schools and evaluate the impact on nurse educators and students\u27 intentions to use safe patient handling techniques. Nurse educators at 26 nursing schools received curricular materials and training; nursing students received the evidence-based curriculum module. There were three control sites. Questionnaires were used to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about safe patient handling for both nurse educators and students, pre- and post-training. In this study, we found that nurse educator and student knowledge improved significantly at intervention schools, as did intention to use mechanical lifting devices in the near future. We concluded that the curriculum module is ready for wide dissemination across nursing schools to reduce the risk of MSDs among nurses

Afternoon concurrent track 3: Green curricula at UNLV

AFTERNOON CONCURRENT TRACK 3: GREEN CURRICULA AT UNLV Moderator Carolyn Yucha Student Union Room 213 Tom Jones, Ken Teeters – Incorporating Sustainability into a Hospitality Management Curriculum Abstract: For the past 15 years, faculty members in the Harrah College of Hotel Administration who teach Facilities Management (HMD 395) have incorporated a sustainability management component in this required course. The concepts of sustainability and global climate change are introduced through readings and multi-media. The concept of Triple Bottom Line is presented and is applied to almost every component in the course. Students are assigned a variety of semester-long service-learning projects that incorporate these concerns. This session will feature slides from past activities and will show how to establish similar sustainability components in other hospitality management programs. There will also be a short discussion on how the Harrah Hotel College is currently expanding and coordinating sustainability throughout its curricular and extracurricular activities. Barbara St. Pierre Schneider, Nancy Menzel, Lori Candela, Yu Xu, Sally Miller – Integrating Urban Sustainability into a Doctoral Nursing Program Abstract: According to the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), people “are the ultimate resource” of sustainability, but to be effective people must be physically and mentally healthy. However, threats to health are of a major concern with global urban population growth and natural and man-made environmental hazards. The most economical and successful approach to counteract these threats is to promote and protect the health of people residing in the urban environment. Nurses have a rich history of working with groups and individuals in diverse urban environments on a wide range of health issues and are well positioned to play a critical role by discovering actions that promote health, minimizing the risk for and consequences of disease and illness, and communicating these efforts to citizens, employers, and policy makers. To accomplish this end, urban sustainability needs to be integrated into nursing education at the doctoral level. This presentation will consist of four parts: an overview of the evidence supporting nursing as a key discipline in urban sustainability; a description of the initial steps to integrate sustainability into the doctoral nursing curriculum; a presentation of the curriculum; and a discussion of the barriers encountered in developing this curriculum along with solutions to overcoming the barriers. Scott Nowicki – Commuting to UNLV: The Daily Lesson and Action in Sustainability Abstract: There are a number of programs operating in Las Vegas that have the look and feel of community efforts aimed at making life and business more sustainable, such as recycling, alternative energy, and trip reduction programs, but a serious effort is needed to gauge their effectiveness and plan for further development of these programs. The transportation system is an example of a potential significant decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, decrease in overall system costs, and increase in quality of life for residents. The Regional Transportation Commission’s plans for development of a comprehensive bike network, transit, and alternative mode integration are only likely to be successful if travel habits are viewed against the backdrop of the complex social/physical layout of the city. Participants in UNLV’s 400/600 GIS course are taking a systematic look at the way we use the transportation system in Las Vegas, as well as the physical layout and limitations of the bike and pedestrian network. Sociology students are focusing on the economic and social characteristics of the bike and public transportation system, while Geoscience students are mapping discrepancies between the publicly available map and the streets network. Using student researchers, these components are being brought together to discern what factors are limiting the Las Vegas metropolitan area from providing a sustainable way for people to get around

Effect of Body Mass Index on work related musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational stress of computer workers in a developed ergonomic setup

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Work urgency, accuracy and demands compel the computer professionals to spend longer hours before computers without giving importance to their health, especially body weight. Increase of body weight leads to improper Body Mass Index (BMI) may aggravate work related musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational-psychosocial stress. The objective of the study was to find out the effect of BMI on work related musculoskeletal discomforts and occupational stress of computer workers in a developed ergonomic setup.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A descriptive inferential study has been taken to analyze the effect of BMI on work related musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational-psychosocial stress. A total of 100 computer workers, aged 25-35 years randomly selected on convenience from software and BPO companies in Bangalore city, India for the participation in this study. BMI was calculated by taking the ratio of the subject's height (in meter) and weight (in kilogram). Work related musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational stress of the subjects was assessed by Cornell University's musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire (CMDQ) and occupational stress index (OSI) respectively as well as a relationship was checked with their BMI.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant association (p < 0.001) was seen among high BMI subjects with their increase scores of musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational stress.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>From this study, it has been concluded that, there is a significant effect of BMI in increasing of work related musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational-psychosocial stress among computer workers in a developed ergonomic setup.</p

An international effort towards developing standards for best practices in analysis, interpretation and reporting of clinical genome sequencing results in the CLARITY Challenge

There is tremendous potential for genome sequencing to improve clinical diagnosis and care once it becomes routinely accessible, but this will require formalizing research methods into clinical best practices in the areas of sequence data generation, analysis, interpretation and reporting. The CLARITY Challenge was designed to spur convergence in methods for diagnosing genetic disease starting from clinical case history and genome sequencing data. DNA samples were obtained from three families with heritable genetic disorders and genomic sequence data were donated by sequencing platform vendors. The challenge was to analyze and interpret these data with the goals of identifying disease-causing variants and reporting the findings in a clinically useful format. Participating contestant groups were solicited broadly, and an independent panel of judges evaluated their performance. RESULTS: A total of 30 international groups were engaged. The entries reveal a general convergence of practices on most elements of the analysis and interpretation process. However, even given this commonality of approach, only two groups identified the consensus candidate variants in all disease cases, demonstrating a need for consistent fine-tuning of the generally accepted methods. There was greater diversity of the final clinical report content and in the patient consenting process, demonstrating that these areas require additional exploration and standardization. CONCLUSIONS: The CLARITY Challenge provides a comprehensive assessment of current practices for using genome sequencing to diagnose and report genetic diseases. There is remarkable convergence in bioinformatic techniques, but medical interpretation and reporting are areas that require further development by many groups

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure