The Facilitator Instrument for Team-Based Learning (FIT).

: We sought to evaluate the quality of Team-Based Learning facilitation in both large and small group settings. : Team Based Learning (TBL) is an increasingly popular small group instructional strategy in health science education. TBL facilitation skills are unique and differ from those needed to lecture or facilitate other types of small groups.

Intellectual Disabilities and Health Care Communication: A Continuing Education Program for Providers.

Communication with others is a core human imperative; this is especially true in health care. Individuals with intellectual disabilities often face daunting challenges in both health literacy and communicating their health needs and questions. Education for professionals in specialized communication is critical in improving care for their clients with intellectual disabilities.

Application of the SEIPS Model to Analyze Medication Safety in a Crisis Residential Center.

Purpose: Medication safety and error reduction has been studied in acute and long-term care settings, but little research is found in the literature regarding mental health settings. Because mental health settings are complex, medication administration is vulnerable to a variety of errors from transcription to administration. The purpose of this study was to analyze critical factors related to a mental health work system structure and processes that threaten safe medication administration practices.

The ADMSEP Milestones Project.

Objective: Credentialing bodies mandate that a medical school's curriculum be based upon recognized guidelines. Within the field of psychiatry, the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) has previously published recommended guidelines for the pre-clinical and clerkship curriculum. Ongoing changes within the Liaison Committee on Medical Education's requirements for medical school curricula, and the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, necessitated review of these guidelines.

Smokeless tobacco use among rural women in NE Alabama.

Smokeless tobacco use among women living in rural areas is poorly understood and largely ignored. This qualitative study explored the use of smokeless tobacco with 10 participants living in rural areas in Alabama, with the women telling their own stories of use. Themes emerging from interviews included the initiation of use, secrecy, health-risk beliefs, daily-use patterns, and thoughts about quitting.

Assessment of smokeless tobacco use in the history and physical examination by primary healthcare providers.

Purpose: Following a simple descriptive research design, we examined how and to what extent primary healthcare providers in rural southern regions of the United States ask patients about the use of smokeless tobacco as indicated in the document used for the patient history.

Data Sources: Copies of blank history and physical forms used in offices of primary care providers in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee were examined to identify items related specifically to tobacco use.

Conclusions: Twenty-nine providers returned history and physical forms, which revealed 24% showed no item related to tobacco use.

Evaluation of a tobacco prevention program for children: ToPIC.

This intervention study focused on evaluating the effectiveness of teaching tobacco prevention in children using ToPIC, an interactive program. The program was presented in 2 or 3 class sessions to increase awareness of health risks related to tobacco use. Participants consisted of 201 students from the Boys and Girls Clubs in 5 rural counties of a southeastern state.

Developing population health competencies among public health nurses in Georgia.

As part of a new vision for public health in Georgia, the role of the public health nurse (PHN) is shifting from a predominantly individual and clinic-based care model to a population health practice model. Based on focus groups conducted with management and frontline PHNs in 2001, nurses in Georgia were unprepared for this transition and lacked a strong understanding of population health concepts and competencies. To prepare nurses for their new and expanded responsibilities, an online population health course was developed specifically for currently employed PHNs.