Physician-Patient Communication Course: When the Inauguration of a New Israeli Medical School Coincided with COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: The curriculum of the Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University, the newly established sixth medical school in Israel, includes a simulation center-based extended course on physician-patient communication, aiming to help students master the core competency of interpersonal and communication skills. For more than a year following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school suspended most face-to-face (F2F) encounters, transforming most teaching activities to remote platforms. The paper outlines the ways we adapted teaching of this course to these circumstances, the reactions of students and mentors to the changes and results of 1st year students' survey.

Individualized nutritional intervention during and after hospitalization: the nutrition intervention study clinical trial.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that individualized nutritional treatment during and after discharge from acute hospitalization will reduce mortality and improve nutritional outcomes.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

Setting: Internal medicine departments.

Examination of a modified version of the Psychological Medical Inventory among medical students.

Background: The Psychological Medical Inventory (PMI) assesses the level of interest, confidence, and perceived clinical abilities in addressing psychological aspects of patient care. The scale has been used solely among physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Aims: To examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of a modified student version (PMI-S) of the PMI among medical students.

Characteristics of undernourished older medical patients and the identification of predictors for undernutrition status.

Background: Undernutrition among older people is a continuing source of concern, particularly among acutely hospitalized patients. The purpose of the current study is to compare malnourished elderly patients with those at nutritional risk and identify factors contributing to the variability between the groups.

Methods: The study was carried out at the Soroka University Medical Center in the south of Israel.

Naso- and oropharyngeal potential respiratory pathogens in adults with nonpneumonic lower respiratory tract infection.

The objective of this prospective study was to determine positive isolation rates for potential respiratory pathogens (PRPs) in the naso- and oropharynx of adults hospitalized for nonpneumonic lower respiratory tract infection (NPLRTI), compared with patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and healthy controls. The study population was 315 non-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease adults hospitalized with febrile lower respiratory tract infection (158 NPLRTI and 157 CAP) and 450 control subjects. Each participant was sampled by oropharyngeal swab, nasopharyngeal swab, and nasopharyngeal washings that were tested by conventional bacteriologic methods to identify PRP.

Gender differences in factors associated with nutritional status of older medical patients.

Objectives: To evaluate gender differences in nutritional risk of older people admitted to an acute-care general medical department, and identify gender-specific risk factors.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Internal Medicine Department in an acute care, university-affiliated hospital in southern Israel.

Nasopharyngeal versus oropharyngeal sampling for isolation of potential respiratory pathogens in adults.

The optimal methodology for the identification of colonization by potential respiratory pathogens (PRP) in adults is not well established. The objectives of the present study were to compare the sensitivities of sampling the nasopharynx and the oropharynx for identification of PRP colonization and to compare the sensitivities of samples from the nasopharynx by swab and by washing for the same purpose. The study included 500 participants with a mean age of 65.

Marked secular increase in the incidence rates of osteoporotic hip fractures in women and men in southern Israel.

Background: For the last 35 years, our medical center has been the only referral center and provider of emergency medical services for a well-defined geographic area in southern Israel.

Objectives: To evaluate trends in the incidence of hip fractures in this population.

Methods: The study was based on two surveys done approximately 20 years apart.

Hypovitaminosis D among inpatients in a sunny country.

Background: Hypovitaminosis D is an important risk factor for osteoporosis and its complications. Previous studies found that the incidence of hypovitaminosis D among patients in an internal medicine ward reached up to 57%.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and determinants of hypovitaminosis D among patients in internal medicine wards in a sunny country.

[Incidence of osteoporotic fractures in southern Israel].

Background: Very little is known about the epidemiology of osteoporotic fractures in Israel.

Aim: We aimed to provide an estimate on the incidence of low-impact fractures in southern Israel.

Methods: The study included women and men 50 years and older with radiographic evidence of a new fracture.

Clinical and epidemiologic investigation of two Legionella-Rickettsia co-infections.

Background: We treated two patients diagnosed with legionellosis and simultaneous Rickettsia conorii co-infection.

Objectives: To report the clinical and laboratory characteristics of this unusual combination, and to describe the execution and results of our environmental and epidemiologic investigations.

Methods: Serial serologic testing was conducted 1, 4 and 7 weeks after initial presentation.

Impact of subsidizing effective anti-osteoporosis drugs on compliance with management guidelines in patients following low-impact fractures.

Early in 2000, proven-effective antiresorptive drugs (alendronate and raloxifene) were included in the national "health basket" in Israel. We carried out the present study to evaluate the effect of subsidizing antiosteoporosis drugs on the use of antiosteoporosis drugs in patients following low-impact fractures. The rates of dispensation of antiosteoporosis drugs, in the hospital and in the community, before and after an incident of a newly diagnosed low-impact fracture, respectively, were evaluated during January and February 1998 and 1999 ("pre-basket") and the corresponding months of 2000 and 2001 ("post-basket").