Integrated methods for teaching population health.

The Institute of Medicine recommends reforms to public health education to better prepare the public health workforce. This study addresses the application of two of the recommended reforms in the population health nursing curriculum at one university: use of an ecological model and distance learning methods. Using interdisciplinary faculty, integrated teaching and learning methods, and a multimedia curriculum, this study examined the following question: can distance learning be designed to support learning goals and outcomes specific to an ecological approach and population health concepts in general? Course content was evaluated using students' perception of practice utility and understanding of population health concepts.

Teaching epidemiology: the role of the public health nurse.

With the baccalaureate as the desired entry level to practice for community health nurses, schools of nursing must ensure their content and methods are robust and current to the fields of both nursing and public health. A foundation in such diverse areas as population biology and population genetics is now desirable for practice. Combining principles of adult learning and case study methodology, this article describes the development of a central case study with extensive related components.

Interplay of politics and law to promote health: improving economic equality and health: the case of postwar Japan.

The health situation in Japan after World War II was extremely poor. However, in less than 35 years the country's life expectancy was the highest in the world. Japan's continuing health gains are linked to policies established at the end of World War II by the Allied occupation force that established a democratic government.

Outbreak investigations: Community participation and role of community and public health nurses.

Community and public health nurses (C/PHNs) may play a vital role in the investigation of disease outbreaks. C/PHNs possess skills in conducting interviews on sensitive subjects and in collaborating with communities. C/PHNs maintain key links to community providers, symptomatic clients, their families and associates, as well as community institutions where outbreaks occur.

AIDS-associated diarrhea and wasting in Northeast Brazil is associated with subtherapeutic plasma levels of antiretroviral medications and with both bovine and human subtypes of Cryptosporidium parvum.

Advanced HIV infection is frequently complicated by diarrhea, disruption of bowel structure and function, and malnutrition. Resulting malabsorption of or pharmacokinetic changes in antiretroviral agents might lead to subtherapeutic drug dosing and treatment failure in individual patients, and could require dose adjustment and/or dietary supplements during periods of diarrheal illness. We determined the plasma levels of antiretroviral medications in patients that had already been started on medication by their physicians, in an urban infectious diseases hospital in northeast Brazil.