Perceptions of homelessness: Is there variation across medical careers and specialties?

Introduction: Medical students, residents and faculty are all capable of holding biases towards stigmatised groups like people experiencing homelessness. This study sought to investigate how the level of training may influence perceptions of homelessness among medical students, residents and faculty. Additionally, we sought to understand how different specialities perceive people experiencing homelessness and whether this changes at various points in a career.

Improving Family-Centered Rounds With a Nursing Checklist in the Electronic Health Care Record.

Objective: Family-centered rounds (FCR) is the standard for pediatric communication, but community pediatric hospital medicine services may face barriers in implementation, including offering FCR to families with a language preference other than English (LOE) versus those with an English preference (EP). The goal of our quality improvement project was to increase FCR from 33% to 80% over 1 year.

Methods: Interventions included an FCR checklist integrated into the electronic healthcare record (EHR-FCR checklist), staff education, visual prompts, and interpreters.

Effect of COVID-19 on paediatric TB service delivery and patients' comfort receiving TB services in Cameroon and Kenya during COVID: a qualitative assessment.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a setback to the gains achieved in tuberculosis (TB) control by impairing TB diagnosis, delaying treatment initiation and aggravating TB deaths. This study explored the effect of COVID-19 on paediatric TB services provided through the Catalysing Paediatric TB Innovations (CaP-TB) project among caregivers of children receiving TB services and healthcare workers (HCWs) providing TB services in Cameroon and Kenya.

Methods: From March to September 2021, in-depth interviews (44) were conducted with caregivers whose children under 5 years had gone through TB services and programme managers (10) overseeing the CaP-TB project.

Tracking Progress Toward Urban Nature Targets Using Landcover and Vegetation Indices: A Global Study for the 96 C40 Cities.

Access to urban natural space, including blue and greenspace, is associated with improved health. In 2021, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group set 2030 Urban Nature Declaration (UND) targets: "Quality Total Cover" (30% green area within each city) and "Equitable Spatial Distribution" (70% of the population living close to natural space). We evaluate progress toward these targets in the 96 C40 cities using globally available, high-resolution data sets for landcover and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in three rural communes in Haiti: A cross-sectional study.

Vaccines are the most effective mechanism for ending the COVID-19 pandemic. However, reluctance to accept vaccines has hindered the efforts of health authorities to combat the virus. In Haiti, as of July 2021, less than 1% of the country's population has been fully vaccinated in part due to vaccine hesitancy.

Characterising performance information use in the primary healthcare systems of El Salvador, Lebanon and Malawi: multiple qualitative case study protocol.

Introduction: Governments in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and official development assistance agencies use a variety of performance measurement and management approaches to improve the performance of healthcare systems. The effectiveness of such approaches is contingent on the extent to which managers and care providers use performance information. To date, major knowledge gaps exist about the contextual factors that contribute, or not, to performance information use by primary healthcare (PHC) decision-makers in LMICs.

How political engineering can make health a bridge to peace: lessons from a Primary Health Care Project in Myanmar's border areas.

This case study analyses a health project that focused on peacebuilding in addition to service provision, and the impacts of this dual focus in contested territories of Southeast Myanmar. The Swiss-funded Primary Health Care Project provided equal funds to both 'sides' in a decades-long conflict, and brought people together in ways designed to build trust. The case study demonstrates that health can play a valuable role in peace formation, if relationships are engineered in a politically sensitive way, at the right time.

Trends in mental health indicators among nurses participating in healthy nurse, healthy nation from 2017 to 2021.

Background: American healthcare workers face unprecedented stress and trauma in the workplace during COVID-19, putting nurses at increased risk for poor mental health. Examining trends of mental health from before and during COVID-19 can illuminate the toll of the pandemic on nurses well-being.

Methods: Nurses enrolled in Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation receive a prompt to take an annual survey (n = 24,289).

Brief report on IQOS point-of-sale marketing, promotion and pricing in IQOS retail partner stores in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Objectives: Philip Morris has a history of aggressive marketing tactics in its global pursuit of IQOS sales, which extant literature suggests may appeal to non-smokers and young adults. This study was the first to examine point-of-sale (POS) marketing and pricing of IQOS after it entered the US market in October 2019.

Methods: Trained field staff assessed 75 retail partner stores selling IQOS/HeatSticks in the Atlanta area in February-November 2020 using an IQOS-tailored, standardised assessment tool.

Behavioural intentions in response to a potential menthol cigarette sales ban: a survey examining smokers in Washington, DC public housing.

Objectives: Local, national and international policies are being proposed to ban the sale of menthol-flavoured tobacco products. With more bans being implemented, it is increasingly important to understand reactions to these bans among smokers of low socioeconomic status. This study examined public housing residents' behavioural intentions if menthol-flavoured cigarettes were no longer sold.

Relative increases in direct-to-consumer menthol ads following 2020 FDA guidance on flavoured e-cigarettes.

Objective: To examine potential changes in email and direct mail advertisements for flavoured e-cigarettes following the 2020 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flavour guidance.

Methods: Digital copies of e-cigarette advertisements were obtained from Mintel Comperemedia (November 2019-May 2020) and coded for the presence of flavours. Χ tests were used to determine changes in the prevalence of email and direct mail advertisements for e-cigarettes with menthol, non-menthol and no flavours.

Demographic, clinical guideline criteria, Medicaid expansion and state of residency: a multilevel analysis of PrEP use on a large US sample.

Objective: To explore the association of clinical guideline-related variables, demographics and Medicaid expansion on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake in one of the largest US sample of men who have sex with men(MSM) and transgender and gender non-binary (TGNB) people ever analysed.

Methods: We cross-sectionally analysed predictors of current PrEP use using demographic and HIV risk-related variables (level-1), as well as state-level variables (level-2) (ie, Medicaid expansion status). We further explored the role state of residence plays in PrEP uptake disparities across the USA.

Veterans Health Administration Scheduling System: The Path to High Reliability Realization.

Timely access to services is the gateway to patient safety and quality, and scheduling is foundational to providing access to highly reliable care. An effective and efficient scheduling strategy is dependent on an evidence-based approach that focuses on critical drivers of the scheduling system related to patient safety and quality as well as access. As part of a continuing effort to improve access, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) completed a direct causation analysis (2015-2020) using an evidence-based framework and comprehensive measurement plan.

Cerebral oximetry monitoring using near-infrared spectroscopy during adult procedural sedation: a preliminary study.

Background And Objectives: We sought to evaluate the effect of adult procedural sedation on cerebral oxygenation measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (rSo levels), and to assess whether respiratory depression occurring during procedural sedation was associated with decreases in cerebral oxygenation.

Methods: We performed a prospective, observational preliminary study on a convenience sample of adult patients (>18 years) undergoing unscheduled procedural sedation in the ED from August 2017 to September 2018 at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The primary outcome measures were rSo values by level of sedation achieved and the incidence of cerebral hypoxaemia during procedural sedation (absolute rSo ≤60 or decrease ≥20% from baseline).

Modeling the Impact of Social Determinants of Health on HIV.

There is growing evidence for the key role of social determinants of health (SDOH) in understanding morbidity and mortality outcomes globally. Factors such as stigma, racism, poverty or access to health and social services represent complex constructs that affect population health via intricate relationships to individual characteristics, behaviors and disease prevention and treatment outcomes. Modeling the role of SDOH is both critically important and inherently complex.

Changes in medical use of central nervous system stimulants among US adults, 2013 and 2018: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess the 5-year changes in the adult medical use of central nervous system (CNS) stimulants with higher risk of dependence and evaluate the population characteristics of users and their medical and/or neurological conditions.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Annual US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a stratified random sample of approximately 30 000 persons designed to produce national population estimates.

Importance of beta-lactam pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics on the recovery of microbial diversity in the airway of persons with cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic lung disease characterized by acute pulmonary exacerbations (PExs) that are frequently treated with antibiotics. The impact of antibiotics on airway microbial diversity remains a critical knowledge gap. We sought to define the association between beta-lactam pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic target attainment on richness and alpha diversity.

Applying the Three Delays Model to understand emergency care seeking and delivery in rural Bangladesh: a qualitative study.

Objectives: The Three Delays Model has been commonly used to understand and prevent maternal mortality but has not been systematically applied to emergency medical conditions more generally. The objective of this study was to identify delays in emergency medical care seeking and delivery in rural Bangladesh and factors contributing to these delays by using the Three Delays Model as a framework.

Design: A qualitative approach was used.

Circulating sex hormone binding globulin levels are modified with intensive lifestyle intervention, but their changes did not independently predict diabetes risk in the Diabetes Prevention Program.

Introduction: Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels are reported to be inversely associated with diabetes risk. It is unknown whether diabetes prevention interventions increase SHBG and whether resultant changes in SHBG affect diabetes risk. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether intensive lifestyle intervention (ILS) or metformin changed circulating SHBG and if resultant changes influenced diabetes risk in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).

Is fatigue a cue to obtain iron supplements in Odisha, India? A mixed methods investigation.

Objectives: This study aims to understand if fatigue, the main symptom of anaemia, is a health concern that cues women and their referent groups to obtain iron folic acid supplements.

Design: This is a mixed methods study that consisted of a cross-sectional perceptual mapping and card sorting activity along with 16 focus group discussions with women of reproductive age, mothers-in-law and men. Participants of the perceptual mapping and card sorting activity were asked to compare images of anaemia-related items and concepts.