Nelia Afonso

Improvement in attitudes toward influenza vaccination in medical students following an integrated curricular intervention.

INTRODUCTION Vaccination of health care workers (HCW) reduces transmission of influenza among patients, yet uptake of vaccination remains low. If vaccination education is integrated into the early medical school curriculum, will student attitudes toward the vaccine change? The objectives of the study were to: (1) Determine influenza vaccination rates among entering medical students; (2) Assess the attitudes toward influenza vaccination; (3) Evaluate the effects of a multifaceted educational intervention on attitudes to vaccination. METHODS Entering medical students were surveyed before and after an intervention at the beginning of the influenza season. This intervention provided by an inter-professional team, included education about influenza, importance of vaccination for HCWs, followed by vaccination administration practice, and ended with students vaccinating consenting classmates. RESULTS The pre-intervention surveys and intervention were completed by 124 of 125 (99%) students. Pre-intervention survey revealed 60 (48%) of students had been previously vaccinated. Of the vaccinated students 91% had been recommended vaccination by their healthcare provider compared to 43% of non-vaccinated students. More positive attitudes were noted in the vaccinated students compared to non-vaccinated students: importance of vaccination (p<0.01); HCWs should be vaccinated (p<0.01); recommendation of vaccine to family and friends (p<0.01). 97 (78%) students completed post-intervention surveys. Significant improvement in these attitudes was noted post-intervention compared to pre-intervention: importance of vaccination 93% versus 71% (p<0.01); HCWs should be vaccinated 95% versus 83% (p<0.01); recommendation to family and friends 93% versus 73% (p<0.01); comfort with vaccine counseling 92% versus 41%; comfort with vaccine administration 84% versus 22% (p<0.01). CONCLUSION Educating medical students and promoting the importance of vaccination early in a medical students career using such an intervention is relatively simple and easily integrated into the curriculum. This intervention was successful in vaccinating all students, and demonstrated a marked positive shift in attitudes toward influenza vaccination.

Community Needs Assessment to Reach Out to an Underserved Population

A community-based participatory research project was conducted to identify health information needs of clients (an underserved population) at a homeless shelter. Staff at the shelter, medical students, and public librarians were sought as outreach partners; their needs and challenges in accessing health information resources to serve underserved populations were also assessed. The community needs assessment yielded results that helped shape a medical librarys efforts in supporting medical students’ service-learning activities related to humanistic education. The resulting data also informed library decisions on health information education outreach programs tailored to vulnerable, underserved populations and community partners serving the specific populations in the communities.

Will they lead by example? Assessment of vaccination rates and attitudes to human papilloma virus in millennial medical students

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. It is also well established that HPV viruses are responsible for a variety of cancers. Little is known about the prevailing knowledge and attitudes toward the HPV vaccine in our future healthcare providers, a majority of whom were among the first in the target age group to receive the vaccine; the same vaccine that they will in turn be expected to recommend to their patients. The aims of this pilot study were to examine the HPV vaccination rate among medical students and determine their knowledge about HPV and attitudes toward vaccination.MethodsTo aid in the development of an HPV educational intervention, a needs assessment survey was administered to discover medical students’ knowledge and attitudes toward the HPV vaccine. All medical students at a Midwestern US medical school were invited to complete the survey.ResultsTwo hundred fourteen of 390 medical students completed the survey with 44% having been previously vaccinated. Although 82% of all respondents believed they would recommend the vaccine to family and friends, only 40% felt knowledgeable about the vaccine and 40% felt comfortable counseling patients. More positive attitudes and better knowledge scores were found in fully vaccinated students compared to non-vaccinated students. Provider recommendation was strongly associated with HPV vaccination status.ConclusionsThis study revealed the unique perspectives of U.S. millennial medical students as the first group of future healthcare providers to have personally encountered the HPV vaccine. Overall, students’ knowledge as well as their comfort level in counseling patients was lacking. This assessment has guided the development of targeted educational interventions to address knowledge gaps and prepare students to appropriately discuss the vaccine with patients and parents and help protect young people from life threatening cancers.

An Assessment of Needs of Church Coordinators Providing Meals to a Homeless Shelter.

Charitable meal services are crucial in sustaining the homeless, but few use nutritional professionals to create a balanced diet or make adjustments for those with specific dietary needs. A needs assessment was conducted among church coordinators responsible for providing meals to clients at a multi-service shelter in Detroit, Michigan. A survey and focus group were used to assess the processes involved in planning, preparing, and providing meals, which provided critical information and insight concerning nutrition and factors influencing meal-planning. According to the survey, a majority of faith organizations responding tried to meet food group requirements every meal. A predominant theme from the focus group was the desire to satisfy clients resulting in a variety and abundance of food enabling poor choices. The provision of healthy options was constrained by efforts to ease meal preparation, desire to provide comfort foods, and having difficulties accommodating diets related to health problems.

82 Evaluating effectiveness of intimate partner violence education in clinical clerkships

Background Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), defined as any form of sexual, physical, or emotional harm perpetrated by a current or former partner or spouse, is a prevalent public health issue. Insufficient coverage of IPV education during medical school has contributed to many graduates who perceive IPV education as irrelevant to their future practices. An experiential IPV curriculum was integrated into three preclinical courses at Oakland University William Beaumont (OUWB) School of Medicine and its effectiveness was assessed with the Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey adapted for healthcare students (PREMIS-HS). Results from an earlier iteration of this project showed an increase in IPV knowledge as well as overall self-confidence in the cohort’s ability to address IPV issues in the future during the preclinical years. In contrast, the aim of this project was to assess the effectiveness of clerkships at IPV education during the clinical years of medical school. Methods A cohort of medical students completed the PREMIS-HS during preclinical years. This cohort was asked to complete the survey again, along with an investigator-generated survey (Clerkships Contributions survey) regarding specific clerkship contributions to IPV education. Results Results from the PREMIS-HS and Clerkships Contributions survey showed a further increase in IPV knowledge scores (30.9±3.5) in comparison to scores collected during preclinical years (26.1±4.0), with the most knowledge and skills gained during the obstetrics and gynaecology clerkship. Conclusion Incorporating IPV education during clerkship years, in addition to preclinical years, will foster future generations of physicians with skills to appropriately screen and provide resources to patients affected by IPV.