Prevalence of Hypertension in Homeless Adults: An Interprofessional Education Community-Based Health Fairs Cross-Sectional Study in Urban Long Beach, California.

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension (SBP/DBP > 130/80 mmHg) is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide. AIM: To determine the prevalence of hypertension in a homeless community during an interprofessional education (IPE)-based health fair. METHODS: Homeless participants were recruited between August 2019-September 2019. Faculty, nursing, and pharmacist students, educated 477 participants, aged 18-80 years, on the risk factors associated with untreated hypertension. Then, participants self-completed the consented demographic survey questionnaire. Finally, the sitting blood pressure (BP) was recorded three times based on a standardized procedure, using Omron BPN monitor with cuff. RESULTS: Seven pharmacy students, nine nursing students, two registered nurses, five registered pharmacists, and two medical doctors collaboratively provided health education to the homeless community and screened their sitting BP. 390/477 (81.8%) of participants satisfied the inclusion criteria. Participants (54.7%) of the reported education level was at the high School level or less. More than the half of the participants (average age of 51 ± 13 years) had hypertension (median SBP/DBP ≥ 130/82.7 mmHg), respectively. The prevalence of hypertension for the overall cohort was 61.52% (95% CI, 56.59-66.35). Age (p value = 0.000) was significantly associated with hypertension based on the binary logistic analysis. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of hypertension in the homeless community in Long Beach, California with high risk of cardio-vascular events or strokes. This works sheds new light on an issue of major public health significance and points to the need for fostering IPE community-based health fairs intervention program for the US homeless population.

Speed and accuracy of pharmacy students' response to calculation problems with or without formula prompts.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the amount of time spent per problem and the level of accuracy per problem, based on the presence or absence of a stressor. The impact on accuracy created by stress due to the lack of the formula prompt during an assessment is a major focus of this study. METHODS: Sixty-nine first-year pharmacy students were tested with four calculation questions (Qs) divided between two quizzes. The first quiz contained three multiple-choice questions (MCQs), Q1 to Q3, and no formulas to assist students. The second quiz contained one MCQ, Q4, and provided a formula to assist students. The degree of difficulty of Q1, Q2, Q3 was set lower. Also, Q3 and Q4 were identical. The only difference was the inclusion of the formula to assist the student. The absence of the formula on the first quiz served as the stressor, which impacted the average response time and level of accuracy. Analysis was performed for determining the difference among the groups of students based on their rate of accuracy and the rapidness of response. RESULTS: The mean time to respond to the question with the formula was not significantly different from the mean time to respond to the question with no formula. While the rapidness of response increased due to confidence in the formula provided, accuracy in response selection decreased. CONCLUSION: The absence of cognitive stressors contributed to boosting student confidence and rapidness of response but reduced the accuracy.