PennDemic Simulation Framework: An Innovative Approach to Increase Student Interest and Confidence in Disasters Preparedness/Response and Interdisciplinary Teamwork.

An interdisciplinary group from two higher-education institutions in Philadelphia developed a novel framework for interprofessional education. This framework was applied to two different scenarios disease outbreak and natural disaster, which were used in simulations in 2018 and 2020. By design, these simulations included students from a broad range of disciplines, beyond the typical healthcare fields. Students were first grouped by discipline and were then placed in interdisciplinary teams for the rest of the scenario. Students were administered four surveys throughout which included 10 point-Likert scale and free response items. A statistically significant post-simulation increase in student interest and confidence was found. Survey analysis also revealed higher scores of positive group behaviors among interdisciplinary teams when compared to discipline groups. Importantly, students realized the importance of broad representation of disciplines for disaster preparedness. The PennDemic framework may be helpful for teams looking to develop simulations to build interest and confidence in disaster preparedness/response and interdisciplinary teamwork.

Revised Bloom's taxonomy as a mentoring framework for successful promotion.

INTRODUCTION: Promotion is both a rewarding and challenging milestone in an academic career, and the process is enriched by intentional mentorship. Junior faculty often seek a stepwise mentorship approach that allows them to accurately self-reflect on their progress toward promotion, while more seasoned faculty may benefit from guidance on how to effectively mentor their colleagues through the process. PERSPECTIVE: Fortunately, the revised Bloom's taxonomy, the same tool commonly utilized to guide curricular development and assessment, serves both of these purposes very effectively. IMPLICATIONS: This tale of four pharmacy academicians uses the construct of the revised Bloom's taxonomy knowledge dimension to define various stages of an academic career while drawing parallels with aspects of the cognitive process dimension in each stage and describes a mentoring framework that successfully leads faculty toward the next step of their careers.

Comparison of levalbuterol and racemic albuterol based on cardiac adverse effects in children.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cardiac effects of levalbuterol with those of racemic albuterol based on changes in heart rate (HR) in pediatric patients. METHODS: The medical records of hospitalized children ages 1 month to 12 years, who received either levalbuterol or racemic albuterol via nebulizer for 3 consecutive doses between January 2006 and December 2008 were reviewed. The documented HR was collected prior to and after each administered dose of bronchodilator. The primary outcome was the largest percentage of change in HR between groups. Secondary outcomes of comparisons of the number of patients who had more than a 10% change in HR and incidence of tachycardia were included. RESULTS: A total of 50 patients, 25 in each group, was included in the study. All patients in the racemic albuterol group received 2.5 mg per dose, while most of the patients in the levalbuterol group received 0.63 mg per dose (19 patients, 76%). Only 6 levalbuterol patients received a dose of 1.25 mg. Nineteen of 25 patients (76%) in the levalbuterol group were tachycardic prior to the first recorded dose compared to 15 patients (60%) in the racemic albuterol group (p = 0.36). The median of the largest percentage of change in HR was 4.1% (interquartile range [IQR], 1.8-8.7) in the levalbuterol group compared to 5% (IQR, 1.9-7.8) in the racemic albuterol group (p = 0.763). Four patients in the levalbuterol group experienced an HR increase of more than 10% compared to 5 patients in the racemic albuterol group (p = 1.0). CONCLUSION: Levalbuterol and racemic albuterol bronchodilator therapies produced similar effects on HR. No clinically significant differences were detected in HR changes between the two treatment groups, despite administration of a larger equipotent albuterol dose in the racemic albuterol group than in the levalbuterol group.

Management of epilepsy in pediatrics and geriatrics.

For pediatric patients, the earlier in life epilepsy occurs, the lower are long-term mental abilities. Three rare but important conditions among infants and children--pyridoxine-deficiency seizures, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and West syndrome--usually require multidrug therapy to control seizures. Epilepsy occurs more frequently among the elderly and therapy is complicated by treatment of other chronic medical conditions. Numerous effective antiepileptic medications for both pediatric and geriatric patients have been newly marketed in the past decade, with other promising agents in the investigational drug pipeline.