A scoping review of studies evaluating the education of health professional students about public health.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this article is to identify and describe key components of research into the teaching methods of public health to postgraduate students. STUDY DESIGN: This is a systematic review of the published literature. METHODS: A detailed search of the literature based on keywords, Boolean operators, and free-text terms, identified from PubMed, Scopus and ERIC, published in the English language, between January 2000 and December 2017, was made. Teams of independent pairs agreed studies eligible for the review and performed data extraction. RESULTS: Of the 2,442 potential studies on education of public health professionals, 86 met all the inclusion criteria. Specific study designs, data collection, and techniques for data analysis varied widely across the individual studies, and there was a lack of consistency on the whole. The number of students in each study ranged from ten to 1,300. Forty-seven studies used quantitative methods to assess the effectiveness of teaching. Curriculum evaluation was the most common focus (n = 33), followed by course evaluation (n = 22). Few studies considered inequalities in terms of the types of students registered on the different courses/programs, with just three evaluating strategies to increase students from minority ethnic groups. Most studies evaluated short-term or medium-term outcomes rather than long-term impacts of education on students' careers or the relationship of education in meeting future public health workforce demands. CONCLUSIONS: This comprehensive systematic review identified a dearth of the literature on evaluations of approaches for teaching public health to health professions students. Those studies that had been published varied to such an extent in terms of their aims, methods, analysis, and results such that it was impossible to make any consistent comparisons of the observations reported in the studies. We conclude that evidence-based approaches for teaching public health to health professions students are either not sought by faculty and programs or, if conducted, not shared. As such, there are likely to be missed opportunities for ensuring that future graduates of health professions programs are as well prepared as possible to contribute to the health of the public.

Human papillomavirus vaccination uptake and factors related to uptake in a traditional desert city in the United Arab Emirates.

It is important to assess uptake of a new vaccine. The present survey estimated the uptake of the recently introduced human papillomavirus vaccine (HPVV) in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and also explored barriers to uptake. A questionnaire survey was conducted in secondary schools, enrolling 334 girls. The uptake percentage was estimated and factors associated with uptake were assessed with multilevel logistic regression. Crude vaccination uptake was 53%. Factors positively associated with uptake were, among others, having knowledge on human papillomavirus (vaccine) and having United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationality. The HPVV uptake of just over 50% could probably be improved by educating the target group and their parents before offering the HPVV and by making it free of costs for everyone.

Injuries among children--some cost considerations in USA.

Unintentional and intentional injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of 19. The large number of premature death and disabilities due to injury and accompanying high economic cost, including public sector expenditures, emphasize the need to reduce the burden of injury. Productivity losses are greater from injury than from the three other leading causes of death--heart disease, stroke and cancer. Implementation of known injury-control interventions can substantially reduce the incidence, severity, and accompanying cost of injury. Because financial resources are limited, decision-makers need to consider the cost and effectiveness of alternative prevention strategies. Injury causes with the highest cost per injury could make a priority, especially within maternal and child health programs; as an alternative, projected total injury cost could determine program priority.

Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV-1 prevalence among five populations of women in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

BACKGROUND: Five populations at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the Czech and Slovak Republics were sampled. GOAL: To estimate prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and HIV-1 infections. STUDY DESIGN: Urine specimens were collected serially from women at a Prague prenatal clinic (n = 134), a Prague dermatovenerealogy clinic (n = 91), sex workers from northern and central Bohemia (n = 35), students from a northern Bohemian school (n = 217), and Gypsies from Jarovnice, Slovakia (n = 128). These specimens were tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea using a ligase chain reaction pooling algorithm, and for HIV using an enzyme immunoassay confirmed by Western blot. RESULTS: The prevalence of chlamydia was 2.2% (95% CI, 0.4-6.4) in the prenatal clinic, 5.5% (95% CI, 1.8-12.4) in the STD clinic, 22.9% (95% CI, 10.4-40.1) among street sex workers, 8.2% (95% CI, 3.6-15.6) among sexually active female high school students, and 3.9% (95% CI, 1.3-8.9) among Gypsy women. Gonorrhea was found in only two populations: 2.2% (95% CI, 0.3-7.7) in the STD clinic, and 2.9% (95% CI, 0.1-14.9) among sex workers. No HIV-1 infection was detected. CONCLUSIONS: Urine screening was an efficient and accurate method for identifying groups at risk for STDs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia because sample collection was fast and noninvasive, and potential participation bias was reduced by high acceptability.

Urinary uric acid excretion in healthy male infants.

Blood and urine samples were collected from 23 healthy term male infants aged 2-12 months (mean 6.6 months). Data for establishing urinary uric acid reference values were obtained: urine concentration, 24-h urine output, weight-related urine output, urine output related creatinine, clearance, and fractional excretion. A negative correlation with age was demonstrated for all parameters studied.