Black nurse scientists and the undeniable role of historically Black colleges and universities.

The pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism highlighted health inequities that have existed for decades among Black communities. Nurses are positioned to address these health inequities through innovative ideas and research. More specifically, Black nurses, because of their shared lived experience, understand sociostructural factors underpinning health inequities and how to best engage with Black communities. However, only 8% of Black nurses make up the overall nursing workforce and far fewer are nurse scientists. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can offer critically important options for success in addressing the dearth of Black nurse scientists working across sectors and contributing to rich academic milieu, informing innovative national policy, and creating impactful practice. We discuss challenges and strategies to promoting research careers at HBCUs to attract Black nurse scientists as the next leaders in health inequities research.

Request a woman scientist: A database for diversifying the public face of science.

A global online register of women scientists, ready to share their science, was established by a cohort of volunteer women from the grassroots organization 500 Women Scientists on January 17th, 2018. In less than one year, the database "Request a Woman Scientist" comprised over 7,500 women from 174 scientific disciplines and 133 countries. The database is built upon a voluntary questionnaire regarding career stage, degree, scientific discipline, geographic location, and other self-identifying dimensions of representation. The information was visualized using the software platform Tableau, with dropdown menus that help query the database and output a list of names, email addresses, and websites. The biological sciences and women scientists from the United States of America were best represented in the database. A survey of women in the database conducted in November 2018 showed that of 1,278 respondents, 11% had been contacted since signing up for a variety of engagements, including media, peer review, panel participation, educational outreach, and professional/research connections. These engagements resulted in consultations for articles, video chats with students, and speaking opportunities at conferences and events. With improved functionality and marketing, outreach in the global south, and future translation in other languages, this database will further promote the profile and participation of women scientists across society, which in turn will benefit the advancement of science.

The challenge of maintaining microscopist capacity at basic levels for malaria elimination in Jiangsu Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Local malaria transmission has decreased rapidly since the National Malaria Elimination Action Plan was launched in China in 2010. However, imported malaria cases from Africa and Southeast Asia still occur in China due to overseas laborers. Diagnosis by microscopy is the gold standard for malaria and is used in most hospitals in China. However, the current capacity of microscopists to manage malaria cases in hospitals and public health facilities to meet the surveillance needs to eliminate and prevent the reintroduction of malaria is unknown. METHODS: Malaria diagnoses were assessed by comparing the percentage of first visit and confirmed malaria diagnoses at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) and hospitals. The basic personnel information for public health departments and hospitals at different levels was investigated. The skills of microscopists for blood smear preparation and slide interpretation were also examined at the county and township levels. RESULTS: Inaccurate rate with 13.49% and 7.32%, respectively, in 2013 and 2014, from 341 and 355 reported cases from sub-provincial levels in Jiangsu province. Most of the 523 malaria cases reported in Nantong Prefecture from 2000 to 2014 involved patients who first visited county CDCs seeking treatment, however, none of these cases received confirmed diagnosis of malaria in townships or villages.The staff at county CDCs and hospitals with a higher education background performed better at making and interpreting blood smears than staff from townships. CONCLUSIONS: The network for malaria elimination in an entire province has been well established. However, an insufficient capacity for malaria diagnosis was observed, especially the preparing and reading the blood smears at the township and village levels, which is a challenge to achieving and maintaining malaria elimination.

Challenges for strengthening the health workforce in the Lao People's Democratic Republic: perspectives from key stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: The Lao People's Democratic Republic is facing a critical shortage and maldistribution of health workers. Strengthening of the health workforce has been adopted as one of the five priorities of the National Health Sector Strategy (2013-2025). This study aims to identify, explore, and better understand the key challenges for strengthening the Laotian health workforce. METHODS: This study applied exploratory and descriptive qualitative methods and adapted a working life-span framework. Twenty-three key stakeholders with particular insights into the current situation of the health workforce were purposively recruited for in-depth interviews. Important policy documents were also collected from key informants during the interviews. Thematic analysis was employed for the textual data using MAXQDA 10. RESULTS: The overarching problem is that there is a perceived severe shortage of skilled health workers (doctors, nurses, and midwives) and lab technicians, especially in primary health facilities and rural areas. Key informants also identified five problems: insufficient production of health workers both in quantity and quality, a limited national budget to recruit enough health staff and provide sufficient and equitable salaries and incentives, limited management capacity, poor recruitment for work in rural areas, and lack of well-designed continuing education programs for professional development. These problems are interrelated, both in how the issues arise and in the effect they have on one another. CONCLUSIONS: To improve the distribution of health workers in rural areas, strategies for increasing production and strengthening retention should be well integrated for better effectiveness. It is also essential to take the Laotian-specific context into consideration during intervention development and implementation. Furthermore, the government should acknowledge the inadequate health management capacity and invest to improve human resource management capacity at all levels. Finally, assessment of interventions for health workforce strengthening should be developed as early as possible to learn from the experiences and lessons in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Los citotecnólogos en el control del cáncer de cuello uterino: una visión de los trabajadores / Cytotechnologists in the control of cervical cancer: a vision of workers

OBJETIVO: Analizar la percepción de citotecnólogos sobre las habilidades necesarias para llevar a cabo sus actividades de trabajo. MÉTODO: Tipo de estudio: Estudio de caso con enfoque cualitativo, descriptivo y carácter social. Período de recopilación de datos : Entre enero y agosto de 2014. Población de estudio: 33 citotecnólogos distribuye en 3 laboratorios de citopatología y Anatomía Patológica del Estado de Río de Janeiro. RESULTADOS: Distribución de los encuestados según edad, sexo, nivel de educación y tiempo de trabajo y situación laboral. Estado de Río de Janeiro, 2014. CONCLUSÃO: El trabajo del citotecnólogo es una ocupación mal regulada, caracterizada por la falta de perfil de formación específica compatible con el alcance real de la práctica observada en este estudio. El reconocimiento se produce entre los trabajadores que se valoran por ser responsables de la promoción de la salud haciendo su trabajo socialmente útil. La falta de regulación y reglamentación profesional no califica el citotecnólogo para el alcance de la práctica, y está sólo responsable del perfil de entrenamiento. Como resultado, no hay institucionalización del trabajo; es decir, el plan de cargos y salarios, así como condiciones de trabajo adecuadas, Los citotecnólogos con desviaciones de función realizan tareas distintas a las requeridas para la posición; también son graduados en biología y farmacia y ejercen función técnica. La reciente ocupación citotecnólogo inclusión en la CBO no incluyó a actividades relacionadas con las técnicas histológicas. El proceso de profesionalización consiste, según Freidson, en un conjunto de actitudes éticas y responsabilidades individuales. Sin embargo, en la práctica no está habilitado para ejercerlo por la ausencia de regulación de la profesión. Se pregunta por la falta de institucionalización del proceso de análisis citológico, en la medida que algunos de esos trabajadores hacen el análisis fuera de la institución, sin control de calidad, normas recomendadas por el Ministerio de la Salud y de el propio trabajador en resolver todas las cuestiones con otros profesionales.

Capacity building of public health laboratories in Afghanistan: challenges and successes (2007-2011).

The continuing state of conflict and the resulting devastation of infrastructure have made Afghanistan exceptionally vulnerable to disease epidemics. The paper reports initiatives by the United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 to promote capacity building in a number of key medical laboratories and enable the Afghans to detect emerging and re-emerging diseases of public health importance. Equipment, supplies and laboratory staff training were critical for disease diagnosis and fulfillment of obligations of the International Health Regulations 2005. Accordingly, many diseases outbreaks were recently identified, including avian and pandemic influenza, febrile illness, watery diarrhoea, jaundice and leishmaniasis. Clinical samples and disease vectors were collected for analysis, and microbial isolates were obtained for further characterization. The expanded range and enhanced accuracy of laboratory procedures have facilitated selected local laboratories to monitor, detect, identify, assess, contain and respond to public health threats. Nevertheless, policies of sustainability and infectious diseases control need continuous support and emphasis.