Dr. Tai-Seale receives federal funding for study of physician communication with older patients

The National Institutes of Health has awarded just under $1 million to Ming Tai-Seale, Ph.D., professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, for a two-year study of physician-patient communication between older adults and their primary care physicians from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

The study also will examine the cost effectiveness of mental health communication by primary care physicians, who are often the only source of mental health services received by the elderly, based on the patients’ adherence to prescribed treatment.

Dr. Tai-Seale hopes to identify concrete recommendations on how to improve mental health treatment for the elderly during doctor visits, an extension of her previous research in this area that was awarded the “Article of the Year 2008” by AcademyHealth.

This is the first grant awarded to the HSC-School of Rural Public Health under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

School of Rural Public Health receives gift from Chevron for environmental health and safety

Chevron, the international energy company, recently gave $209,500 to the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health to support faculty, help develop an undergraduate program in environmental health and safety, and provide student scholarships.

“The department is very pleased to have received support from Chevron to help improve the occupational safety and health program,” said K.C. Donnelly, Ph.D., head and professor of environmental and occupational health. “The funds have allowed us to provide additional support for students and to hire additional faculty. Most importantly, the guidance provided from Chevron on curriculum content and providing internships has allowed us to better prepare our students.”

Shariqu Yosufzai, president of Chevron Global Marketing, said, “Through today’s gift, Chevron continues the tradition of supporting this institution and the students and faculty who will help us tackle the issues of the 21st century.”

School of Rural Public Health Center for Health Organization Transformation approved by regents and adds partners

The Center for Health Organization Transformation has been officially designated a center of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health following recent approval by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

The Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT) is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded collaboration between the HSC-School of Rural Public Health and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Other health system partners are Texas Children’s Hospital, Scott & White, CHRISTUS Health, Lone Star Circle of Care and Texas Health Resources.

CHOT links faculty and students to advance research and practice in health systems management, information systems, quality and safety management, chronic disease management, clinical change initiatives, and other evidence-based management approaches (such as Six Sigma and Toyota Lean Production Methods). In joining the HSC-School of Rural Public Health’s knowledge in health care management, information systems and organizational change with Texas A&M University’s and Georgia Tech’s expertise in systems engineering and informational technology, CHOT will help transform health care.

“The initial work on several transformation projects with our health system partners has demonstrated that CHOT’s research approaches are well-aligned with the objectives of the leaders of the health systems,” said Larry Gamm, Ph.D., CHOT director and head of health policy and management at the HSC-School of Rural Public Health.

Conversations are under way with other health systems regarding their participation as well as with the Texas Health Association, Children's Hospital Association of Texas, and Texas Association of Public and Nonprofit Hospitals (Teaching Hospitals of Texas).

Bigger and Older: Accomodating the worker of the future

oronto played host to the largest health and safety event in Canada in April. Organized by IAPA, the event showcased more than 530 booths and drew 6,000 safety professionals, who attended sessions on topics from drunk driving and mental health, to machine guards and explosion prevention.

From a procurement perspective, Jerome Congleton, co-director of the Ergonomics Centre at Texas A & M University Health Science Center, talked about the “office of the future,” and the equipment needed to accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce.

“Productivity increases up to 17 per cent if you [install] sit/stand workstations,” Congleton explained. He showed photos of the concept, which allows employees to stand at a desk, or to sit, depending on their inclination. The sit/stand design helps prevent pain from prolonged sitting, and improves attention levels, he noted. It’s also better for overall health.

“If you stand two hours more a day than you currently do, you’ll burn 280 calories a day and lose 20 pounds a year,” he said. “We need to have more movement in our office in our daily activities. You have to be innovative in getting more standing than you’re currently getting.”

In a recent case study with a multinational organization, discomfort ratings improved more than 26 per cent with sit/stand workstations, he said. Work-related injury and illness went down by 28 per cent, and lost-time by 82 per cent.

Increasing obesity

Another prominent trend is obesity, he added. “Our workforce has become increasingly obese and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.”

The larger size of the typical worker requires equipment such as split keyboards. The two-part keyboards alleviate discomfort among obese people, and they’re also more ergonomic in general, he added, due to their adjustability.

Congleton also focused on the vast range of body types in a typical industrial setting, especially now that more women have joined the manufacturing and logistics field. As part of his demonstration, he called two members of the audience up to the podium.

One was a petite woman about five feet tall, and the other a man over six feet tall. He showed how key body positions such as elbow rest-height, hand span and arm length were so dramatically different between the two. Yet, tools, conveyors and other machinery are all set at one height deemed to suit the ‘average’ worker. He pointed out step stools and other devices go a long way to preventing strain injuries.

He also noted the increasing age of the typical employee. “With the economy being as it is, a lot of people are going to have to keep on working,” he said. Older workers need larger font sizes, and lift-assist devices as muscle strength declines.

With technology going mobile, he sees employees lugging around laptops, cell phones, projectors, mini-printers and PDAs. He suggested one case for everything, with roller wheels.

He urged attendees to prepare their organizations for the shifting demographics by starting with their own offices.
“Your workplace should be the ergonomic example,” he concluded. “If you don’t walk the walk, and talk the talk, how do you expect people to follow?”

Aside from ergonomics, experts gave presentations on numerous issues, such as preventing violence in the workplace, managing young employees, forklift safety and air quality.

-Lisa Wichmann, B2B News

New Delta Omega Inductees

The Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health inducted one faculty member, eight students and seven alumni into the local Alpha Tau chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health on Friday, May 15 at a luncheon in their honor at La Riviera restaurant in Bryan, TX.

The Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health was founded in 1924 at the then Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene Public Health (now Bloomberg School of Public Health) as the honorary society for graduate studies in public health. Honorary members are those possessing exceptional qualifications and having attained meritorious national or international distinction in the field of public health. Faculty members are nominated for outstanding performance in teaching and research, while students are chosen for scholarly performance. Alumni are nominated for actively engaging in public health work.

"While scholarly performance is a key ingredient of the formula for selection for induction into the honor society, it's really the faculty member's or student's contribution to the practice of public health that leads them to be singled out for recognition," said Dr. Craig Blakely, associate dean for academic affairs and research at the HSC-School of Rural Public Health and Alpha Tau chapter chair. "These are all colleagues who have already made visible contributions to our field. We are both proud of those contributions and excited about the career paths they are likely to follow."

Dr. Jean Brender, professor, was inducted with the following students: Ms. Michelle Steck, Ms. Anna Graham, Ms. Alicia Ramirez, Ms. Hannah Fox, Ms. Jalyn Stineman, Ms. Anjulie Chaubal, Ms. Jeananne Elkins and Mr. Marshall Shaw. Inducted alumni were Ms. Jan Eberth, Ms. Cathy Snider, Ms. Ruby Estrada, Ms. Ayanna Clark, Mr. Edwin Shanley III, Ms. Elaine Hernandez and Dr. Juan Campos.

Global warming biggest health threat of 21st century, experts say

The warming of planet Earth is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century," a varied group of experts warned Wednesday.

Their report is one of the latest to expound on the deepening environmental crisis, and one of the first to focus on the potential role of health-care professionals in ameliorating the problem.

"This is a bad diagnosis not just for children in different lands. It's for our children and grandchildren," Anthony Costello, a professor of international child health and director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London, said during a Wednesday teleconference. "Even the most conservative estimates are profoundly disturbing and demand action. Climate change raises an important issue of inter-generational justice, that we are setting up a world for our children and grandchildren that may be extremely frightening and turbulent."

Costello is lead author of a thick report produced jointly by The Lancet journal and University College London (UCL) and published in the May 16 issue of the journal.

"There are no institutions at the global level who can really deal effectively with devising complex solutions to these complex problems," added Lancet editor Dr. Richard Horton. "It is an urgent threat. It is a dangerous threat. It has been neglected, and requires an unprecedented response by governments and international organizations."

Among other things, the report's authors call for the involvement of health professionals, who have not yet been central to the cause.

Climate change is now a fact of life on this planet.

"The vast majority of experts, 95 percent, maybe even 99 percent, agree that global warming is taking place," said Kirby Donnelly, head of environmental and occupational health at Texas A and M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health. "The big issue is the model: When will global warming become a problem?"

The report based its predictions on a 2- to 6-degree warming over the next century but focusing on a pessimistic 4-degree rise, said Mark Maslin, director of UCL's Environment Institute.

Among the health consequences of such a rise:

• Vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, once confined to warmer areas, will move north and become more widespread as a result of increased temperatures.
• Heat waves will kill more people in more areas of the world (more than 70,000 people died during a heat wave in Europe in 2003).
• Crop yields will decline, leading to greater food insecurity in a world where 800 million already go to bed hungry every night.
• Water shortages will lead to more gastroenteritis and malnutrition, among other health problems.
• Extreme climactic events such as flash flooding due to changing rainfall patterns and melting ice sheets will hinder the world's sewage systems, leading to diarrhea and other problems, said Dr. Hugh Montgomery, director of UCL's Institute for Human Health and Performance. Severe cyclones and hurricanes will also take more lives.
• More people living in cities will lead to a shortage of housing, which will lead to slums, which will lead to inadequate sanitation systems and increased vulnerability to extreme weather events.

The authors propose adopting policies to reduce carbon emissions and increase carbon biosequestration and to equalize the world's health systems, among other recommendations.

"We have a moral dilemma: How do we protect the health of the poorest people in the world and allow them to develop," Maslin said.

"There are so many public health issues associated with global warming that certainly, once it becomes a significant problem, it will be the most significant public health problem at that point in time," Donnelly said.

"This is a problem that affects the entire planet, and the longer it takes 'us,' the people on this planet, to take action, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem," Donnelly said. "We urgently need to take at least minimal action to try to reduce emissions and move toward taking more significant action to reduce global warming."

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more on global warming.

SOURCES: Kirby Donnelly, Ph.D., head, environmental and occupational health, Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, College Station; May 13, 2009, teleconference with Anthony Costello, M.B., professor, international child health, and director, Institute for Global Health, University College London; Mark Maslin, Ph.D., director, Environment Institute, and head, geography, University College London; and Hugh Montgomery, M.D., director, Institute for Human Health and Performance, University College London; May 16, 2009, The Lancet

-KSLA NEWS, Amanda Gardner- HealthDay

Texas A&M to Collaborate with Georgia Tech

The Texas A&M Board of Regents approved a measure Friday regarding a Health Science Center collaboration with Georgia Tech.

Click to hear WTAW's Chris Clift talk with Dr. Larry Gamm, Director of the Center for Health Organization Transformation and head of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the School of Rural Public Health:

-WTAW Radio Station, College Station

Hurricane Ike Registry, HikeR, grows to 500

The USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness at the School of Rural Public Health has created a registry for those who have been affected by Hurricane Ike to share experiences and participate in activities and studies over the next five years.

The Hurricane Ike Registry, also called HikeR, stores information used by the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness to keep in contact with individuals who have opted to be participants in studies that will examine evacuation, sheltering and recovery from Hurricane Ike.

"We hope that through the numerous activities and studies we intend to conduct over the next five years that we are able to improve the response and recovery after hurricanes and other natural disasters," said USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness evaluation manager Jennifer Griffith.

The USA Center has partnered up with different communities and stakeholders to help prepare for natural disasters.

The registry was mainly created as a way to stay in touch with people years after the disaster has occurred, said Griffith.

The studies will be conducted through surveys, interviews and small group discussion.

The registry has grown substantially since its launch in January, said Griffith.

"We have over 500 people in the registry," Griffith said. "We are still recruiting and work primarily through identifying community groups and partners to help us spread the word".

The registry was created by the Knowledge Engineering Center at the School of Rural Public Health to replace the previous, manually done, registration process.

"The CDC designated us as one of their twenty seven Centers for Public Health preparedness," said Barbara Quiram, director of the Office of Special Programs and director of the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness at the School of Rural Public Health. "Of those 27 centers ours is the only one with a rural focus."

The registry was an extension of the goals that the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness has been implementing since its foundation in 2002, after the events of Sept. 11, said Quiram.

"They chose to go online to be able to track participants for specific studies, participants that were available, and it made it easier to organize the data for managing that flow of information," said Vince Riggins, Lead Software Applications Developer for the Knowledge Engineering Center.

In addition, HikeR allows individuals affected by the hurricane to register for themselves, so information entered is more likely to be accurate, said Riggins.

-Vicky Flores, The Battalion

New heart disease findings from J.M. Griffith and co-researchers published

According to recent research from the United States, "The authors performed a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of 2 different formats of risk reduction information when using conjoint analysis to elicit values about heart disease prevention. Participants ages 30 to 75 were enrolled and presented the same hypothetical scenario: a person with a 13% ten-year risk of heart disease."

"Participants then worked through a values elicitation exercise using conjoint analysis, making pairwise comparisons of hypothetical treatments that differed on 5 attributes. For the attribute ''ability to reduce heart attacks,'' participants were randomized to receive either absolute risk reduction (ARR) or relative risk reduction (RRR) information. Participants selected which attribute they felt was most important. Participants' responses to the pairwise comparisons were then used to generate their most important attribute using ordinary least squares regression. Outcomes included differences between groups in the proportion choosing and generating ability to reduce heart attacks as the most important attribute. In total, 113 participants completed the study: mean age was 51, 29% were male, 52% were white, and 42% were African American. The proportion who selected the ability to reduce heart attacks as the most important treatment attribute did not differ significantly (64% RRR; 53% ARR, Fisher's P = 0.26). For the conjoint-generated most important attribute, those receiving the RRR version were significantly more likely to generate ability to reduce heart attacks as the most important attribute (59% RRR; 35% ARR, Fisher's P = 0.01)," wrote J.M. Griffith and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Risk presentation format appears to affect the perceived value of different treatment attributes generated from conjoint analysis."

Copyright © 2009 Biotech Business Week via NewsRx.com