Biomedical subjects

Erica Pryor

Publications and source records attributed to Erica Pryor.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Evaluation of an online bioterrorism continuing medical education course.

INTRODUCTION: Much of the international community has an increased awareness of potential biologic, chemical, and nuclear threats and the need for physicians to rapidly acquire new knowledge and skills in order to protect the public's health. The present study evaluated the educational effectiveness of an online bioterrorism continuing medical education (CME) activity designed to address clinical issues involving suspected bioterrorism and reporting procedures in the United States. METHODS: This was a retrospective survey of physicians who had completed an online CME activity on bioterrorism compared with a nonparticipant group who had completed at least 1 unrelated online CME course from the same medical school Web site and were matched on similar characteristics. An online survey instrument was developed to assess clinical and systems knowledge and confidence in recognition of illnesses associated with a potential bioterrorism attack. A power calculation indicated that a sample size of 100 (50 in each group) would achieve 90% power to detect a 10% to 15% difference in test scores between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with nonparticipant physicians, participants correctly diagnosed anthrax (p = .01) and viral exanthem (p = .01), but not smallpox, more frequently than nonparticipants. Participants knew more frequently than nonparticipants who to contact regarding a potential bioterrorism event (p = .03) Participants were more confident than nonparticipants about finding information to guide diagnoses of patients with biologic exposure (p = .01), chemical exposure (p = .02), and radiation exposure (p = .04). DISCUSSION: An online bioterrorism course shows promise as an educational intervention in preparing physicians to better diagnose emerging rare infections, including those that may be associated with a bioterrorist event, in increasing confidence in diagnosing these infections, and in reporting of such infections for practicing physicians.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

Online bioterrorism continuing medical education: development and preliminary testing.

OBJECTIVE: Education to achieve awareness and competency in responding to incidents of bioterrorism is important for health care professionals, especially emergency physicians and nurses, who are likely first points of medical contact. The authors describe the development of a computer-based approach to initial education, incorporating a screensaver to promote awareness and a Web-based approach to provide initial content competency in the areas of smallpox and anthrax. METHODS: Screensavers were developed and tested on emergency department rotating senior medical students and internal medicine interns. Conceptually, screensavers were designed as "billboards" for attracting attention to the educational domain. Five rotating images sequenced at five-second intervals incorporated a teaser question and an interactive toolbar. An interactive toolbar was linked to a Web site that provided content on smallpox and anthrax for hospital-based specialties (emergency physicians and nurses, infection control practitioners, pathologists, and radiologists). The content included both summary and comprehensive content as well as free continuing education credits in an online, specialty-specific, case-scenario format with remediation pop-up boxes. RESULTS: Formal testing indicated that the screensaver and Web site combination deployed on computers in the emergency department and the events of the fall of 2001 significantly increased the percentage of correct responses to five standardized bioterrorism questions. Formal evaluation with a randomized trial and long-term follow-up is ongoing. CONCLUSIONS: Screensavers and Web sites can be used to increase awareness of bioterrorism. Web-based education may provide an effective means of education for bioterrorism.

Awareness↗

PubMed2003

An innovative approach to training hospital-based clinicians for bioterrorist attacks.

The recent attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent dissemination event of anthrax in the United States demonstrated the necessity for hospitals to initiate bioterrorism education for clinicians. Events such as the release of sarin gas into the Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo cult provided some insight into how quickly emergency medical personnel may be overwhelmed by causalities of unconventional weapons. Educational interventions to prepare hospital-based practitioners for such disasters must fit among the demands of patient care, administrative duties, and continuing education within specialties. In addition, the priority placed on the topic, confusion about reputable resources to consult, and concerns of funding for preparedness training mandate the need for an authoritative, comprehensive, and easily accessible approach. A pilot project supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality was developed to facilitate streamlining of preparedness efforts through the implementation of interactive screen savers as an alternative to traditional educational modalities. This report presents the successful application of this model, which was quantified with pretests and posttests given to users of the system.

Bioterrorism↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Integrated decision-making in response to weapons of mass destruction incidents: development and initial evaluation of a course for healthcare professionals.

INTRODUCTION: Standardized, validated training programs for teaching administrative decision-making to healthcare professionals responding to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incidents have not been available. Therefore, a multidisciplinary team designed, developed, and offered a four-day, functional exercise, competency-based course at a national training center. OBJECTIVE: This report provides a description of the development and initial evaluation of the course in changing participants' perceptions of their capabilities to respond to WMD events. METHODS: Course participants were healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, emergency medical services administrators, hospital administrators, and public health officials. Each course included three modified tabletop and/or real-time functional exercises. A total of 441 participants attended one of the eight course offerings between March and August 2003. An intervention group only, pre-post design was used to evaluate change in perceived capabilities related to administrative decision-making for WMD incidents. Paired evaluation data were available on 339 participants (81.9%). Self-ratings for each of 21 capability statements were compared before and after the course. A 19-item total scale score for each participant was calculated from the pre-course and post-course evaluations. Paired t-tests on pre- and post-course total scores were conducted separately for each course. RESULTS: There was consistent improvement in self-rated capabilities after course completion for all 21 capability statements. Paired t-tests of pre- and post-course total scale scores indicated a significant increase in mean ratings for each course (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The tabletop/real-time-exercise format was effective in increasing healthcare administrators' self-rated capabilities related to WMD disaster management and response. Integrating the competencies into training interventions designed for a specific target audience and deploying them into an interactive learning environment allowed the competency-based training objectives to be accomplished.

Bioterrorism↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Scientific Misconduct Questionnaire--Revised (SMQ-R): validation and psychometric testing.

PURPOSE: The overall purposes of this article are to report the development of a survey instrument, Scientific Misconduct Questionnaire-Revised (SMQ-R) that elicits the perceptions of research coordinators managing clinical trials about the various aspects of scientific misconduct and to present psychometric analyses for the SMQ-R. METHODS: A panel of five researchers and research coordinators reviewed the original SMQ (Rankin and Esteeves, 1997) and suggested an additional 42 items based on the review of the literature and their own experiences in research. The SMQ-Revised (SMQ-R) consists of 68 closed-choice items in six sections and one section with 12 open-ended questions. The SMQ-R was sent to 5302 persons who were members of the Association for Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) or subscribers to Research Practitioner, published by the Center for Clinical Research Practice (CCRP). FINDINGS: Internal consistency of subscales was assessed with Cronbach's alpha and ranged from .83 to .84. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test construct validity of the instrument subscales. The factor structure was assessed with the principal factors method, using the squared multiple correlations as initial communality estimates followed by varimax (orthogonal) or biquartimax (oblique) rotations. Analyses revealed five distinct factors among three subscales. Construct validity for the SMQ-R was also assessed by testing hypothesized relationships using the known groups approach. CONCLUSION: The current effort demonstrated the usefulness of the SMQ-R in obtaining information from a national sample of experienced research coordinators about their perceptions of the prevalence of different types of scientific misconduct and of factors that influence the occurrence of misconduct. The psychometric evaluation of the SMQ-R suggests good internal consistency for most subscales and suggests adequate construct validity of the instrument as a whole. The analyses also suggest that further refinement of the instrument for future studies is warranted.

Attitude↗