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F J Holtzhauer

Publications and source records attributed to F J Holtzhauer.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Improving performance at the local level: implementing a public health learning workforce intervention.

In an effort to continually improve performance of the essential public health services with community partners, the diverse public health workforce in a major metropolitan area engaged in an organizational learning process. Core public health organizational competencies, identified in a multi-year collaborative applied research initiative, provided the curricula content for the public health learning experience. All members (about 600) of the Columbus and Franklin County (Ohio) Health Departments participated in four one-half day small group, highly interactive modules conducted during a 2-year period. The purpose of this article is to describe the design and implementation of this workforce intervention, the lessons learned, and implications for developing organizational capacity and improved performance.

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMed1986

Reye's syndrome. An epidemiologic analysis of mild disease.

Patients with Reye's syndrome (RS) whose degree of severity was classified as stage 0 (alert and awake) were compared with patients with a severity classification of stage 1 or greater. The Centers for Disease Control case definition and staging criteria were used. Two hundred twenty-seven patients with RS were investigated by the Ohio Department of Health from Dec 1, 1978, through March 31, 1980. There were 67 identified patients who never exceeded stage 0 and 160 patients classified as stage 1 or greater. Both groups of patients were compared according to demographic features, symptomatology, medication use during the antecedent illness, and laboratory findings during the RS illness. Stage 0 patients were similar to patients at stage 1 or greater in their demographic features, illnesses, medications preceding RS, and results of liver function tests; however, values of serum ammonia, creatine phosphokinase, prothrombin time, and bilirubin increased with RS severity.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1982

Reye's syndrome and medication use.

Ninety-seven Reye's syndrome (RS) cases in Ohio children with onsets from December 1978 through March 1980 were studied for medication use during their pre-RS illness. They were matched with 156 control subjects for age, race, sex, geographic location, time, and type of illness. Only the use of aspirin was reported by significantly more cases (97%, 94/97) than controls (71%, 110/156) during the pre-RS matched illness. Using a multiple logistic model to control for the presence of fever, headache, and sore throat statistically, the difference in aspirin use remained significant. Conversely, fewer cases (16%) took medications containing acetaminophen than controls (33%). In 87% of the cases receiving aspirin, their maximum daily dosage did not exceed recommended levels, but their doses were higher than those of controls receiving aspirin. No relationship was found between dosage and stage of RS encephalopathy.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1982

The role of indoor and outdoor occupations in the seroepidemiology of Legionella pneumophila.

Exposure to disturbed soil has been postulated as a source of L. pneumophila in relation to outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease [1]. Using serum samples from 588 healthy individuals engaged in indoor and outdoor occupations in Ohio, we performed indirect fluorescent antibody tests for L. pneumophila serogroups 1 and 2. Reciprocal and geometric mean titers were compared between indoor and outdoor occupational groups. We found 19.2 of the outdoor workers to be positive (titer, greater than or equal to 1:128) for serogroups 1 and 2, whereas 20.7% and 16.3% of the indoor workers were positive for serogroups 1 and 2, respectively. The differences in seropositivity were not statistically significant between occupations when the data were evaluated by sex, race, geographic area, and age. An analysis of the variance and a comparison of the two proportions were used to test the data and geometric mean titers were tested by Student's t-test. All of the differences were not significant at a level of P less than or equal to 0.05. Combining the data from the two groups of workers resulted in 19.9% and 17.9% seropositivity in the total study population for serogroups 1 and 2, respectively. These findings demonstrated that the presence of antibodies to L. pneumophila serogroups 1 and 2 in this non-epidemic-related study was comparable to or higher rates in epidemic-related studies [1]. The present study defines what may be an endemic level of L. pneumophila in Ohio and demonstrates geographic variations in the seropositivity rates [2]. Our results also support the findings of Muldoon et al., who found that seroconversion may occur early in children and also may be maintained in adults over a long interval[3].

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Nosocomial Legionnaires' disease in Columbus, Ohio.

Three patients with severe pneumonia at a community hospital in Columbus, Ohio, were found to have Legionnaires' disease in late August 1977. A subsequent serologic survey of patients with pneumonia at this hospital identified three additional cases. Among patients with pneumonia, hospital exposure in the 2 weeks before onset of illness was significantly associated with Legionnaires' disease (P = 0.003). Serosurveys of hospital employees with a recent history of upper respiratory illness, healthy employees, and workers at the hospital construction site showed that one of 101, one of 107, and none of 114, respectively, has a single reciprocal titer of greater than or equal to 256 to the Legionnaires' disease (LD) bacterium. Serosurveys of patients with pneumonia at three control hospitals identified five additional patients with Legionnaires' disease, three of them with pneumonia that was apparently hospital acquired in a single renal transplant unit. A fourth patient from that unit without clinical illness had a fourfold rise in titer to LD bacterium.

Adult↗