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Purpose: Published advantages of and challenges with telemedicine led us to examine the scope of telemedicine adoption, implementation readiness, and barriers in a southern state where adoption has been historically low. We hypothesized that rural hospitals and primary care providers (RPCPs) differ on adoption, readiness, and implementation barriers. We examined the degree to which they differ on (a) telemedicine adoption or readiness; (b) telemedicine training needs; (c) current use of technology for patient care; and (d) environmental concerns in facilities for telemedicine. Methods: Paper surveys were sent to rural hospitals and RPCPs with response rates of 50% (n = 38) and 25.9% (n = 339), respectively. Three of 4 hospitals were represented. Chi-square analyses were used to test for differences between rural hospitals and RPCPs. Findings: Compared to RPCPs, rural hospitals were significantly more likely to report higher rates of telemedicine knowledge (P = 0.0007); planning for or implementing telemedicine (P less than 0.0001); and reporting their disaster recovery data systems (P = 0.0002) and availability and location of outlets and connections (P = 0.03) as adequate for telemedicine. Rural hospitals were less likely to report having no telemedicine education needs (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Telemedicine continues to be a viable solution for bridging geographic access gaps to a variety of specialty care. Users need assistance in understanding legal implications, care coordination, billing for services, and disaster data recovery. In rural areas, hospitals appear to best embody characteristics of facilities that successfully implement telemedicine and have the greatest degree of readiness.

This research reports on the conduction of a needs assessment and the development of a training and evaluation program for a student associate position at the campus computing center. The center provides faculty support for a range of software and technologies. At the project's onset, the majority of students performed basic office duties such as greeting faculty, logging computers, as well as answering phones and referring requests to the appropriate center staff member. The project's goal aimed to enhance students' technology skills to improve the level of service they provided to faculty. The qualitative study included interviews with current student employees to gauge their digital literacy competencies as well as discussions with the students' supervisors and full-time center staff members on the types of skills necessary for upgrading the position. The second phase of the project centered on the development of a training plan and skills assessment for the student workers. The authors draw on the similarities between libraries and campus computing centers to advocate for the conduction of technology training programs for library staff. In addition, the article proposes increased collaboration between libraries and campus computing centers to enhance their collective services and programs for patrons. (Contains 1 table.)

There is an extensive research history related to understanding how educational institutions can better serve the American Indian student. However, there is little research on how the sociocultural context shapes perceptions of the future and impacts student achievement. This study investigates who the sociocultural context of home and school influences the perceived importance of an education to the future and how these perceptions are related to the present goals that the American Indian student pursues in the classroom, thus affecting achievement. The results of the study are interpreted in the context of a theoretical model (Miller & Brickman, 2004). The results of this study suggest that successful American Indian students desire to learn for the sake of understanding are willing to put forth effort to do so. Additionally, multiple regression analyses revealed that specific types of present goals predicted valuing of school for the future, their intentions to further their education and GPA. Implications for practice based upon the results of this study and the model suggest interventions that can be implemented by teachers and parents.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare national estimates of drug use and exposure to violence between rural and urban teens. Methods: Twenty-eight dependent variables from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were used to compare violent activities, victimization, suicidal behavior, tobacco use, alcohol use, and illegal drug use across rural, urban, and suburban teens across the country. Results: Overall, rural teens were equally or more likely than both suburban and urban teens to report experiencing many measures of violent behavior, victimization, suicide behaviors, and drug use. Among all teens, nonwhites reported equal or higher rates of violent behavior and victimization than whites, but these associations disappeared within the rural-only population. Conclusions: Rural areas do not appear to provide a strongly protective effect against risk behaviors in teens and may be a risk factor in itself. Community prevention efforts should focus on reaching rural areas and segmenting program content based on need. Where white teens might benefit from an emphasis on preventing tobacco and alcohol use, nonwhite teens would benefit from an emphasis on preventing violence and victimization. (Contains 3 tables.)

With extreme rates of binge drinking among young adults, college students continue to be a primary focus for a range of alcohol prevention efforts. Most universities are attempting to change the alcohol environment by implementing a variety of strategies to reduce heavy drinking among college students. With the exception of parental notification policies, there have been relatively few strategies utilizing the role of parents in alcohol prevention programming. Guided by the constructs of the Health Belief Model, this paper presents an exploratory study of parent-child communication as a prevention strategy to reduce heavy drinking among first-year college students. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Yet, few resources have been allocated to the training of novice reviewers or recognition of their contributions to the peer review process. In this insights article, we reflect on our experiences and provide recommendations for future peer review skills training programmes. Yet, few resources have been allocated to the training of novice reviewers or recognition of their contributions to the peer review process. [Extracted from the article]

Background Event-driven HIV prevention strategies are a priority for users who do not require daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Regimens containing integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) are under evaluation as alternatives to daily PrEP. To better understand INSTI distribution and inform dosing selection we compared the pharmacology of two-dose boosted elvitegravir and unboosted bictegravir regimens in MSM. Materials and methods Blood, rectal and penile secretions and rectal biopsies were collected from 63 HIV-negative MSM aged 18–49 years. Specimens were collected up to 96 h after two oral doses of tenofovir alafenamide and emtricitabine with elvitegravir boosted by cobicistat or unboosted bictegravir given 24 h apart. Antiretroviral drugs were measured by LC-MS. Results Mean bictegravir plasma concentrations remained above the 95% protein-adjusted effective concentration 96 h after dosing [273 (95% CI: 164–456) ng/mL] whereas elvitegravir plasma concentrations became undetectable 48 h after the second dose. Bictegravir and elvitegravir reached rectal tissues within 2 h after the first dose, and elvitegravir tissue concentrations [1.07 (0.38–13.51) ng/mg] were greater than bictegravir concentrations [0.27 (0.15–0.70) ng/mg]. Both INSTIs became undetectable in tissues within 96 h. Elvitegravir and bictegravir were not consistently detected in penile secretions. Conclusions Whereas bictegravir plasma concentrations persist at least 4 days after a two-oral-dose HIV prophylaxis regimen, elvitegravir accumulates in mucosal tissues. Differing elvitegravir and bictegravir distribution may result in variable mucosal and systemic antiviral activity and can inform dosing strategies for event-driven HIV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There has been limited examination of how community‐level supports may influence oral health metrics among children. The purpose of our study is to examine the association between two types of community‐level positive childhood experiences and oral healthcare and oral health outcomes among children ages 6 to 17 years of age. Methods: This study uses a cross‐sectional data set from the 2018–2019 National Survey of Children's Health. Two oral health metrics were used: preventive dental care, measured as one or more preventive dental visits in the past 12 months, and tooth decay, measured as tooth decay or cavities in the last 12 months. To quantify living in safe, stable, equitable environments, questions on residing in a safe and supportive neighborhood were used. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to calculate frequencies, proportions, and unadjusted associations for each variable (n = 40,290). Multivariable logistic regression models were used. Results: In an adjusted analysis, children who lived in a supportive neighborhood had a higher likelihood of receiving a preventive dental visit than children who did not live in a supportive neighborhood (aOR 1.41; 95% CI 1.21–1.65). Children who lived in a safe neighborhood were less likely to have tooth decay than children who did not live in a safe neighborhood (aOR 0.75; 95% CI 0.65–0.86). Conclusions: The findings from this study highlight the role of social structures in tightening the safety net for oral healthcare in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considers whether gender is significant in determining teachers' versions of critical pedagogy. Contends that in the academy, women have not had much of a choice but to be adversarial, particularly in the "feminized" field of composition and rhetoric. Concludes that by confronting students as equals rather than adversaries, educators open themselves up to the possibility of re-examining and learning about themselves and their pedagogical methods. (PM)