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Abstract: Calls for more public health education for medical students date back at least 150 years. In recent years, medical schools have increased their required coursework in core public health topics such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and behavioral determinants of health. Some schools have created more in-depth alternatives, including combined or concurrent master''s degrees; MD/PhD programs with a public health track; certificates in public health; or complete re-envisioning of the school into an integrated medical and public health institution. In 2009 the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine began a Public Health Area of Concentration (AOC) that provides an optional, integrated curriculum that includes key elements of research, practice, and leadership. The AOC is a partnership between two schools at the University of Pittsburgh—Medicine and Public Health—and the local county health department. The result is a program that provides mentorship and training over 4 years of education designed to mend the long historical divide between the skills and constituencies of individual and population health. In addition, the AOC is relatively easy and inexpensive to implement and is modular in nature. The Public Health AOC is a simple model for incorporating many key aspects of public health into medical education and can be duplicated by any university that is willing to create partnerships and work across boundaries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Please cite this paper as: Stebbins et al. (2011) Sensitivity and specificity of rapid influenza testing of children in a community setting. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 5(2), 104-109. Rapid influenza testing (RFT) allows for a rapid point-of-care diagnosis of influenza. The Quidel QuickVue Influenza A+B test (QuickVue) has a reported manufacturer's sensitivity and specificity of 73% and 96%, respectively, with nasal swabs. However, investigators have shown sensitivities ranging from 22% to 77% in community settings. The QuickVue rapid influenza test was evaluated in a population of elementary (K-5) school children, using testing in the home, as part of the Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project during the 2007-2008 influenza season. The QuickVue test was performed with nasal swab in full accordance with package instructions and compared with the results of nasal swab semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Sensitivity of the QuickVue was found to be 27% in this sample. There was no statistically valid correlation between the semi-quantitative PCR result and the QuickVue result. This study is consistent with the low sensitivity of the QuickVue test also reported by others. Viral load, technique, and the use of nasal swabs were examined as contributing factors but were not found to be explanations for this result. Community testing includes patients who are on the lower spectrum of illness which would not be the case in hospital or clinic samples. This suggests that RFT is less sensitive for patients at the lower spectrum of illness, with less severe disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]