A brief emergency planning educational presentation was taught during work hours to a convenience sample of employees of various workplaces in Northern Missouri, USA. Participants were familiarized with details about how an emergency plan is prepared by management and implemented by management-employee crisis management teams - focusing on both employee and management roles. They then applied the presentation information to assess their own organization's emergency preparedness level. Participants possessed significantly (p < 0.05) higher perceptions of their organization's level of emergency preparedness than non-participants. It is recommended that an assessment of organizational preparedness level supplement emergency planning educational presentations in order to immediately apply the material covered and encourage employees to become more involved in their organization's emergency planning and response. Educational strategies that involve management-employee collaboration in activities tailored to each workplace's operations and risk level for emergencies should be implemented.
Civil Defense* ; Cooperative Behavior ; Emergencies* ; Missouri

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of a student-run clinic on the diversification of a medical student class. We distributed a two-page, 20-item, paper survey to students of the University of Missouri School of Medicine (MU SOM) class of 2015 in July of 2011. The survey gathered information on general demographics, opinions on the importance of medical education opportunities, and opinions on the importance of medical school characteristics in applying to and attending MU SOM. A total of 104 students responded to the survey. A majority of the students identified the MedZou Community Health Clinic, a student-run, free health clinic affiliated with MU SOM, and simulated-patient encounters as important educational experiences (81% and 94%, respectively). More than half of the self-identified "non-white" students reported MedZou as an important factor in their choice to apply to (60%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 32 to 88) and attend (71%; 95% CI, 44 to 98) MU SOM, over half of the females reported MedZou as important in their choice to apply (59%; 95% CI, 43 to 76) and attend (57%; 95% CI, 40 to 74), and over half of non-Missouri residents reported MedZou as important in their choice to apply (64%; 95% CI, 36 to 93) and attend (71%; 95% CI, 44 to 98). According to the above results, it can be said that students clearly value both MedZou and simulated-patient encounters as important educational experiences. Women, minorities, and non-Missouri residents value MedZou more highly than their peers who are First Year Medical Students who are Missouri residents, suggesting that MedZou may provide a promising opportunity to advance diversity within MU SOM. These results highlight the need for additional research to further explore MedZou's potential to enhance the recruitment of a diverse medical student class.
Demography ; Education, Medical ; Female ; Humans ; Imidazoles ; Missouri ; Nitro Compounds ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical

Due to great concern about quality of care in nursing home, legislative in the US mandated development of LTC MDS. MDS, a standardized assessment database for nursing home residents, provides comprehensive, holistic assessment data for nurses and make it possible to identify nursing needs of residents. The purpose of this study is to assess the health status of nursing home residents in Missouri, America, and to stimulate international comparative research assessing the health status of the elderly. This study presented the age-specific prevalence of diseases, sex differences, and the relative prevalence of chronic diseases among nursing home residents using the Minimum Data Set in Missouri. In addition, the possibility of racial and regional differences in chronic diseases and its relationship to demographic factors were analyzed. The prevalence of diseases was, in general, higher in female elderly then males and increased with age in both sexes. The average number of diseases in the elderly, among 31 chronic diseases, was 3.43 in women and 3.25 in men. The most prevalent 5 diseases were hypertension (29.1%), congestive heart failure (26.1%), dementia (23.6%), arthritis (20.6%), and diabetes mellitus (17.7%). Sixty-eight percent of nursing home residents had at least one of the heart/circulation related diseases and 58. 4% had neurology related diseases. In conclusion, the usefulness and implication of LTC MDS to nursing can't be overemphasized. Korean nurses should prepare themselves for using it for nursing research and to answer nursing questions.
Aged ; Americas ; Arthritis ; Chronic Disease* ; Dataset* ; Dementia ; Demography ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Missouri* ; Neurology ; Nursing Homes* ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Prevalence* ; Sex Characteristics