ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to higher education. The extraordinary challenges created by the pandemic required equally extraordinary efforts from faculty and other stakeholders to rapidly convert face-to-face classes to online/hybrid instruction. This rapid change was facilitated by use of a robust framework for not only making changes in short order but also sustaining the changes to reshape healthcare education for a post-pandemic future. To this end, the chapter discusses the effective use of Kotter's 8-step framework to successfully implement change in healthcare education at a college of pharmacy and allied health professions. This chapter discusses each step of Kotter's 8-step process to create, implement, and sustain change in pharmacy and allied health education. The model integrated people, processes, and effective strategies to create changes amid the pandemic (crisis). Lessons learned and implications for the future in a post-pandemic educational environment are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to higher education. The extraordinary challenges created by the pandemic required equally extraordinary efforts from faculty and other stakeholders to rapidly convert face-to-face classes to online/hybrid instruction. This rapid change was facilitated by use of a robust framework for not only making changes in short order but also sustaining the changes to reshape healthcare education for a post-pandemic future. To this end, the chapter discusses the effective use of Kotter's 8-step framework to successfully implement change in healthcare education at a college of pharmacy and allied health professions. This chapter discusses each step of Kotter's 8-step process to create, implement, and sustain change in pharmacy and allied health education. The model integrated people, processes, and effective strategies to create changes amid the pandemic (crisis). Lessons learned and implications for the future in a post-pandemic educational environment are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Eliciting a robust immune response at mucosal sites is critical in preventing the entry of mucosal pathogens such as influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This task is challenging to achieve without the inclusion of a strong and safe mucosal adjuvant. Previously, inulin acetate (InAc), a plant-based polymer, is shown to activate toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) and elicit a robust systemic immune response as a vaccine adjuvant. This study investigates the potential of nanoparticles prepared with InAc (InAc-NPs) as an intranasal vaccine delivery system to generate both mucosal and systemic immune responses. InAc-NPs (â¼250 nm in diameter) activated wild-type (WT) macrophages but failed to activate macrophages from TLR4 knockout mice or WT macrophages when pretreated with a TLR4 antagonist (lipopolysaccharide-RS (LPS-RS)), which indicates the selective nature of a InAc-based nanodelivery system as a TLR4 agonist. Intranasal immunization using antigen-loaded InAc-NPs generated â¼65-fold and 19-fold higher serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers against the antigen, respectively, as compared to PLGA-NPs as a delivery system. InAc-NPs have also stimulated the secretion of sIgA at various mucosal sites, including nasal-associated lymphoid tissues (NALTs), lungs, and intestine, and produced a strong memory response indicative of both humoral and cellular immune activation. Overall, by stimulating both systemic and mucosal immunity, InAc-NPs laid a basis for a potential intranasal delivery system for mucosal vaccination.