[Resident physicians' participation to the activities of the hospital hygiene unit in a teaching hospital: a pilot study]. / Partecipazione dei medici in formazione specialistica alle attività dell'unità operativa complessa "Igiene ospedaliera" in un policlinico universitario: studio pilota.

INTRODUCTION: The Hospital Hygiene Unit ensures hospital patient safety, through surveillance and control of environmental conditions of risk. In this context, resident physicians in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (UCSC) are required to attend the unit to acquire professional skills, for two months (four weeks in the first year of residency and four weeks in the second year). In the initial phase of the rotation, residents are acquainted with the organization and assigned activities. Ongoing meetings with the tutor take place to verify the progress of activities in which they are involved; verification of acquired skills is performed at the end of the period of attendance. The aim of the study was to evaluate resident doctors' opinions about their training experience, in order to assess the perceived quality and pursue continuous improvement of the training program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to resident physicians attending the first three years of residency; the survey consisted of 11 multiple choice questions on organization, attendance, training and overall satisfaction and 3 open-ended questions on strengths, weaknesses and proposals for improvement. RESULTS: Fourteen of 15 residents (93.3%) completed the questionnaire: seven were male, five were first-year residents, five were second-year and four were third-year residents. Overall, 78% gave a positive assessment of the quality of training; in particular, 11 of 14 residents reported that the experience was very relevant to their training in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. Responses regarding the training organization were also mostly positive (75%), as were those regarding attendance (57%) and overall satisfaction (67%). Fifty percent reported difficulties in combining this internship with the other activities planned with their tutor. CONCLUSIONS: Positive opinions prevail in all areas of assessment, although there are some aspects that can be improved, including the possibility to extend the period of attendance. Overall, training activities at the Operative Unit of Hospital Hygiene are appreciated by resident physicians, who consider them an important opportunity for professional growth.

Health status of the Italian people: gender inequalities. Commentary.

Differences between male and female affect diseases onset, evolution and prognosis. In terms of survival, women have a higher life expectancy at birth than men, with strong differences at regional level (the highest values in Trento AP and the lowest in Campania). Smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight and obesity and physical activities indicators are analyzed among men and woman. A reduction in smokers and number of smoked cigarettes is observed, especially among men. Men also show a higher number of ex-smokers than woman. Also for alcohol consumption, the prevalence of consumers at risk is higher among men than women. Overweight and obesity are more prevalent among men than women, the same as physical activity played continuously and occasionally. Gender differences are also shown in hospitalization rate and mortality rate for ischemic heart disease, affecting men twice more than women. The analysis shows a good health status condition of Italian people, but it is important to be aware that gender is one of essential characteristics in health care field, independently of people age.

[Vocational training in public health during medical school: a pilot study]. / Tirocinio professionalizzante in Sanità Pubblica nel Corso di Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia. Un'esperienza pilota.

UNLABELLED: The need to integrate clinical and public health training of medical students is increasingly important. Future physicians need to be able to deal with new, complex and growing public health challenges. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was performed through Pubmed to identify the conceptual reference framework. Meetings were carried out to identify the most appropriate modalities and priorities required for drafting the project, to identify the skills to be acquired by students, to decide on teaching formats and methods to assess student learning, to draw up the teaching schedule, to define the statistical methods to be used to assess student satisfaction, and to perform the statistical analysis of results. Training in hospital hygiene and environmental safety was carried out through presentation of a relevant case. After being divided into groups the students attended the three units (Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Xenobiotics, Genetic Epidemiology and Molecular Biology) of the Hygiene Section of a Public Health Institute. Training in Organization and Health Programming involved presentation of a set of indicators for the definition of objectives and assessment of health systems or services. RESULTS: The literature search led to the identification of the relevant literature. With regard to student satisfaction, 96% of those who replied to the questionnaire gave an overall positive review of the training course (at least 3 on a scale from 1 to 5). CONCLUSIONS: the overall high level of student satisfaction suggests that the proposed model may be exportable. Further developments will be the assessment of trends regarding functioning of the organizational model and perceived teaching quality.