Pharmacy Students and Pharmacy Technicians in Medication Reconciliation: A Review of the Current Literature.

OBJECTIVE: A literature review was conducted to examine how pharmacy students and technicians have been utilized in medication reconciliation processes in an effort to evaluate expanded roles for pharmacy students and technicians. Data were summarized on accuracy of obtaining medication histories, time requirements, discrepancy identification, and cost savings. Limitations and areas for future research also were identified. DATA SOURCES: A search of PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PsycINFO and a manual searching of bibliographies were performed. STUDY SELECTION: Articles were included in this literature review if they focused on medication reconciliation with pharmacy student or technician outcomes independent of pharmacist involvement, they are available in English from any country, and the outcomes were empirical. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of 2112 identified studies, 32 met the inclusion criteria. The literature review revealed pharmacy technicians or students were involved in several medication reconciliation activities. Trained pharmacy students and technicians were able to obtain thorough medication histories as well as identify medication history discrepancies and take appropriate action to correct these discrepancies. Through the use of pharmacy students and technicians in the medication reconciliation process, hospitals experienced cost savings and other health-care professionals had more time for other patient care activities as well as an increased trust in the accuracy of medication histories. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that pharmacy students and technicians are accurate, time efficient, decrease costs, and provide support to other health-care professionals when they are included in the medication reconciliation process.

Team sponsors in community-based health leadership programs.

Purpose The purpose of this article is to share the lessons learned about the role of team sponsors in action-learning teams as part of community-based health leadership development programs. Design/methodology/approach This case study uses program survey results from fellow participants, action learning coaches and team sponsors to understand the value of sponsors to the teams, the roles they most often filled and the challenges they faced as team sponsors. Findings The extent to which the sponsors were perceived as having contributed to the work of the action learning teams varied greatly from team to team. Most sponsors agreed that they were well informed about their role. The roles sponsors most frequently played were to provide the teams with input and support, serve as a liaison to the community and serve as a sounding board, motivator and cheerleader. The most common challenges or barriers team sponsors faced in this role were keeping engaged in the process, adjusting to the role and feeling disconnected from the program. Practical implications This work provides insights for program developers and community foundations who are interested in building the capacity for health leadership by linking community sponsors with emerging leaders engaged in an action learning experience. Originality/value This work begins to fill a gap in the literature. The role of team sponsors has been studied for single organization work teams but there is a void of understanding about the role of sponsors with multi-organizational teams working to improve health while also learning about leadership.

Serum IFN-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) as a biomarker for severity of acute respiratory infection in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND: The inflammatory chemokine, interferon-gamma inducible protein of 10kDa (IP-10), is a biomarker associated with several conditions. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated serum concentrations of IP-10 in healthy individuals who developed acute respiratory infection (ARI). The hypothesis is that serum IP-10 concentrations correlate with ARI severity and detection of viral pathogens. STUDY DESIGN: Data come from a randomized controlled trial measuring the effects of mindfulness meditation or exercise on ARI (Clinical Trials ID: NCT01654289). Healthy adults ages 30-69 were followed for a single season for ARI incidence and severity. This trial is ongoing, and the investigators are still blinded. When a participant reported ARI symptoms, nasal swab and lavage for PCR-based viral identification and blood samples were collected within the first 72h of ARI symptoms. Serum IP-10 concentrations were measured by ELISA (R&D Systems, Inc., Quantikine ELISA, Minneapolis, MN). ARI severity was measured using the validated Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24) until the ARI episode resolved. RESULTS: Serum IP-10 concentrations from 225 ARI episodes correlated with ARI global severity (rho 0.28 [95% CI: 0.15-0.39]; p<0.001). IP-10 concentrations were higher with an ARI in which a viral pathogen was detected compared to no viral pathogen detected (median 366pg/ml [IQR: 227-486] vs 163pg/ml [IQR: 127-295], p<0.0001). Influenza infections had higher IP-10 concentrations than coronavirus, enterovirus or rhinovirus, and paramyxovirus. CONCLUSION: Serum IP-10 concentration correlates with ARI global severity. Also, IP-10 concentration measured early in the course of the ARI correlates with the daily severity, duration, and illness symptoms.

Impact of a randomized campus/community trial to prevent high-risk drinking among college students.

BACKGROUND: High-risk drinking by college students continues to pose a significant threat to public health. Despite increasing evidence of the contribution of community-level and campus-level environmental factors to high-risk drinking, there have been few rigorous tests of interventions that focus on changing these interlinked environments. The Study to Prevent Alcohol Related Consequences (SPARC) assessed the efficacy of a comprehensive intervention using a community organizing approach to implement environmental strategies in and around college campuses. The goal of SPARC was to reduce high-risk drinking and alcohol-related consequences among college students. METHODS: Ten universities in North Carolina were randomized to an Intervention or Comparison condition. Each Intervention school was assigned a campus/community organizer. The organizer worked to form a campus-community coalition, which developed and implemented a strategic plan to use environmental strategies to reduce high-risk drinking and its consequences. The intervention was implemented over a period of 3 years. Primary outcome measures were assessed using a web-based survey of students. Measures of high-risk drinking included number of days alcohol was consumed, number of days of binge drinking, and greatest number of drinks consumed (all in the past 30 days); and number of days one gets drunk in a typical week. Measures of alcohol-related consequences included indices of moderate consequences due to one's own drinking, severe consequences due to one's own drinking, interpersonal consequences due to others' drinking, and community consequences due to others' drinking (all using a past 30-day time frame). Measure of alcohol-related injuries included (i) experiencing alcohol-related injuries and (ii) alcohol-related injuries caused to others. RESULTS: We found significant decreases in the Intervention group compared with the Comparison group in severe consequences due to students' own drinking and alcohol-related injuries caused to others. In secondary analyses, higher levels of implementation of the intervention were associated with reductions in interpersonal consequences due to others' drinking and alcohol-related injuries caused to others. CONCLUSIONS: A community organizing approach promoting implementation of environmental interventions can significantly affect high-risk drinking and its consequences among college students.

Free alcohol use and consequences: gender differences among undergraduates.

OBJECTIVE: To examine gender differences in obtaining free alcohol, high-risk drinking, and consequences. METHODS: Web-based surveys were administered annually (2003-2005) to random samples of undergraduates (N=10,729). RESULTS: Gender, race, age under 21, sorority/fraternity membership, lower disposable income, and relationship status were significant predictors of obtaining free alcohol. Frequent obtainers had greater odds of heavy episodic drinking and consequences compared to infrequent obtainers. Females were less likely to report heavy episodic drinking; however, frequently obtaining females were more likely to report heavy episodic drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 25% of undergraduates frequently obtained free alcohol. Females obtained more often, had higher odds of high-risk drinking, and experienced fewer consequences compared to males.

Tobacco use by college students: a comparison of daily and nondaily smokers.

OBJECTIVES: To explore demographics, contextual factors, and health risk behaviors associated with nondaily smoking by college students. METHODS: In fall 2005, a random sample of 4100 students completed an online survey. RESULTS: Of those surveyed, 29% reported current smoking; of that 29%, 70% were nondaily smokers. Compared to daily smokers, nondaily smokers were younger, African American (compared to white), had mothers with higher education, belonged to Greek organizations, and attended private (vs public) schools. Nondaily smokers were less likely to have used illicit drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Nondaily and daily smokers differed on several demographic and contextual factors, but reported mostly similar health risk behaviors.

PARETO: A novel evolutionary optimization approach to multiobjective IMRT planning.

PURPOSE: In radiation therapy treatment planning, the clinical objectives of uniform high dose to the planning target volume (PTV) and low dose to the organs-at-risk (OARs) are invariably in conflict, often requiring compromises to be made between them when selecting the best treatment plan for a particular patient. In this work, the authors introduce Pareto-Aware Radiotherapy Evolutionary Treatment Optimization (pareto), a multiobjective optimization tool to solve for beam angles and fluence patterns in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning. METHODS: pareto is built around a powerful multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA), which allows us to treat the problem of IMRT treatment plan optimization as a combined monolithic problem, where all beam fluence and angle parameters are treated equally during the optimization. We have employed a simple parameterized beam fluence representation with a realistic dose calculation approach, incorporating patient scatter effects, to demonstrate feasibility of the proposed approach on two phantoms. The first phantom is a simple cylindrical phantom containing a target surrounded by three OARs, while the second phantom is more complex and represents a paraspinal patient. RESULTS: pareto results in a large database of Pareto nondominated solutions that represent the necessary trade-offs between objectives. The solution quality was examined for several PTV and OAR fitness functions. The combination of a conformity-based PTV fitness function and a dose-volume histogram (DVH) or equivalent uniform dose (EUD) -based fitness function for the OAR produced relatively uniform and conformal PTV doses, with well-spaced beams. A penalty function added to the fitness functions eliminates hotspots. Comparison of resulting DVHs to those from treatment plans developed with a single-objective fluence optimizer (from a commercial treatment planning system) showed good correlation. Results also indicated that pareto shows promise in optimizing the number of beams. CONCLUSIONS: This initial evaluation of the evolutionary optimization software tool pareto for IMRT treatment planning demonstrates feasibility and provides motivation for continued development. Advantages of this approach over current commercial methods for treatment planning are many, including: (1) fully automated optimization that avoids human controlled iterative optimization and potentially improves overall process efficiency, (2) formulation of the problem as a true multiobjective one, which provides an optimized set of Pareto nondominated solutions refined over hundreds of generations and compiled from thousands of parameter sets explored during the run, and (3) rapid exploration of the final nondominated set accomplished by a graphical interface used to select the best treatment option for the patient.

Evaluation of free to grow: head start partnerships to promote substance-free communities.

Free to Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-free Communities (FTG) was a national initiative in which local Head Start (HS) agencies, in partnership with other community organizations, implemented a mix of evidence-based family-strengthening and community-strengthening strategies. The evaluation of FTG used a quasi-experimental design to compare 14 communities that participated in the FTG intervention with 14 matched comparison communities. Telephone surveys were conducted with two cohorts of the primary caregivers of children in HS at baseline and then annually for 2 years. The survey was also administered to repeated cross-sectional samples of primary caregivers of young children who were not enrolled in HS. No consistent evidence was found in changes in family functioning or neighborhood conditions when the 14 FTG sites were compared to 14 matched sites. However, caregivers of young children who were not in HS in three high-implementing FTG sites showed evidence of improvements in neighborhood organization, neighborhood norms against substance abuse, and child disciplinary practices. Results provide highly limited support for the concept that family and neighborhood conditions that are likely to affect child development and well-being can be changed through organized efforts implemented by local HS programs.

High-risk versus low-risk football game weekends: differences in problem drinking and alcohol-related consequences on college campuses in the United States.

UNLABELLED: Collegiate football games provide multiple social opportunities for alcohol use by students over the course of the weekend. The goal of this study was to examine alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences on football game weekends to determine differences based on characteristics of the game. METHODS: A random sample of students from two large, public universities in the United States completed a survey on the Sunday-Friday following a high-risk weekend (HRW, important, home game) and low-risk weekend (LRW, no home game or game of importance) (N = 3,238 total). The survey measured the number of days students drank (0-3) and got drunk (0-3) over the weekend and whether 1+ consequences were experienced due to one's own drinking (yes/no) and due to others' drinking (yes/no). RESULTS: Ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed greater odds of drinking alcohol (OR = 1.70, CI = 1.46-1.97) and getting drunk (OR = 1.49, CI = 1.27-1.76) on HRW versus LRW. Logistic regression analyses revealed greater odds of experiencing 1+ consequences as a result of one's own drinking (OR = 1.38, CI = 1.16-1.63) and experiencing 1+ consequences as a result of others' drinking (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.30-1.78) on HRW versus LRW. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that additional prevention efforts aimed at reducing risky drinking are needed over HRW and have implications for campus administrators, law enforcement, and substance abuse program coordinators.

Attrition bias in a U.S. Internet survey of alcohol use among college freshmen.

OBJECTIVE: Attrition bias is an important issue in survey research on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. The issue is even more salient for Internet studies, because these studies often have higher rates of attrition than face-to-face or telephone surveys, and there is limited research examining the issue in the field of drug usage, specifically for college underclassmen. This study assessed whether measures of high-risk drinking and alcohol-related consequences were related to attrition groups ("stayers" or "leavers") in a cohort of college freshmen. METHOD: Data were collected in 2003 and 2004 from 2,144 first-year college students at 10 universities in the southeastern United States. Demographics, indicators of high-risk drinking, and alcohol-related consequences were compared between cohort stayers and leavers in statistical analyses using two methods. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that cohort leavers reported significantly higher levels of high-risk drinking (past-30-day heavy episodic drinking, weekly drunkenness) and past-30-day smoking but not significantly increased alcohol-related consequences. The directionality of bias was modestly consistent across outcomes and comparison methods. CONCLUSIONS: The current study's findings suggest that intervention efforts to reduce smoking or high-risk drinking need to consider attrition bias during study follow-up or account for it in analyses.

Calorie restriction on drinking days: an examination of drinking consequences among college students.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between restricting calories on intended drinking days and drunkenness frequency and alcohol-related consequences among college students. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included a random sample of 4,271 undergraduate college students from 10 universities. METHODS: Students completed a Web-based survey regarding their high-risk drinking behaviors and calorie restriction on intended drinking days. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of past 30-day drinkers reported restricting calories on days they planned to drink alcohol, of which 67% restricted because of weight concerns. Restricting calories on drinking days was associated with greater odds of getting drunk in a typical week. Women who restricted were more likely to report memory loss, being injured, being taken advantage of sexually, and having unprotected sex while drinking. Men were more likely to get into a physical fight. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the importance of considering weight control behaviors in the examination of high-risk college drinking.

The role of monthly spending money in college student drinking behaviors and their consequences.

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use among college students is pervasive and affected by economic factors such as personal income and alcohol price. The authors examined the relationship among students' spending money, drinking rate, and alcohol-related consequences. PARTICIPANTS: In 2005, the authors conducted a Web-based survey among a random sample of 3,634 undergraduate students from 2 large universities. METHODS: The authors used multiple logistic regression to model drinking behaviors and multiple linear regression to model alcohol-related consequences. RESULTS: The lowest reported levels of average monthly spending money were associated with reduced levels of drinking and getting drunk. Spending money was independently associated with experiencing alcohol-related consequences caused by a student's own drinking, even after the authors controlled for personal drinking behaviors. The effects for consequences caused by others' drinking were significant for students who had gotten drunk. CONCLUSIONS: These findings have implications for alcohol price and marketing, particularly around colleges, and suggest actions for parents to consider.

Contextual factors and health risk behaviors associated with date fighting among high school students.

Over 2,000 North Carolina high school students completed surveys measuring community risk and protective factors and individual health risk behaviors including dating violence perpetration and victimization. Females reported more date fighting perpetration than males (8.8% to 4.0%), as well as greater levels of date fighting victimization (7.2% and 5.0%). In multivariate models, factors associated with date fighting perpetration among females and males included riding with a drinking driver. Neighborhood organization was protective for both groups. Cigarette use, drinking and driving, and being a minority were also associated with perpetration among females, while tobacco use was associated with date fighting perpetration by males. Factors associated with victimization among both genders included riding with a drinking driver. Females were more likely to be victimized if they used marijuana, whereas males were less likely to be a victim of date fighting if they perceived their community to be "organized." Findings reflect comparable individual risk factors for date fighting across genders, with few exceptions, and warrant further investigation of the role of community assets in protecting young people from dating violence.

Viewing professional wrestling on television and engaging in violent and other health risk behaviors.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the relationships between watching wrestling on television (TV) and engaging in health risk behaviors among an older multi-state sample of adolescents. METHODS: In 2001, a random sample of 2,307 youth ages 16 to 20 years from 138 communities in 17 US states completed telephone surveys as part of the national evaluation of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program. The survey measured multiple health risk behaviors, including substance use, involvement in date fighting, other violent behaviors, and sexual risk behaviors. The frequency of watching wrestling on TV during the two week period before the survey was measured with a scale of 0 to 14 or more times. Multivariate analyses were conducted with logistic regression using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) model with an exchangeable correlation structure that controlled for within-group clustering. Data are presented as adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Males (22.4%) reported watching wrestling more than females (13.6%). After adjusting for ethnicity, sex, median family income, age, region of the country, other fighting behaviors, and family composition, the frequency of watching wrestling was associated with having tried to hurt someone with a weapon (OR = 1.67, CI = 1.05-2.66), engaging in sexual intercourse without using birth control (1.42, 1.01-1.98), being a current cigarette smoker (1.31, 1.02-1.69), and not drinking (0.64, 0.48-0.85). When the frequency of watching wrestling was treated as an independent variable, after adjusting for covariates, each additional time wrestling was watched on TV was associated with an increased risk of being in a date fight (1.16, 1.02-1.30), threatening to hurt someone with a weapon (1.14, 1.02-1.28), hurting someone with a weapon (1.19, 105-1.34), and engaging in sexual intercourse without using birth control (1.13, 1.03-1.23). For example, youth who had watched wrestling six times during the past two weeks were 144% more likely to have engaged in a date fight than adolescents who had not watched wrestling. CONCLUSIONS: The more frequently these adolescents reported watching wrestling on TV, the more likely they were to engage in violent and other health risk behaviors.

Party behaviors and characteristics and serial drunkenness among college students.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationships between party behaviors and social contextual factors for the largest party attended by college students and serial drunkenness by students over the 3 traditional weekend party days (Thursday-Saturday). METHOD: On two separate 3-day party time periods in the spring of 2006, a random sample of 3,600 students from two large public universities completed a Web-based survey. The survey was administered on a Sunday evening and assessed alcohol consumption, party behaviors and observations, and other social contextual factors occurring during the 3 previous days. Serial drunkenness was measured as having gotten drunk on 0-3 days for the specified 3-day period for students who had attended one or more parties. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis indicated that serial drunkenness was associated with being white, being single without a partner, having ridden with a drinking driver over the weekend, drunken behaviors by other students at the largest party attended, the number of drinks the student consumed before attending the party, the number of drinks consumed at the largest party, and the number of friends that attended the party with the student. A lower frequency of serial drunkenness was associated with the perception that alcohol was difficult to obtain. CONCLUSIONS: The availability of alcohol before and at the largest party attended over the weekend, attending the party with a larger number of friends, and drunken behaviors by other students at the party, plus riding with a drinking driver after the party, were associated with serial drunkenness over the 3-day period by the students at these two universities.

Adolescent date fighting victimization and perpetration from a multi-community sample: associations with substance use and other violent victimization and perpetration.

UNLABELLED: Dating violence perpetration and victimization among adolescents in the U.S. is an important public health problem. The literature examining the relationship between dating violence, substance use, and other risk behaviors among adolescents is limited. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine associations of adolescent date fighting victimization and date fighting perpetration with substance use and other risk behaviors. METHODS: Repeated cross-sectional phone surveys of 14-20 year olds from 70 communities across five states were conducted in the spring of2004 and 2006 (n=13,422). Multivariate regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between date fighting victimization and date fighting perpetration with substance use and other risk behaviors. RESULTS: Older age, Black race (vs. White), single parent household, age of first drink, riding in a car with a drinking driver, having been sexually victimized, and having threatened or hurt someone with a weapon were associated with date fighting victimization (all p<.01). Older age, female gender, Black race (vs. White), Hispanic ethnicity (vs. White), single parent household, age of first drink, past 30 day drunkenness, past 30 day marijuana use, having been sexually victimized, having perpetrated sexual victimization, and having threatened or hurt someone with a weapon were associated with date fighting perpetration. CONCLUSIONS: Similar, yet distinct, patterns of individual characteristics and health risk behaviors emerged for date fighting victimization and perpetration among adolescents.

Date fighting experiences among college students: are they associated with other health-risk behaviors?

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the clustering of health-risk behaviors among college students who reported date fight involvement. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The authors administered a Web-based survey to a stratified random sample of 3,920 college students from 10 universities in North Carolina. RESULTS: Among men, 5.6% reported date fight victimization, and 1% reported date fight perpetration. Victimization among men was associated with (1) first drink at age 15 years or younger, (2) a recent threat of violence by someone who had been drinking, (3) smoking, (4) amphetamine use, and (5) older age. Among women, 6.7% reported date fight victimization, which was associated with (1) older age, (2) assault from a student who had been drinking, (3) sex with 2 or more persons, (4) consumption of alcohol in high school, (5) illegal drug use, (6) nonsexual assault requiring medical treatment, and (7) living off campus. Of the women, 4.2% reported date fight perpetration, which was associated with (1) minority race/ethnicity, (2) older age, (3) frequency of sexual intercourse, and (4) alcohol and marijuana use. CONCLUSIONS: Date fight experiences were associated with multiple health-risk behaviors among this sample of college students.

The relationship between watching professional wrestling on television and engaging in date fighting among high school students.

CONTEXT: Previous research has found that exposure to violence in the home, community, and electronic media are associated with children's and adolescents' normative expectations concerning the use of violence and with other indicators of the violent behaviors by youth. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose with this study was to examine the relationships between the frequency that high school students reported watching wrestling on television and engaging in date fighting, weapon carrying, and other fighting behaviors. DESIGN: The initial analysis consisted of a cross-sectional study of a simple random sample of high school students, which was followed by a longitudinal analysis of these students over a 6- to 7-month period. SETTING: The setting was all public high schools in 1 city/county system. PARTICIPANTS: We used a simple random sample (N = 2228) of students. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome variables included the frequency of date fighting during the previous 12 months and alcohol or other drug involvement associated with the last date fight. RESULTS: There were significant correlations between frequency of watching wrestling on television during the previous 2 weeks and engaging in date fighting, fighting in general, and weapon carrying for both males and females, although the relationships were stronger among females than among males. The frequency of watching wrestling was highest among students reporting date fighting when either the victim or perpetrator had been drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs. When analyzed using logistic regression, the strongest relationships were observed between the frequency of watching wrestling and date-fight perpetration among females in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. These findings persisted after adjusting for multiple other factors. CONCLUSIONS: For males and females, the frequency of watching wrestling was highest among students who fought with their dates when alcohol or other drugs were involved. The association between watching wrestling and date fighting was stronger among females than males. The relationship between watching wrestling on television and being the perpetrator of dating violence was also stronger among females and remained consistent over a 6- to 7-month time period.

Single question about drunkenness to detect college students at risk for injury.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the frequency of injuries reported by college students who replied affirmatively to the question, "In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?" METHODS: In Fall 2003, a Web-based survey was administered to a stratified random sample of 3,909 college students from ten North Carolina (NC) universities. Students answered questions regarding alcohol use and its consequences. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression, controlling for within-school clustering of drinking behaviors and adjusting for other significant covariates. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for significant predictors (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Two thousand four hundred eighty-eight students reported that they are current drinkers; 1,353 (54.4%) reported getting drunk at least once in a typical week. Compared with students who did not report getting drunk at least once a week, these students had higher odds of being hurt or injured at least once as a result of their own drinking (AOR = 4.97; 95% CI = 3.47 to 7.09), experiencing a fall from a height that required medical treatment (AOR = 2.16; 95% CI = 1.36 to 3.43), and being taken advantage of sexually as a result of another's drinking (AOR = 2.59; 95% CI = 1.72 to 3.89). Students who reported getting drunk at least one day in a typical week also were more likely to cause an injury requiring medical treatment to someone else. They had higher odds of causing injury in an automobile crash (AOR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.01 to 3.40), of causing a burn that required medical treatment (AOR = 2.85; 95% CI = 1.51 to 5.39), and of causing a fall from a height that required medical treatment (AOR = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.01 to 4.04). Getting drunk was a better indicator of "self-experienced injury" and of "injury caused to someone else" than was binge drinking, for all outcomes (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The single question, "In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?" identifies college students who are at higher than normal risk of injury as a result of their own drinking and the drinking of others. Future research should assess this question's effectiveness as a screening tool in campus health centers and in emergency departments.

How ready are colleges for and environmental approach that utilizes campus/community coalitions?

While there is optimism about an environmental management approach that utilizes campus/community coalitions to reduce levels of high-risk drinking, the readiness of schools to implement such an approach is unknown. We surveyed 100 colleges regarding their readiness based on eight factors: existance of a task force to address alcohol use on campus; the inclusion of the college/university President; inclusion of a community representative; frequent meetings; external funding to address alcohol use; previous environmental training; changes implemented as a result of environmental training; and a plan to institute environmental training in the future. Having an alcohol task force or coalitions (57 percent) was associated with participation by the president and/or community representative on the task force, having extramural funding to address high-risk drinking, training in environmental management, implementation of changes after the training, plans for uture training, school size, Greek organizations on campus, and being a state university(AU)