Pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis access in rural versus urban pharmacies in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

BACKGROUND: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) prevent HIV among individuals at high risk for acquisition. Pre-existing structural barriers to PrEP/PEP access among rural patients may be exacerbated further if pharmacies do not keep PrEP/PEP in stock, constituting a significant barrier to mitigating the HIV epidemic. OBJECTIVES: To compare PrEP/PEP availability for same-day pickup in rural vs urban Georgia and Pennsylvania pharmacies. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional simulated patient caller study, calling pharmacists in Georgia and Pennsylvania to see whether PrEP/PEP was available for same-day pickup. We identified retail pharmacies through state pharmacy boards and categorized rurality using state-based definitions. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess PrEP availability by rurality and Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) designation, accounting for chain pharmacy status and county-level racial composition. RESULTS: Among 481 pharmacies contacted (304 in Pennsylvania and 177 in Georgia), only 30.77% had PrEP for same-day pickup and only 10.55% had PEP for same-day pickup. PrEP availability did not differ significantly by state. Urban pharmacies had 2.02 (95% CI: 1.32-3.09) greater odds of PrEP same-day availability compared to rural pharmacies. Pharmacies in EHE counties had 3.45 (95% CI: 1.9-6.23) times higher odds of carrying PrEP compared to non-EHE counties. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacies were unlikely to carry PrEP or PEP. Pharmacies in rural compared to urban, and non-EHE compared to EHE locations were less likely to carry PrEP. Addressing pharmacy barriers to PrEP/PEP may enhance access to HIV prevention for those living at high risk of HIV.

Clinical Genetics Lacks Standard Definitions and Protocols for the Collection and Use of Diversity Measures.

Genetics researchers and clinical professionals rely on diversity measures such as race, ethnicity, and ancestry (REA) to stratify study participants and patients for a variety of applications in research and precision medicine. However, there are no comprehensive, widely accepted standards or guidelines for collecting and using such data in clinical genetics practice. Two NIH-funded research consortia, the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) and Clinical Sequencing Evidence-generating Research (CSER), have partnered to address this issue and report how REA are currently collected, conceptualized, and used. Surveying clinical genetics professionals and researchers (n = 448), we found heterogeneity in the way REA are perceived, defined, and measured, with variation in the perceived importance of REA in both clinical and research settings. The majority of respondents (>55%) felt that REA are at least somewhat important for clinical variant interpretation, ordering genetic tests, and communicating results to patients. However, there was no consensus on the relevance of REA, including how each of these measures should be used in different scenarios and what information they can convey in the context of human genetics. A lack of common definitions and applications of REA across the precision medicine pipeline may contribute to inconsistencies in data collection, missing or inaccurate classifications, and misleading or inconclusive results. Thus, our findings support the need for standardization and harmonization of REA data collection and use in clinical genetics and precision health research.

Orientación empática de los docentes kinesiólogos de la Escuela de Kinesiología de la Universidad de Chile / Empathetic orientation in the physical therapist teachers of Universidad de Chile program

El objetivo de investigación es conocer el nivel de orientación empática en los docentes kinesiólogos de la carrera de Kinesiología de la Universidad de Chile, durante el año 2007. El diseño de este estudio es de tipo descriptivo de corte transversal. De un total de 69 docentes kinesiólogos, 60 participaron en el estudio. Se aplicó la Escala de Empatía Médica de Jefferson. Se usó el programa computacional SPSS 15.0 y el análisis de los datos se realizó mediante las pruebas U no paramétrica de Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney y la prueba no paramétrica de Kruskal-Wallis.Los resultados obtenidos en la Escala de Empatía Médica de Jefferson se encuentran entre 96 y 140 puntos. La diferencia observada entre los puntajes obtenidos por los docentes kinesiólogos de aula y práctica clínica no fue estadísticamente significativa. Sin embargo, las mujeres obtienen puntajes mayores que los hombres, con una mediana de 128 y 121 respectivamente, siendo esta diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p

The objective research is to explore the empathetic orientation in the physical therapist teachers of Physical Therapy program from the Universidad de Chile in the year 2007. The is an analytic, descriptive and cross-sectional study. 60 out of 69 physical therapist teachers participated in this study. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was applied. SSPS 15.0 version software was used for the statistical analysis, through the U-non parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test and non parametric Kruskal-Wallis Test. Results scores from The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy are between 96 and 140. The difference between the scores obtained by classroom physical therapist teachers and clinical physical therapist teachers weren't statistically significant. However, women' s scores were higher than men's, with a median of 128 and 121 respectively, being statistically significant (p<0,05).In conclusion, there aren't statistically significant differences between Classroom and Clinical physical therapist teachers. Thus, empathetic orientation is not affected by the area of teacher performance.