COVID-19 Knowledge, Beliefs, and Intention to Get Vaccinated: A Brief Educational Intervention Among Black and Hispanic Populations.

We aimed to determine the effect of a brief educational intervention on COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, beliefs, and vaccination intention in Black and Hispanic communities in Houston, Texas. As part of the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities study (2020-2022), 1606 Black and Hispanic adults completed Web-based surveys before and after viewing COVID-19 educational materials. The intervention significantly improved health beliefs and vaccination intention. Disseminating short and ethnically appropriate educational materials is an effective strategy to decrease vaccine hesitancy in minority populations. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(S1):S82-S86. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307501).

Differences in intraoperative prep solutions: a retrospective chart review.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common type of health care-associated infection in surgical patients. We wanted to identify which intraoperative prep solution used in our health network for adult open abdominal surgical procedures resulted in the lowest incidence of SSI 30 days after surgery. In addition, we wanted to know specifically how parachoroxylenol compared with chlorhexidine gluconate, povidone-iodine, and 0.7% iodine and 74% isopropyl alcohol as an intraoperative prep solution. We conducted a retrospective medical record review of 162 consecutive patients ages 18 years and older who had undergone elective open abdominal procedures from December 2008 to December 2010 at four acute care community hospitals within an integrated, tertiary health network in the southeastern United States. No SSIs occurred after procedures in which parachoroxylenol intraoperative prep solution was used (n = 71), whereas five SSIs occurred after procedures in which other prep solutions (ie, chlorhexidine gluconate [no SSIs], povidone-iodine [two SSIs], and 0.7% iodine and 74% isopropyl alcohol [three SSIs]) were used (n = 91). A chi-square test indicated a significant difference in the incidence of SSIs among patients prepped with parachoroxylenol intraoperative prep solution compared to patients prepped with the other solutions.