A Brief Report Describing the Union of Medical Training and Agricultural Health.

This brief report describes a mutually beneficial partnership forged to extend agricultural medicine training to physicians, nurses, veterinarians, public health workers, health care professionals, medical residents, and students. Agricultural Medicine: Occupational and Environmental Health for Rural Health Professionals originated at the University of Iowa, Iowa's Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, and the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health. Through a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-funded Training Project Grant, The University of Texas Health Northeast worked with the University of Iowa and regional experts to adapt the agricultural medicine content for the southwestern United States. Further partnerships were developed with the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education, The University of North Texas Health Science Center College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Texas Rural Health Association to extend the reach of this training to other important stakeholders. Each of the collaborators offered unique resources to the coordination of the agricultural medicine course. Likewise, each organization benefited from extending regionally relevant agricultural medicine training to current and future health care providers. The long-term goal for the partnership is to train a broad array of health care providers with the basics of anticipation, recognition, diagnosis, treatment, and the prevention of occupational and environmental illnesses and injuries within rural and agricultural communities, customized to the Southwest Region. This brief descriptive report highlights the process by which strategic partners collaborated to conduct a regional agricultural medicine course, such that other organizations interested in offering a similar training might gain insight to best practices from our experience.

Cultural effectiveness in research: a summary report of a panel session entitled "Engaging Populations at Risk".

This paper summarizes two presentations and a panel discussion engaging health scientists, educators, and community outreach professionals who have drawn upon their experiences as researchers and agricultural workers to describe research challenges related to access, trust, language, culture, and participant benefit. These presentations and discussion took place at the New Paths: Health and Safety in Western Agriculture conference, November 11-13, 2008. An overview of changing demographics of the western agricultural workforce was provided followed by a presentation of the application of community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles including cultural considerations. Using an interview format, the panel participants discussed challenges related to involving members of vulnerable agricultural worker populations throughout the research process. Lessons learned and recommendations were explored and successes identified.