Our sections have been busy in the past several months, conducting projects, trying new things at the 2014 Annual Meeting, and compiling resources for you! Here’s what they’ve been up to:

Administration: The ACHA Administration Section tried something new with the Hot Topics Session at the 2014 Annual Meeting. In the past, the Hot Topics session has been an open forum for discussion, often in groups, but there has been no over-arching topic. This year, the session began with a lecture-style presentation in the first half and then utilized the group format to allow participants to discuss, debate, and exchange ideas regarding the program topic.


Advanced Practice Clinicians: APC Section leaders recently complied members’ campus quality improvement initiatives and projects. The list is available on the APC Section homepage and can be used as a resource to help other college health professionals develop QI projects. This is an on-going project, and you are encouraged to share your own experiences with QI. Email rmack@acha.org if you have something to share.


Clinical Medicine: Clinical Medicine Section members have recently put together a draft version of a clinical medicine competences document in response to a suggestion at the 2013 section meeting in Boston. Competencies include current medical knowledge, technical abilities, and clinical reasoning related to the topical areas identified. The most recent draft of the Clinical Medicine Section Core Competencies document [pdf], compiled by Brooke Durland, MD (bddshc@rit.edu), is now available. Section members’ feedback is welcome! Please send feedback to Brooke Durland or Jessica Higgs (jhiggs@bumail.bradley.edu).To view the document visit the Clinical Medicine Section homepage.

The Clinical Medicine Section also conducted a webinar, Update on Meningococcal Disease. The live webinar took place on April 16, 2014, with every available space occupied. The archived version is available on the ACHA website and continuing education is available.


Health Promotion: The Health Promotion Section conducted a webinar, Using Social Media: A Review and How to Evaluate It, in February 2014. The live webinar filled to capacity, and the archived version will be available until December 31, 2015. Continuing education is available; click the link above for more information.

In May of 2014 the Health Promotion Section released the Second Edition of the Guidelines for Hiring Health Promotion Professionals in Higher Education. These guidelines encourage colleges and universities to hire the most qualified staff for their health promotion positions. The Second Edition of the guidelines align with ACHA’s Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education, as well as those from the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).


Mental Health: Staying up to date with the Mental Health Section is easy with the Google® Group for College Mental Health Professionals. This group has been initiated to provide a place for college mental health professionals to communicate with others in their field to share, support, initiate, and expand ideas in a general forum. To register for the group, please click here.


Nurse-Directed Health Services: The Nurse-Directed Section conduced their first webinar Update on Anaphylaxis for College Health Clinicians in February 2014. The webinar is archived, and continuing education is available; click the link above for more information.

The Nurse-Directed Section has also compiled a standards of practice and policy and procedures database on the ACHA website. Click here to view the database. If you have something to share, contact Rachel Mack at rmack@acha.org.


Nursing Section: For the first time, the Nursing Section hosted a networking and discussion session at the 2014 Annual Meeting, and it was a huge hit! Nurses from all sections were invited to join their colleagues to talk about current issues and practices in the college health nursing field, splitting into groups to discuss one of four main discussion topics: clinical nursing; staffing, workflow, and personnel; college health nursing practice standards; and flu vaccine programs and other immunizations. This was an informal and flexible session, so participants could move from group to group.


Pharmacy: The Pharmacy Section covered how to hold a Drug Take Back Event in conjunction with the DEA at its Hot Topics: Pharmacy session (Session: TH3-302) in San Antonio. If you are interested in holding a Drug Take Back Day, the presentation is available on the ACHA website. Other topics the section touched upon at the meeting that section leaders hope to follow up on in the next year include smart pharmacy design, ways to combat outsourcing of pharmacy services, and development of strategic plans. 

The current outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever (or Ebola Virus Disease, EVD) in West Africa moved to the forefront of American media attention following the medical evacuation of two ill Americans in early August. The sudden presence of patients with EVD in the United States raised a lot of concern among the general public about the risk of transmission. It also initiated new discussions in health care facilities regarding their preparedness for patients who could present with EVD. The oft-repeated reference to infectious diseases being “just one plane ride away” suddenly became very real.

But it’s not new. Providers in college health probably understand, and experience, the health risks associated with travel more than in most health care settings. Our population travels a lot – across the state, across the country, and around the world. Then they all return to their campuses en masse several times each year, sometimes sharing recently acquired microbes with their fellow students, faculty, and the community.

We should all be prepared to deal with the next big thing, including diseases exotic (chikungunya) or common (norovirus). If a student comes into your health center with a fever and reports recent travel to Africa, he or she is far more likely to have malaria than Ebola (and both have similar clinical presentations). But you’ll want to be able to respond effectively to either situation. There are some specific actions we can take now to prepare for what might show up this fall. 

Here are a few ideas:

• Every health center should have emergency preparedness plans in place that include infectious diseases as a contingency. A single case of MERS-CoV – or even measles – would likely trigger a public health emergency response. Dust off old plans and update them accordingly.

• Providers should incorporate a simple travel history question to be asked of all patients with acute febrile illness (“have you traveled outside the United States in the last two weeks?”) and know what to do when the answer is “yes.” Generally, patients who develop specific signs and symptoms within 10 days of travel should be evaluated for the illnesses associated with the countries from which they traveled. Persons potentially exposed to someone with Ebola need to monitor their health for up to 21 days. Detailed guidelines for screening and management based on country and disease are posted on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web site. If you use an electronic health record, you can add screening questions to note templates or as provider prompts.

• Establish appropriate infection control policies and enforce them. If available in your health center, utilize negative pressure isolation exam rooms for any patient with a cough illness. Make sure staff are trained in using personal protective equipment, properly fitted with respirators, and current on recommended immunizations.

• Identify someone in your health center to monitor CDC guidance and provide situation updates to staff. Stay abreast of travel recommendations. Sign up for electronic communications from the CDC’s Health Alert Network or the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
  

• Build relationships and coalitions with your campus and community partners – student housing, study abroad programs, the international student office, student affairs, campus administration, public relations, plus local and state public health departments. Identify local experts and know who the point of contact is in your health department. Work with these partners to provide a consistent message to your students.
  

• Ensure your student population is highly immunized, with a special focus on international students. Recognize that many vaccine-preventable diseases – measles and pertussis in particular – are much more prevalent in other parts of the world. Develop the capacity to easily identify students at risk and consider sending targeted messages to them when needed. How quickly could you identify, notify, and potentially quarantine students susceptible to measles, should a case occur on your campus?
  

• If students are traveling abroad, both the U.S. State Department and the CDC provide country-specific advice regarding travel precautions. Keep your international study programs and students up to date with this information. It’s important to keep disease risk in perspective, though: motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death and injury for students in study abroad programs, not infectious diseases.

Ebola Virus Disease is currently a global public health emergency and presents a potential risk for travelers returning to the U.S. from affected countries. The situation in West Africa is likely to get worse before it gets better. Similar risks exist for MERS-CoV, novel influenza H7N9 and H5N1, measles, and other infections around the world. An important strategy in response to such emerging disease threats is to apply a universal approach to surveillance, screening, and infection control. College health professionals should also focus on providing relevant and scientifically accurate information to students, parents, staff, and faculty. Be ready for whatever will come in the door next.

ACHA’s Emergency Planning Guidelines for Campus Health Services: An All-Hazards Approach
Travel Health Resources

Most of us are familiar with the infographic — a graphic, visual representation of information. Part of the appeal of infographics is the ease in which they impart data — the reader can quickly absorb complex information. Think of a weather map showing the day’s high and low temperatures or a map of subway lines.

Poster presentations fall along these same lines. They are a visually-based format through which to present detailed and complex research in a brief but easily understood way. The most effective posters use lots of images — graphs, charts, etc. — to deliver the message, while keeping text to a minimum.

Poster presentations are a unique way to engage an audience, serving as conversation starters and communicating your research to a large and diverse group of people. If you have conducted a research project and want to share your research methods and outcomes with other college health professionals, consider submitting a proposal for a poster presentation at ACHA’s 2015 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, May 26-30.

Your poster will be affixed to a bulletin board that is 4 feet high by 8 feet wide and displayed Thursday, May 28, and Friday, May 29 (please note that these dates are subject to change). Attendees at the meeting will be able to browse posters, and there will be times set aside for poster presenters to discuss their research and answer questions from attendees.