The United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc., (USET) Tribal Epidemiology Center (TEC) held its annual advisory committee meeting on October 24, 2016. The advisory committee meeting was a part of USET’s Annual Meeting that was hosted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians at the beautiful Harrah’s Cherokee Resort and Casino in North Carolina.

In order to facilitate in-depth discussions and better understand the advisory committee’s logic in identifying priorities, the TEC staff utilized an online polling system that allowed for real-time voting via text messaging (https://www.polleverywhere.com).

 

Prior to the meeting, TEC staff reviewed grant requirements and previous advisory committee input to develop a list of proposed activities for the 2016-17 grant year.

 

 

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• Which of these has been or will be the most useful to you?
• Which of these best tie into your Tribal Nation goals?
• Which of these is least useful to you?

The poll displayed immediate visual results, allowed committee members to make changes to their answers, and prompted discussion of the results. Based on the responses, the TEC was able to dig deeper and ask probing questions such as:

• Why has a particular activity been the most/least useful to you?
• Is there something the TEC can do to make an activity even more useful?
• How can the TEC make an activity better align with your overall Tribal Nation goals?

This method allowed TEC staff to learn many important details regarding the needs of the Tribal Nations. Advisory committee members reported that they liked the format, and the TEC staff felt that they were more engaged in the meeting than ever before.

The TEC staff is now well positioned to meet these needs and to help improve health among the Tribal Nations for the upcoming grant year. The TEC plans to utilize the online polling system in future meetings to engage the audience for more in-depth discussions and to make the decision-making process more productive.

From December 6-9, 2016, AASTEC served as part of the instruction team for a 3.5-day Intermediate Injury Prevention Course in Albuquerque, NM.

Other instructors included subject matter experts from the Indian Health Service Albuquerque Area and Headquarters as well as the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

 

Eleven participants from Tribes in the IHS Albuquerque Area, Navajo Area and Great Plains Area attended the workshop.

 

Topics included: injury as a public health concern, introduction to data collection and analysis, injury prevention intervention theory, alcohol and injuries, marketing and injury prevention, coalitions and collaboration and formative/process evaluation.

The training also incorporated interactive activities such as a data collection and CDC WISQARS computer lab and Injury Prevention Jeopardy.

 

 

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More information on the Indian Health Service Injury Prevention Program and upcoming trainings can be found at https://www.ihs.gov/InjuryPrevention/.

New UIHI Broadcast Looks at Tuberculosis Control Among AI/AN Patients with Diabetes

A new broadcast from the Urban Indian Health Institute looks at tuberculosis (TB) screening among adult patients with type 2 diabetes. Research shows that the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population has among the highest U.S. born rate of TB.

Because diabetes has been identified as a risk factor for active TB and reactivation of latent TB, the Indian Health Services’ Standards of Care and Clinical Practice recommends that patients with type 2 diabetes are screened at least once after diabetes is diagnosed.

The Urban Indian Health Institute conducted an analysis to determine the screening rates of patients served at the 31 Urban Indian Health Organizations (UIHOs) across the United States. The resulting data showed that the majority of diabetic patients did not have a documented TB screening.

 

To learn more about the UIHI’s findings, read the new Tuberculosis Control Among AI/AN Patients with Diabetes broadcast.

For more data and info about diabetes and related health issues among AI/AN people, see the Diabetes Data page on the UIHI website.

 

 

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American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes among all United States racial and ethnic groups. However, recent evidence may suggest that the diabetes epidemic of diabetes among AI/ANs may have reached threshold in the population.

Part of this accomplishment is attributable to the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) which provides grants for diabetes treatment and prevention services to 404 Indian Health Service (IHS), tribal, and urban (I/T/U) Indian health programs across the U.S.

The Urban Indian Health Institute, a Division of the Seattle Indian Health Board recently published the Urban Diabetes Care and Outcomes Summary Report, Audit Years 2011-2015, which summarizes trends in clinical outcomes among AI/AN patients with diabetes from 32 Urban Indian Health Organizations.

From this report we learn that the majority of Audit patients showed good glycemic control and met many lipid targets. In fact, 80% of patients prescribed lifestyle modifications alone to manage their diabetes met the population target of HbA1c below 8.0%. Additional progress is possible to reduce the percentage of patients who reported smoking currently (30%), being overweight or obese (92%), and being depressed currently (32%).

By increasing routine clinical foot, eye, and dental examinations, as well as offering diabetes self-management education to patients, patient outcomes will likely improve further.

 

 

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This data book is a collaborative effort with the State of Alaska’s Bureau of Vital Statistics and the ANTHC, Alaska Native Epidemiology Center. It reports on leading causes of death for the Alaska Native population. Data are provided by age, gender, and by tribal health service regions Additionally, trends over time between 1980 and 2013 are included.

Click here or on image for full report (PDF 5.5MB).