Parents of 10- 11-year-old children appear to be receptive to participating in a home-based drug-related educational intervention and the parent-directed intervention seems to have enhanced parent-child tobacco- and alcohol-related communication.

IntroductionInternationally, emergency ambulance paramedic education has evolved from ‘on the job’ training by ambulance services to tertiary-level qualifications. However, across many countries and jurisdictions, clinical practicum requirements still differ substantially. For example, Australian paramedic students spend fewer hours on clinical practicum than their United Kingdom (UK) counterparts.MethodsFifteen semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with Australian and UK paramedics and managers to identify their perceptions regarding the preparedness of graduate paramedics for practice. ResultsInterviewees in Australia and the UK identified that newly graduated paramedics require an internship period before independent practice. Interviewees in both jurisdictions recognised the robust theoretical knowledge and practical skills of graduates. Organisational operations, clinical judgement and decision-making, and care-pathway selection were areas where interviewees identified that an internship period consolidated the graduate’s learning. ConclusionThis research found that increased time spent by paramedic students on ambulances did not increase a new graduate’s ability to practice independently before an internship period. The time spent on ambulance practicums, objectives and supervisory model should be reviewed.

Although iron and zinc deficiencies are known to occur together and also appear to be high in Ghana, a few supplementation studies addressed this concurrently in pregnancy. In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, 600 pregnant women in Ghana were randomly assigned to receive either a combined supplement of 40 mg of zinc as zinc gluconate and 40 mg of iron as ferrous sulphate or 40 mg of elemental iron as ferrous sulphate. Overall, there was no detectable difference in the mean birthweight between the study groups, although the effect of iron-zinc supplementation on the mean birthweight was masked by a strong interaction between the type of supplement and the iron status of participants [F (1,179)=5.614, p=0.019]. Prenatal iron-zinc supplementation was effective in increasing the mean birthweight among anaemic and iron-deficient women but not among women with elevated iron stores in early pregnancy.

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