The Vantage Point

October in National Bullying Prevention Month, so it's a great time to talk about bullying and what parents, teachers, health care providers and community members can do to prevent and stop these behaviors.

A political scientist, Timothy Callaghan, PhD, and an economist, Michael Morrisey, PhD, both at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, explain the different proposals for health care reform.

The Institute of Medicine has called for raising the percentage of registered nurses in the workforce who have at least a bachelor's degree in nursing to 80 percent from the current number of 56 percent. The Texas A&M College of Nursing is working to help increase that number and address the nursing shortage in the state and nation.

Americans everywhere are being subverted into modern-day slavery, and it’s happening all around us. Laurie Charles, MSN, RN, SANE-A, SANE-P, CA-CPSANE, CHSE, discusses the role of health care providers in identifying victims of human trafficking and how everyone can play a part in the fight against it.

As the stigma surrounding mental health decreases, demand for mental health care is on the rise. Carly McCord, PhD, licensed psychologist and director of Telebehavioral Health at Texas A&M, explains the role of technology in bringing quality mental health care professionals to all Texans.

Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH, and Joy Alonzo, M. Engineering, PharmD, share their insights on the opioid crisis and why its impacts may be underreported. They also offer some reasons to be hopeful that we can make a difference, including the efforts of the Texas A&M Opioid Task Force.

Listen to the full panel discussion, recorded live at South by Southwest 2019 in Austin, featuring Carrie L. Byington, MD, vice chancellor for health services at The Texas A&M University System, senior vice president of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center and dean of the Texas A&M College of Medicine; Dan McCoy, MD, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas; Vivian Lee, MD, president of health platforms at Verily; and Greg Winfree, director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

This is a bonus episode of Texas A&M Health Talk. We bring you a recording from the Blue Promise podcast about accessing health care in rural Texas, featuring our own Nancy Dickey, MD.

Specially trained health professionals provide compassionate care for patients who have experienced sexual assault. Evonne Garcia, RN, is a forensic nurse and certified sexual assault nurse examiner who has cared for thousands of patients and is now helping to train other specialized nurses. She joins us along with Taylor Tyson, an interpersonal violence prevention specialist and volunteer advocate for the Sexual Assault Resources Center in Bryan, Texas, to discuss why it is so important to seek medical care following sexual assault.

Today we're talking with Nancy Dickey, MD, and Bree Watzak, PharmD, two experts at Texas A&M who are helping to address the issue of hospital closures in rural and outlying areas in the United States.