Preparedness

INTRODUCTION: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 triggered a global health emergency, causing > 7 million deaths thus far. Limited early knowledge spurred swift research, treatment, and vaccine developments. Implementation of public health measures such as, lockdowns and social distancing, disrupted economies and strained healthcare. Viral mutations highlighted the need for flexible strategies and strong public health infrastructure, with global collaboration crucial for pandemic control...

Factors related with COVID-19 vaccine uptake in children and adolescents in Norway remain unclear, despite this being useful knowledge for future pandemic preparedness. This study aimed to comprehensively examine individual and familial factors associated with vaccine uptake in children and adolescents in Norway. We utilized nationwide registry-data from various health registries and Statistics Norway, encompassing all children and adolescents living in Norway during the pandemic, until 31-Dec-2022. Vaccine uptake is defined as receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine...

Objective : Board certification (BC) in clinical neuropsychology via the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN) is a rigorous process demonstrating clinical competence to practice. While myths about BC have been addressed, barriers to BC have yet to be studied. The aim of this study was to identify barriers to BC among neuropsychology trainees and professionals. Method : Data were collected through pre-webinar surveys administered to 1202 participants across four webinars conducted between 2018 and 2021...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is widespread use of emergency preparedness drills in public K-12 schools across the US, but considerable variability exists in the types of protocols used and how these practices are conducted. This review examines research into both "lockdown drills" and "active shooter drills" as it relates to their impact on participants across different outcomes and evaluations of their procedural integrity. RECENT FINDINGS: A number of studies on lockdown drills yielded largely consistent findings about their impacts, whereas findings related to the effects of active shooter drills are less uniform...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding changes in food sufficiency within various demographic groups during emergency situations, such as the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is crucial in formulating public health policies for future preparedness. This study investigated potential differences between urban and rural residents in food sufficiency trends during the COVID-19 pandemic and examined how these changes varied according to sociodemographic factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 19,724 adults aged 20 years and older, utilizing information from the 7th-8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2018-2021)...

BACKGROUND: Informal caregivers (ICs) of patients with cancer provide essential and mainly uncompensated care. A self-perceived preparedness to care for the patient is associated with a lower caregiver burden, described as the extent to which caregiving is perceived as having adverse effects on IC functioning and well-being. ICs' well-being is associated with patient-perceived quality of care, suggesting that interventions to optimize ICs' health are essential in order to improve patient care...

Losses from catastrophic floods are driving intense efforts to increase preparedness and improve response to disastrous flood events by providing early warnings. Yet accurate flood forecasting remains a challenge due to uncertainty in modeling, calibrating, and validating a useful early warning system. This paper presents the Requisitely Simple (ReqSim) flood forecasting system that includes key variables and processes of basin hydrology and atmospheric forcing in a data-driven modeling framework. The simplicity of the modeling structure and data requirements of the system allows for customization and implementation in any medium to large rain-fed river basin globally, provided there are water level or discharge measurements at the forecast locations...

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had a significant impact on the society, economy, and health of people around the world with consequences that need to be better understood for future pandemic preparedness. This manuscript provides insights into the usage of pharmaceuticals for pain treatment management throughout SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Four towns and cities with a total population of > 1 million people covering an area of 2000 km2 in South West England were monitored for twenty-four months. Results showed different patterns in pain pharma usage, with small towns having higher population normalised daily loads (PNDLs) than big cities for majority of pain killers studied...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Nurses' household preparedness is critical if they are to avoid role conflict and report for duty during an emergency. To date, the alignment between nurses' perceived and actual household preparedness remains under examined. Investigating one of these variables in isolation fails to consider that perceived and actual household preparedness must be high and aligned. If misaligned, vulnerabilities could surface during emergencies, like concerns about family safety, potentially impacting a nurse's commitment to duty during a crisis, or nurses may lack the actual preparedness to continue working long hours during an emergency...

BACKGROUND: About 287,000 mothers lost their lives due to pregnancy and delivery in 2020 worldwide. Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPCR) is an approach used to utilize the timely use of skilled maternal and neonatal services. Preparing mothers for childbirth and against its dangers has great importance in reducing maternal mortality. Little is known about BPCR and influencing factors in Hargeisa town, Somaliland. OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of BPCR and its associated factors among recently delivered women in Hargeisa...

INTRODUCTION: Whilst rarely researched, the authenticity with which Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) simulate practice is arguably critical to making valid judgements about candidates' preparedness to progress in their training. We studied how and why an OSCE gave rise to different experiences of authenticity for different participants under different circumstances. METHODS: We used Realist evaluation, collecting data through interviews/focus groups from participants across four UK medical schools who participated in an OSCE which aimed to enhance authenticity...

OBJECTIVE: The novel concept of "the trauma therapists" journey' during their work with formerly tortured refugees and asylum seekers is introduced, mapped, and explicated for a convenience sample of 10 psychological therapists/practitioners who work in the United Kingdom. METHOD: This study operationalized semistructured interviews that were focused on therapists' experiences of providing trauma psychotherapy to sanctuary seekers who presented to a range of psychological therapy services...

Background Handoffs between medical providers serve a crucial patient safety function. While most published literature on the topic studies the handover process among physicians, robust literature is available on interdisciplinary medical communication. Little is known about the downstream effects of effective physician handover on subsequent physician and nursing interactions. Objective Our objective was to implement a handoff curriculum, SAFETIPS (Statistics, Assessment, Focused plan, pertinent Exam findings, To dos, If/thens, Pointers/pitfalls, and Severity of illness), for pediatric residents and to investigate its impact on nurses' perceptions of resident preparedness, efficiency, and competency...

Newcastle disease (ND) is a tremendously contagious avian infection with extensive monetary ramifications for the chicken zone. To reduce the effect of ND on the Saudi rooster enterprise, our analysis emphasizes the necessity of genotype-particular vaccinations, elevated surveillance, public recognition campaigns, and stepped-forward biosecurity. Data show that one-of-a-kind bird species, outdoor flocks, and nearby differences in susceptibility are all vulnerable. The pathogenesis consists of tropism in the respiratory and gastrointestinal structures and some genotypes boom virulence...

BACKGROUND: Sub-Saharan Africa stands out as one of the regions most affected by the climate crisis, while it has contributed to the problem only marginally. The foreseen negative effect on health adds great stress to the already overburdened health systems. Health systems' adaptation to climate change is, therefore, urgently needed to better protect human health. There is, however, scant evidence on how adaption is being planned and implemented in Africa. The aim of this study was to review the literature on health system adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa...

The global incidence of infectious diseases has increased in recent years, posing a significant threat to human health. Hospitals typically serve as frontline institutions for detecting infectious diseases. However, accurately identifying warning signals of infectious diseases in a timely manner, especially emerging infectious diseases, can be challenging. Consequently, there is a pressing need to integrate treatment and disease prevention data to conduct comprehensive analyses aimed at preventing and controlling infectious diseases within hospitals...

epidemics, avian influenza, H5N1, highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI.