Comparative Study Illustrating Difficulties Educating the Public to Respond to Chemical Terrorism

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hildebrand ◽  
Anthony Bleetman
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Chemical Attack ◽  
Chemical Release ◽  
Chemical Terrorism ◽  
The Uk

AbstractBackground:In recent years, the perceived threat of chemical terrorism has increased. It is hoped that teaching civilians how to behave during a chemical incident will decrease the number of “worried well” patients at hospitals, reduce secondary contamination, and increase compliance with the instructions of emergency services. The governments of the United Kingdom and Israel sent booklets to every household in their respective countries. In Israel, the civilian population was issued chemical personal protective equipment (chemical personal protective equipment).Methods:The effectiveness of these public education programs was assessed using a scenario-based questionnaire that was distributed to 100 respondents in Birmingham, UK and Jerusalem, Israel. Respondents were asked how they would behave in three deliberate chemical release scenarios and how they would seek information and help.Results:Only 33% of the UK respondents and 22% of the Israeli respondents recalled reading the government booklets. When asked what they would do after being contaminated in a deliberate release, approximately half of the respondents ranked seeking medical care at a hospital as the most appropriate action.The preferred sources of information in the wake of a chemical strike were (in descending order): radio, television, and the Internet. Approximately half of the respondents would call emergency services for information. Forty-one percent of the UK respondents and 33% of Israeli respondents stated that they either would call or go to the nearest hospital to seek information.Conclusions:The public information campaigns in both countries have had a limited impact. Many citizens claimed they would self-present to the nearest hospital following a chemical attack rather than waiting for the emergency services. A similar response was witnessed in the Sarin attacks in Tokyo and the 1991 Scud missile attacks in Israel.Current UK doctrine mandates that specialist decontamination teams be deployed to the scene of a chemical release. However, this takes >1 hour, and it requires at least 30 minutes to don hospital chemical personal protective equipment. Therefore, it is imperative that hospitals are equipped to cope with unannounced self-presenters after a chemical attack. This requires chemical personal protective equipment and protocols that are easier to use.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Physicians Working in the Head and Neck Field

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. e150-e159
Author(s):  
Rui Imamura ◽  
Ricardo F. Bento ◽  
Leandro L. Matos ◽  
William N. William ◽  
Gustavo N. Marta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Head And Neck ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Outpatient Care ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Psychological Burden ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third

Abstract Background With the COVID-19 pandemic, the clinical practice of physicians who work in the head and neck field in Brazil dropped dramatically. The sustained impact of the pandemic is not known. Methods An anonymous online survey was distributed to Brazilian otolaryngologists, head and neck surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, asking about their clinical practice in the third to fourth months of the pandemic. Results The survey was completed by 446 specialists. About 40% reported reduction of more than 75% in outpatient care. A reduction of 90% to 100% in airway endoscopies was reported by 50% of the responders, and the same rate of reduction regarding surgeries (pediatric or nasosinusal) was reported by 80% of them. Family income decreased by 50%, and the psychological burden on physicians was considerable. The availability of personal protective equipment and safety precautions were limited, especially in the public sector. Conclusion COVID-19 is still impacting the head and neck field, and safety concerns may hinder the prompt resumption of elective care.

Emerging Medical Technologies for Fighting COVID-19: Prevention, Testing, and Treatment (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Zhao ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Yangmyung Ma ◽  
Iman Islam ◽  
Abdul M. Azam Rajper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Testing Methods ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Medical Technologies ◽  
Equipment Testing

UNSTRUCTURED During COVID-19, the clinical and healthcare demands have been on the rapid rise. Major challenges to addressing the pandemic include a lack of testing kits and shortages of ventilators to treat severe cases of COVID-19, insufficient accessibility to personal protective equipment for both hospitals and the public. New technologies have been developed by scientists, researchers, and companies in response to these demands. In this paper, 90 news articles and scientific reports on COVID-19-related innovations during 2020-2021 were screened and shortlisted to form a pool of candidates yielding a total of 20 publications for review which were then categorized into three sections: personal protective equipment, testing methods, and medical treatments. Each study was analyzed for its engineering characteristics and potential social impact on the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the guidelines for future disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment were summarized and discussed.

Aerosol-generating procedures in home care

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-80
Author(s):  
Drew Payne ◽  
Martin Peache
Keyword(s):  
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Community Setting ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Clinical Environment ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Clinical Procedures ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Uk

COVID-19 has changed the landscape of healthcare in the UK since the first confirmed case in January 2020. Most of the resources have been directed towards reducing transmission in the hospital and clinical environment, but little is known about what community nurses can do to reduce the risk when they nurse people in their own homes? This article looks at what COVID-19 is, how it is spread and how health professionals are at an increased risk from aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). There is also a discussion on the benefit of mask usage. It defines what AGPs are, which clinical procedures are AGPs, including ones performed in the community setting, and which identified clinical practices that have been mistaken for AGPs. There is also a discussion on the suitability of performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It also describes how to reduce the risk by the use of full personal protective equipment (PPE) and other strategies when AGPs are performed in a patient's home. It ends with general advice about managing the risk of COVID-19 transmission with patients in their homes.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Cloth Masks and Modified Procedure Masks as Personal Protective Equipment for the Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip W. Clapp ◽  
Emily E. Sickbert-Bennett ◽  
James M. Samet ◽  
Jon Berntsen ◽  
Kirby L. Zeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
The Public

Challenges post-COVID-19: planning strategies to resume elective dentistry and allied surgical specialities

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Melissa Loh ◽  
Karthikeyan Iyengar ◽  
William YC Loh
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Surgical Management ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Dental Treatment ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Limited Availability ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Elective Treatment ◽  
Planning Strategies ◽  
The Uk

The effect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic on the NHS in the UK has been profound and unprecedented. Many surgical specialities, including dentistry, throughout the country have not been exempt from this effect. As there are many aerosol-generating procedures and aerosol-generating exposures in surgical specialities, there has been a substantial cancellation of elective treatment. This has been in part because of the limited availability of personal protective equipment for surgeons as this is being use elsewhere by clinicians to aid the reduction of viral spread in the community. As the UK is preparing to emerge from the ‘lockdown’ during the pandemic, restarting elective surgical and dental treatment is an expected challenge. This article looks at the possible roadmap to recovery of elective surgical management and dentistry, taking into consideration possible predicted further peaks and troughs of COVID-19 infections.

scholarly journals Invention, Innovation, and Imitation in India—Necessity Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (02) ◽  
pp. 077-086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Mathew ◽  
T. Lazar Mathew
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Frontline Healthcare Workers ◽  
Support Devices ◽  
Antibody Tests

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated tremendous innovation in India, driven by unprecedented novel needs, sense of urgency, availability of time during the lockdown, funding by Government agencies, and accelerated processing of projects. Therefore, the country has witnessed widespread innovation and imitation of existing technologies in recent weeks, but very few inventions. One novel invention, the Artificial Breathing Capability Device (ABCD) is being speeded up by the current necessity. Other innovations and imitations include (i) healthcare devices/products intended for diagnosis, management, or monitoring of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 patients (in healthcare institutions); (ii) improvisations in personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers and other personnel (including the public); (iii) adaptation of information technology platforms for telehealth, telemedicine, telemonitoring, and tele-education; and (iv) repurposing of existing resources/technologies for COVID-19. Some fruits of these efforts include (i) respiratory support devices (by mechanization of manual ventilation, ventilator splitters, etc.), (ii) personal protective equipment (PPE) (novel face masks, face shields/splash guards, intubation boxes, aerosol guards, etc.), (iii) novel sanitization products, processes or deployment methods, (iv) diagnostic tests (including rapid antibody tests, polymerase chain reaction [PCR] methods, and loop-mediated isothermal amplification [LAMP]), and (v) various adaptations such as repurposing and retrofitting of existing technologies aligned to the needs of COVID-19. These innovations and imitations have laudable features such as extremely rapid development of products (not merely concepts or prototypes); collaboration among individuals, institutions, and industry; willingness of players to work outside traditional comfort zones; and teamwork among stakeholders. Social media and lay press publicity create a sense of achievement and hope in a nation bogged down by the realities of COVID-19. However, these positive developments are associated with unique problems, especially duplication of effort, disregard of intellectual property (IP) issues, unhealthy competition amongst institutions, and failure to consider the needs for which solutions are proposed. The haste for developing products has bypassed the important steps of peer review, laboratory testing, and clinical validation to ensure the safety and efficacy of end users. These unintended side effects of the innovation race can be overcome by coordinated efforts through an innovation pathway proposed in this article under a broader innovation ecosystem.

scholarly journals Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among emergency eye care professionals in the UK during the COVID19 pandemic

Eye ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1224-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy-lee Shirodkar ◽  
Ian De Silva ◽  
Seema Verma ◽  
Sarah Anderson ◽  
Polly Dickerson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Eye Care ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Maintaining Healthy Skin During COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Venny Larasati ◽  
Soilia Fertilita
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Skin Pigmentation ◽  
Skin Care ◽  
Premature Aging ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Healthy Skin ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black Spots ◽  
Negative Effect

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought several changes to people's routine habits. Educating the public about the importance of washing and disinfecting hands as often as possible and the use of personal protective equipment such as masks, googles or face shields to avoid disease transmission and sunbathing habits to get the benefits of sunlight for health and the immune system has an impact on behavior changes on the community. These new habits can bring a negative effect to the skin. The use of disinfectants and personal protective equipment can cause allergic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, skin maceration, secondary fungal infection and acne. Sunbathing can cause changes in skin pigmentation, the appearance of black spots, the skin looks dull and rough and accelerates the appearance of premature wrinkles on the skin. Proper skin care routine during this pandemic situation is essential to maintain skin healthy and avoid skin problems due to the use of disinfectants or PPE. The use of emollients, moisturizers and barrier creams can prevent skin problems to happen. Skin moisturizers can be used regularly after hand washing and before using personal protective equipment. When it comes to maintaining healthy skin during pandemic, skin care routine consists of facial cleansers, toners, moisturizers, serums, morning creams and night creams are also recommended to keep the skin healthy and slow the appearance of premature aging signs on the skin. This activity aims to provide a better understanding to people especially worker how to prevent skin problems and how to maintain healthy skin during pandemic.

scholarly journals 70 Availability of Personal Protective Equipment in NHS Hospitals During COVID-19: A National Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Mantelakis ◽  
H Spiers ◽  
C W Lee ◽  
A Chambers ◽  
A Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Safe Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Question Survey ◽  
Full Body

Abstract Introduction The continuous supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the National Health Service (NHS) is paramount in order to sustain a safe level of staffing and to reduce transmission of COVID-19 to patients, public and staff. Method A 16-question survey was created to assess the availability and personal thoughts of healthcare professionals regarding PPE supply in England. The survey was distributed via social media (Facebook © and Twitter ©) to all UK COVID-19 healthcare professional groups, with responses collected over 3 weeks in March 2020 during the beginning of the pandemic. Results A total of 121 responses from physicians in 35 different hospitals were collected (105 inpatient wards, 16 from intensive care units). In inpatient wards, eye and face protection were unavailable to 19.1% of respondents. Masks were available to 97.7% of respondents and gloves in all respondents (100%). Body protection was available primarily as a plastic apron (83.8%). All of respondents working in intensive care had access to full-body PPE, except FFP3 respirator masks (available in 87.5%). PPE is ‘Always’ available for 29.8% of all respondents, and ‘Never’ or ‘Almost Never’ in 11.6%. There was a statistically significant difference between London and non-London responders that ‘Always’ had PPE available (43.9% versus 19.0%, p = 0.003). Conclusions This is the first survey to evaluate PPE supply in England during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our survey demonstrated an overall lack of PPE volume supply in the UK, with preferential distribution in London. Eye and full body protection are in most lack of supply.

Development of the Emotional Wellbeing at Work Virtual Programme to support UK health visiting teams

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 516-522
Author(s):  
Sharin Baldwin ◽  
Rachel Stephen ◽  
Philippa Bishop ◽  
Patricia Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Health Visitors ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way in which health visiting services are delivered in the UK. Health visitors are now having to work more remotely, with virtual methods for service delivery as well as using personal protective equipment where face-to-face contacts are necessary. This rapid change has resulted in many health visiting staff working under greater levels of pressure, feeling isolated, anxious and unsettled. This article discusses a virtual programme that has been funded by the RCN Foundation and developed by the Institute of Health Visiting to support the emotional wellbeing of health visiting teams in the UK. It outlines the background to the project, the theoretical underpinnings to inform the programme model and the evaluation process that will be used to further refine the programme before wider implementation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document