scholarly journals The Psychosocial Impact of Compounding Humanitarian Crises Caused by War and COVID-19 Informing Future Disaster Response

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Hakob Harutyunyan ◽  
Artak Mukhaelyan ◽  
Attila J. Hertelendy ◽  
Amalia Voskanyan ◽  
Todd Benham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
The Republic ◽  
1918 Influenza

Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the greatest global loss of life and economic impact due to a respiratory virus since the 1918 influenza pandemic. While health care systems around the world faced the enormous challenges of managing COVID-19 patients, health care workers in the Republic of Armenia were further tasked with caring for the surge of casualties from a concurrent, large-scale war. These compounding events put a much greater strain on the health care system, creating a complex humanitarian crisis that resulted in significant psychosocial consequences for health care workers in Armenia.

Commitment to Change Among Health Care Workers in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-347
Author(s):  
Haroon Bakari ◽  
Ahmed Imran Hunjra ◽  
Stephen Jaros
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Change Initiative ◽  
Commitment To Change ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems

Commitment to organizational change as an important focus of commitment has received greater attention in the literature of action commitments. Research indicates that this construct represents employee attitude towards change initiative and may be a greater predictor of support for change. This is of particular import in health care systems, globally, and in developing nations, in particular, which are constantly seeking to change and adapt to new medical and administrative advances. However, commitment to change (C2C) has received very little research attention from Asian health care systems. Therefore, this study answers the call for validation, by validating a culture-specific translated version of the C2C scale in a sample drawn from the privatization context of public sector hospitals in Pakistan. The goals are to: (a) examine some psychometric properties of the major Western-derived measures of C2C in Pakistan to see if they are valid and reliable there; and (b) draw implications from our results for the management of change efforts in Pakistani health care systems. Thus, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted using SPSS and analysis of moment structures (AMOS) to provide evidence of reliability, construct validity and predictive validity of C2C among Pakistani health care workers. Results found evidence of the measure’s cross-cultural validity and revealed a positive correlation between C2C and three dimensions of behavioural support for change. This study is a significant contribution to the literature, being the first to provide comprehensive evidence of validity of the C2C scale in Pakistan, a developing country. An important implication for leaders of organizational change in Pakistan is that they may use this construct to unearth employee level of understanding and attitude towards change initiative to envisage mechanisms to foster employee support for change. Researchers may also use this construct in Pakistan’s context to assess employee C2C.

scholarly journals Sleep deficit in COVID-19 health-care workers may increase the infection risk

2021 ◽  
pp. 140349482110076
Author(s):  
Isabela A. Ishikura ◽  
Daniela S. Rosa ◽  
Helena Hachul ◽  
Gabriel N. Pires ◽  
Sergio Tufik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Sleep Deficit ◽  
Inflammatory Milieu

The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative effects on health-care workers. The rapid growth of the disease has led to overwhelmed health-care systems, overcrowded hospitals, an insufficient number of health-care professionals and shortages of medical equipment. The potential exposure of front-line health-care workers during the COVID-19 outbreak has led to self-isolation and the appearance of adverse feelings such as stress, anxiety and fear. All these factors, combined with an increased workload and extra and changed shifts, are determinants of a sleep-loss process that may result in insomnia. The exacerbated pro-inflammatory milieu caused by insomnia and sleep deprivation present in health professionals may therefore make them more prone to developing severe COVID-19 if infected and/or aggravate the symptoms of the disease. Keeping these professionals healthy and doing everything possible to prevent them from being infected with COVID-19 should be a top priority. As part of this effort, we must be aware of the important effects of insomnia on the immune systems of these professionals and take all possible measures to counter these effects.

scholarly journals Management of Stroke During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Challenges in Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 218-220
Author(s):  
Subash Phuyal ◽  
Ritesh Lamsal ◽  
Gentle Sunder Shrestha ◽  
Raju Paudel ◽  
Lekhjung Thapa
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Stroke Management ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Baseline Health

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected health care delivery globally. COVID-19 is associated with varied neurological manifestations including acute ischemic stroke. In densely populated South Asian nations like Nepal that have suboptimal baseline health care systems, we foresee unique challenges during this pandemic to ensure effective stroke management as well as the safety of health care workers involved in the management of stroke patients. Keywords: COVID-19; health care workers; safety; stroke management.

scholarly journals Validation of Training Need Assessment Questionnaire Among Health Care Workers in Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Low-Income Countries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tumbwene Elieza Mwansisya ◽  
Columba Mbekenga ◽  
Kahabi Isangula ◽  
Loveluck Mwasha ◽  
Eunice Pallangyo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Needs Assessment ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Training Needs Assessment ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Assessment Questionnaire

Abstract Background: Continuous professional development (CPD) trainings have been reported to enhance health care workers’ knowledge and skills, improve retention and recruitment, improve quality of patient care and reduce patients’ mortality. This calls for validated training needs assessment tools for facilitating the design of effective CPD programs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The survey involved selected Reproductive, Maternal and Neonatal Health (RMNH) health care workers from 7 hospitals, 12 of 51 health centers and 17 of 292 dispensaries within eight districts of Mwanza Region, Tanzania. The training needs assessment (TNA) tool adapted from the Hennessy-Hicks’ Training Needs Assessment Questionnaire (TNAQ) was used for data collection. Results: A total of 153 healthcare workers participated in this study. The majority of participants were females 83% (127) with average age of 39 years. Nurses formed a majority of participants 76% (n=115) with relatively similar mean duration in service or in RMNH of 7.9 years. The reliability of the adapted TNAQ was found to be 0.954. Relatedly, indexes for construct validity indicated that CFI was equal to 1, Chi-square Mean/Degree of Freedom (CMIN/DF) was equal to 0.000 and Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA) was equal to 0.185. Conclusion: The adapted TNAQ appear to be reliable and valid for identifying professional training needs of health care workers in RMNH health care settings. The tool has a considerable level of psychometric properties that makes it suitable for assessing the training needs among health care workers of different cadres. However, the applicability of the TNAQ in the wider health care systems remains unclear. Future studies with a large sample size are required to test the use of TNAQ in wider health care systems and learning opportunities.

scholarly journals Did hydroxychloroquine played crucial role as prophylactic drug against SARS-CoV-2 infection in resource-constrained and overloaded health care systems in countries like India: a prospective multicentre study in dedicated COVID hospitals

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Dhaval Dalal ◽  
Ankush Govindwar ◽  
Gaurav Gangwani ◽  
Komal Dalal ◽  
Humeshwari Nipane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Igg Antibody ◽  
Prospective Multicentre Study ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems

Background: The Indian council medical research (ICMR) recommended to use hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a prophylactic agent against Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2019 (SARS-COV-2) infection to cater need to protect high-risk individuals considering its pre-clinical data. This study explores role of HCQ in health care workers serving in coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods: The study was planned as multi center observational study, conducted from April, 2020 to August 2020 at COVID-19 hospitals in India. HCQ 400 mg twice a day on day-1 followed by 400 mg once weekly for next 7 weeks was administered to Health care workers (HCW). RTPCR test was conducted at 3 months post last dose of prophylaxis in symptomatic health care workers. IgG test was conducted in all participants at 3 months.Results: We enrolled 1310 asymptotic frontline healthcare workers, of which 585 (45%) were male and 725 (55%) were female. Chi-Sqaure test statistical analysis in RTPCR Test showed p=0.515, p=0.634, p=0.00 in doctor and nurse, housekeeping and other staff respectively. Chi-Sqaure test statistical analysis in IgG antibody tests showed p=0.305, p=0.449 and p=o.345 in doctor and Nurse, Housekeeping and Other staff respectively.Conclusions: HCQ did not provide statistically significant pre exposure prophylaxis to doctors, nurses and housekeeping staff. However for, “other staff members category” it showed highly statistically significant prophylaxis effect with respect to RTPCR positive test results in comparison with HCW who did not consume HCQ prophylaxis. And hence HCQ could certainly play a crucial role in resource-constrained and overloaded health care systems in countries like India.

scholarly journals Covid-19 and infection in health-care workers: An emerging problem

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Barranco ◽  
Francesco Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The World ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Coronavirus Infection

The 2019 coronavirus infection (called SARS-CoV-2) began in Wuhan, spread rapidly throughout the world. In many countries the exponential growth of Covid-19 cases is overwhelming health care systems with overcrowding of hospitals and overflowing Intensive Care Units. While people must stay at home to reduce the spread of this virus health-care workers do the exact opposite. In some countries doctors are working with insufficient protection and are constantly at risk of contracting Covid-19. Health-care workers should be constantly monitored because if they are infected they may spread the virus to colleagues, hospitalized patients and even family members. Increased rates of infection in health-care workers could cause the health-care system to collapse and a further worsening of the pandemic; if there are too few doctors it will be even more difficult to manage.

Strengthening health care worker engagement with early adolescence in low- and middle-income countries: an overdue area for action

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marni Sommer ◽  
Garrison Daly ◽  
Caroline Kabiru ◽  
Pema Lhaki ◽  
Neville Okwaro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Young Adolescents ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractThe very young adolescent population (ages 10–14) is currently under-served by health care systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Although there is a substantial and growing effort to reach adolescents with the health services and commodities they need, such efforts often overlook the period of early adolescence given this population’s lower vulnerability to risk-taking behaviors. However, early adolescence is a period of significant change, with the onset of puberty introducing physiological, emotional, and social changes in girls’ and boys’ lives. This period also represents a time of intensifying gendered norms, and the transition of youth from childhood focused health care (e.g. deworming programs, nutrition interventions) to additional mid- and older adolescent related care [e.g. human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, and contraceptive provision). Strengthening young adolescents’ engagement with health care workers around preventative and promotive health behaviors could have profound impacts on their health and wellbeing, which in turn could have cascading effects across the course of their lives. Critically, young adolescents would gain trust in health care systems, and be more likely to return when significant health issues arise later in adolescence or adulthood. Such an effort requires sensitizing health care workers and building their capacity to respond to young adolescents’ unique needs, by defining a package of actions that they are mandated to provide, training them, providing them with desk reference tools, and putting in place systems to provide supportive supervision and collaborative learning on the one hand, and encouraging caregivers to connect their pubescent-aged boys and girls with the health care system, on the other hand. This paper presents an argument for increased focus in particular on building attitudes and capacities of health care workers on engaging with early adolescents, applying Principle 3 of the Society of Adolescent Medicine’s position paper entitled “Health Care Reform and Adolescents.”

scholarly journals Data work: A condition for integrations in health care

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Bjørnstad ◽  
Gunnar Ellingsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Medication Management ◽  
Articulation Work ◽  
Efficient Treatment ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Information And Communication

Integration and interoperability between different information and communication technology (ICT) systems are crucial for efficient treatment and care in hospitals. In this article, we are particularly interested in the daily local work conducted by health-care personnel to maintain integrations. A principal aim of our article is, therefore, to contribute to a sociotechnical understanding of the “data work” that is embedded in the integration of health-care systems. Theoretically, we draw on the concepts of “information infrastructures” and “articulation work,” and we discuss how social status may influence the invisible articulation work. Furthermore, we show how historical decisions and existing systems both nationally and regionally have impacts on the daily work of local actors. Empirically, we have studied the formative stages of a large-scale electronic medication management system project in the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority.

scholarly journals Initial experiences of US neurologists in practice during the COVID-19 pandemic via survey

Neurology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (5) ◽  
pp. 215-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akanksha Sharma ◽  
Christina R. Maxwell ◽  
Jill Farmer ◽  
Diana Greene-Chandos ◽  
Kathrin LaFaver ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Care Systems

ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that US neurologists were experiencing significant challenges with lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), rapid changes in practice, and varying institutional protocols, we conducted this survey study. The current coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread disease and death. Rapid increases in patient volumes have exposed weaknesses in health care systems and challenged our ability to provide optimal patient care and adequate safety measures to health care workers (HCWs).MethodsA 36-item survey was distributed to neurologists around the United States through various media platforms.ResultsOver a 1-week period, 567 responses were received. Of these, 56% practiced in academia. A total of 87% had access to PPE, with 45% being asked to reuse PPE due to shortages. The pandemic caused rapid changes in practice, most notably a shift toward providing care by teleneurology, although a third experienced challenges in transitioning to this model. Wide variations were noted both in testing and in the guidance provided for the exposed, sick, or vulnerable HCWs. Notably, 59% of respondents felt that their practices were doing what they could, although 56% did not feel safe taking care of patients.ConclusionsResults from our survey demonstrate significant variability in preparedness and responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic in neurology, affected by region, health care setting, and practice model. Practice guidelines from professional societies and other national entities are needed to improve protection for physicians and their patients, promote recommended practice changes during a pandemic, and optimize future preparedness for public health emergencies.

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