scholarly journals Nurses indispensable role during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Simaranjit Kaur ◽  
Kirandeep Kaur

There is a new public health crisis threatening the world with the emergence and spread of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as it is now called, is rapidly spreading from its origin in Wuhan City of Hubei Province of China to the rest of the world. Coronaviruses are enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses that are diversely found in humans and wildlife originated in bats ranging from 60 nm to 140 nm in diameter with spike-like projections on its surface giving it a crown-like appearance under the electron microscope, hence the name coronavirus. A total of six species have been identified which are known to infect the neurological, respiratory, enteric, and hepatic systems. The epicenter of infection was linked to seafood and exotic animal wholesale markets in the city. SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious and has resulted in a rapid pandemic of COVID-19. As the number of cases continues to rise, it is clear that these viruses pose a threat to public health. The disease is transmitted by inhalation or contact with infected droplets and the incubation period ranges from 2 to 14 days. The symptoms are usually fever, cough, sore throat, breathlessness, fatigue, and malaise among others. The disease is mild in most people; in some (usually the elderly and those with comorbidities), it may progress to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and multiorgan dysfunction. Many people are asymptomatic. The case fatality rate is estimated to range from 2 to 3%. Treatment is essentially supportive; role of antiviral agents is yet to be established. Prevention entails home isolation of suspected cases and those with mild illnesses and strict infection control measure at hospitals that include contact and droplet precautions. The global impact of this new epidemic is yet uncertain. We conducted a literature review of publicly available information to summarize knowledge about the pathogen and the current epidemic. In this literature review, the causative agent, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and nurses role regarding disease, control, and prevention strategies are all reviewed. It will also provide a means to raise awareness among primary and secondary health-care providers during the current pandemic.

Pain Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1331-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven P Cohen ◽  
Zafeer B Baber ◽  
Asokumar Buvanendran ◽  
Brian C McLean ◽  
Yian Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background It is nearly impossible to overestimate the burden of chronic pain, which is associated with enormous personal and socioeconomic costs. Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, is associated with multiple psychiatric comorbidities, and has been causally linked to the opioid crisis. Access to pain treatment has been called a fundamental human right by numerous organizations. The current COVID-19 pandemic has strained medical resources, creating a dilemma for physicians charged with the responsibility to limit spread of the contagion and to treat the patients they are entrusted to care for. Methods To address these issues, an expert panel was convened that included pain management experts from the military, Veterans Health Administration, and academia. Endorsement from stakeholder societies was sought upon completion of the document within a one-week period. Results In these guidelines, we provide a framework for pain practitioners and institutions to balance the often-conflicting goals of risk mitigation for health care providers, risk mitigation for patients, conservation of resources, and access to pain management services. Specific issues discussed include general and intervention-specific risk mitigation, patient flow issues and staffing plans, telemedicine options, triaging recommendations, strategies to reduce psychological sequelae in health care providers, and resource utilization. Conclusions The COVID-19 public health crisis has strained health care systems, creating a conundrum for patients, pain medicine practitioners, hospital leaders, and regulatory officials. Although this document provides a framework for pain management services, systems-wide and individual decisions must take into account clinical considerations, regional health conditions, government and hospital directives, resource availability, and the welfare of health care providers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-36
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdullah ◽  
Saira Afridi ◽  
Syed Imran Gillani

Objective:To evaluate infection control measure in a public sector dental hospital of Peshawar.Methodology:It was a cross sectional study conducted in Khyber college of Dentistry. Study subjects were Dental health care providers who were willing to participate in the study. A structured questionnaire was designed that included various categories of infection control. Data was entered into SPSS version 17. Descriptive statistics were applied and frequencies and percentages were obtained.Results:The results from the data shows that the overall score for the infection control standards were less than 50%. Among the various categories of infection control only personal hygiene standards showed good score (77.3%). Personal protective equipment score was adequate (61%) while hand hygiene score was inadequate (52%). The rest of the categories showed poor scores.Conclusion:The result of the study shows that majority of categories of infection control measures at Khyber college of Dentistry are inadequate or poor.


Author(s):  
Germán Gutiérrez ◽  
Oscar Barbarin ◽  
Martina Klicperová-Baker ◽  
Prakash Padakannaya ◽  
Ava Thompson ◽  
...  

Around the world, individual psychologists have stepped up to deliver essential services to address the social and emotional sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many psychological organizations have also responded to this public health crisis, though their efforts may be less widely recognized. Psychological organizations engaged in preventive and mitigation efforts targeted, among others, the general public, local communities, and high-risk groups such as health care providers. They disseminated mental health information to the general public, trained laypersons to provide psychological first aid, and used research to design and evaluate public health responses to the pandemic. In some countries, psychological organizations contributed to the design and implementation of public health policies and practices. The nature of these involvements changed throughout the pandemic and evolved from reactive to proactive, from local to international. Several qualities appear key to the value, impact, and success of these efforts. These include organizational agility and adaptability, the ability to overcome their political inertia and manage conflict, recognizing the need to address cultural differences, and allocating limited resources to high-risk and resource-depleted constituencies where it was needed most.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deema Farsi

BACKGROUND As the world continues to advance technologically, social media (SM) is becoming an essential part of billions of people’s lives worldwide and is affecting almost every industry imaginable. As the world is becoming more digitally oriented, the health care industry is increasingly visualizing SM as an important channel for health care promotion, employment, recruiting new patients, marketing for health care providers (HCPs), building a better brand name, etc. HCPs are bound to ethical principles toward their colleagues, patients, and the public in the digital world as much as in the real world. OBJECTIVE This review aims to shed light on SM use worldwide and to discuss how it has been used as an essential tool in the health care industry from the perspective of HCPs. METHODS A literature review was conducted between March and April 2020 using MEDLINE, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science for all English-language medical studies that were published since 2007 and discussed SM use in any form for health care. Studies that were not in English, whose full text was not accessible, or that investigated patients’ perspectives were excluded from this part, as were reviews pertaining to ethical and legal considerations in SM use. RESULTS The initial search yielded 83 studies. More studies were included from article references, and a total of 158 studies were reviewed. SM uses were best categorized as health promotion, career development or practice promotion, recruitment, professional networking or destressing, medical education, telemedicine, scientific research, influencing health behavior, and public health care issues. CONCLUSIONS Multidimensional health care, including the pairing of health care with SM and other forms of communication, has been shown to be very successful. Striking the right balance between digital and traditional health care is important.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Krausz ◽  
Jean Nicolas Westenberg ◽  
Daniel Vigo ◽  
Richard Trafford Spence ◽  
Damon Ramsey

BACKGROUND Public health emergencies like epidemics put enormous pressure on health care systems while revealing deep structural and functional problems in the organization of care. The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic illustrates this at a global level. The sudden increased demand on delivery systems puts unique pressures on pre-established care pathways. These extraordinary times require efficient tools for smart governance and resource allocation. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to develop an innovative web-based solution addressing the seemingly insurmountable challenges of triaging, monitoring, and delivering nonhospital services unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS An adaptable crisis management digital platform was envisioned and designed with the goal of improving the system’s response on the basis of the literature; an existing shared health record platform; and discussions between health care providers, decision makers, academia, and the private sector in response to the COVID 19 epidemic. RESULTS The Crisis Management Platform was developed and offered to health authorities in Ontario on a nonprofit basis. It has the capability to dramatically streamline patient intake, triage, monitoring, referral, and delivery of nonhospital services. It decentralizes the provision of services (by moving them online) and centralizes data gathering and analysis, maximizing the use of existing human resources, facilitating evidence-based decision making, and minimizing the risk to both users and providers. It has unlimited scale-up possibilities (only constrained by human health risk resource availability) with minimal marginal cost. Similar web-based solutions have the potential to fill an urgent gap in resource allocation, becoming a unique asset for health systems governance and management during critical times. They highlight the potential effectiveness of web-based solutions if built on an outcome-driven architecture. CONCLUSIONS Data and web-based approaches in response to a public health crisis are key to evidence-driven oversight and management of public health emergencies.


10.2196/18995 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e18995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Krausz ◽  
Jean Nicolas Westenberg ◽  
Daniel Vigo ◽  
Richard Trafford Spence ◽  
Damon Ramsey

Background Public health emergencies like epidemics put enormous pressure on health care systems while revealing deep structural and functional problems in the organization of care. The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic illustrates this at a global level. The sudden increased demand on delivery systems puts unique pressures on pre-established care pathways. These extraordinary times require efficient tools for smart governance and resource allocation. Objective The aim of this study is to develop an innovative web-based solution addressing the seemingly insurmountable challenges of triaging, monitoring, and delivering nonhospital services unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods An adaptable crisis management digital platform was envisioned and designed with the goal of improving the system’s response on the basis of the literature; an existing shared health record platform; and discussions between health care providers, decision makers, academia, and the private sector in response to the COVID 19 epidemic. Results The Crisis Management Platform was developed and offered to health authorities in Ontario on a nonprofit basis. It has the capability to dramatically streamline patient intake, triage, monitoring, referral, and delivery of nonhospital services. It decentralizes the provision of services (by moving them online) and centralizes data gathering and analysis, maximizing the use of existing human resources, facilitating evidence-based decision making, and minimizing the risk to both users and providers. It has unlimited scale-up possibilities (only constrained by human health risk resource availability) with minimal marginal cost. Similar web-based solutions have the potential to fill an urgent gap in resource allocation, becoming a unique asset for health systems governance and management during critical times. They highlight the potential effectiveness of web-based solutions if built on an outcome-driven architecture. Conclusions Data and web-based approaches in response to a public health crisis are key to evidence-driven oversight and management of public health emergencies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 163 (6) ◽  
pp. 1153-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Christopherson ◽  
William C. Yao ◽  
Mingming Lu ◽  
R. Vijayakumar ◽  
Ahmad R. Sedaghat

Aerosol-generating procedures in the office represent a major concern for health care–associated infection of patients and health care providers by SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet provided any recommendations for the use of portable air purifiers, air purifiers with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters have been discussed as an adjunctive means for decontamination of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in health care settings. This commentary discusses HEPA filter mechanisms of action, decontamination time based on efficiency and flow rate, theoretical application to SARS-CoV-2, and limitations. HEPA filter functionality and prior guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for SARS-CoV-1 suggest theoretical efficacy for HEPA filters to decontaminate airborne SARS-CoV-2, although direct studies for SARS-CoV-2 have not been performed. Any portable HEPA purifier utilization for SARS-CoV-2 should be considered an adjunctive infection control measure and undertaken with knowledge of HEPA filter functionality and limitations in mind.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 4056-4057
Author(s):  
Mohsen Taghadosi ◽  
Neda Mirbagher Ajorpaz ◽  
Mohammad Aghajani

The Coronavirus disease of 2019 COVID-19) is the current health crisis in the world- a new, complex phenomenon that has affected and hospitalized many people around the world. Health care providers deal with COVID-19 patients daily and care for the patients while there is no definitive cure for it. Clinical decision-making is an important task of health professionals that plays an essential role in preserving the patient's life and providing quality care. Therefore, understanding clinical decision-making approaches by healthcare providers, such as nurses and physicians, especially in crises such as COVID-19, is essential.


Author(s):  
Alyshia Gálvez

In the two decades since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, Mexico has seen an epidemic of diet-related illness. While globalization has been associated with an increase in chronic disease around the world, in Mexico, the speed and scope of the rise has been called a public health emergency. The shift in Mexican foodways is happening at a moment when the country’s ancestral cuisine is now more popular and appreciated around the world than ever. What does it mean for their health and well-being when many Mexicans eat fewer tortillas and more instant noodles, while global elites demand tacos made with handmade corn tortillas? This book examines the transformation of the Mexican food system since NAFTA and how it has made it harder for people to eat as they once did. The book contextualizes NAFTA within Mexico’s approach to economic development since the Revolution, noticing the role envisioned for rural and low-income people in the path to modernization. Examination of anti-poverty and public health policies in Mexico reveal how it has become easier for people to consume processed foods and beverages, even when to do so can be harmful to health. The book critiques Mexico’s strategy for addressing the public health crisis generated by rising rates of chronic disease for blaming the dietary habits of those whose lives have been upended by the economic and political shifts of NAFTA.


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