scholarly journals Addressing Acute Stress among Professionals Caring for COVID-19 Patients: Lessons Learned during the First Outbreak in Spain (March–April 2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 12010
Author(s):  
José Joaquín Mira ◽  
Ángel Cobos-Vargas ◽  
Maria Pilar Astier-Peña ◽  
Pastora Pérez-Pérez ◽  
Irene Carrillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acute Stress ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
New Professionals ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Family ◽  
Adequate Communication

Objectives: To describe lessons learned during the first COVID-19 outbreak in developing urgent interventions to strengthen healthcare workers’ capacity to cope with acute stress caused by health care pressure, concern about becoming infected, despair of witnessing patients’ suffering, and critical decision-making requirements of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic during the first outbreak in Spain. Methods: A task force integrated by healthcare professionals and academics was activated following the first observations of acute stress reactions starting to compromise the professionals’ capacity for caring COVID-19 patients. Literature review and qualitative approach (consensus techniques) were applied. The target population included health professionals in primary care, hospitals, emergencies, and nursing homes. Interventions designed for addressing acute stress were agreed and disseminated. Findings: There are similarities in stressors to previous outbreaks, and the solutions devised then may work now. A set of issues, interventions to cope with, and their levels of evidence were defined. Issues and interventions were classified as: adequate communication initiative to strengthen work morale (avoiding information blackouts, uniformity of criteria, access to updated information, mentoring new professionals); resilience and recovery from physical and mental fatigue (briefings, protecting the family, regulated recovery time during the day, psychological first aid, humanizing care); reinforce leadership of intermediate commands (informative leadership, transparency, realism, and positive messages, the current state of emergency has not allowed for an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of proposed interventions. Sharing information to gauge expectations, listening to what professionals need, feeling protected from threats, organizational flexibility, encouraging teamwork, and leadership that promotes psychological safety have led to more positive responses. Attention to the needs of individuals must be combined with caring for the teams responsible for patient care. Conclusions: Although the COVID-19 pandemic has a more devastating effect than other recent outbreaks, there are common stressors and lessons learned in all of them that we must draw on to increase our capacity to respond to future healthcare crises.

scholarly journals (A22) Promoting Emergency Preparedness of Local Municipalities for Disasters – Lessons Learned

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s8-s8
Author(s):  
R. Ringel ◽  
D. Laor ◽  
A. Ohana ◽  
B. Adini
Keyword(s):  
Training Program ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Chemical Warfare ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Local Municipalities ◽  
Emergency Scenarios

BackgroundInvolvement of local municipalities in promoting emergency preparedness has been recognized as a key factor to build a resilient community. As part of the efforts to build and maintain knowledge and capabilities, the Israeli Ministry of Health initiated a series of conferences aimed at capacity building of city councils to provide services to the population following disasters.Methods6 conferences have been planned for the years 2010-2011 in which 250 senior administrative employees from all municipalities, responsible for the health status in their communities are expected to participate. Each conference covers a variety of emergency scenarios, including biological events, regional hostilities and management of massive Acute Stress Reactions among the civilian population. Pre-post tests based on Multiple Choice Questions are conducted before and following each conference to identify impact of the training program.ResultsFindings from the pre-post tests conducted up to date showed a significant increase in all elements included in the training program. The average knowledge scores of the pre-post tests were 33% and 79% respectively. The highest increases in level of knowledge were found in regard to deployment of community centers for light casualties in chemical warfare scenarios (48% and 100% respectively) and concerning population that requires evacuation during emergencies (68% to 100% respectively). Overall levels of knowledge regarding community treatment centers in biological events were relatively low both before and after the training (16% and 44% respectively).DiscussionTraining local municipalities' personnel is crucial in order to promote emergency preparedness. Raising knowledge regarding response to newly emerging threats (such as deployment of exposure centers in biological events) was found to be more complex in comparison to well-recognized hazards (such as deployment of community treatment centers in chemical warfare). There is a need to conduct follow-up studies to determine the retention of knowledge over time.

Cancer screening. Current state of the problem

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-12
Author(s):  
Marina Kochiyeva
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Colon Cancer ◽  
Cancer Screening ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Screening Programs ◽  
Current State ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Based Medicine

Data on modern methodological approaches that are used in screening for cancer are summarized. General principles of organizing screening studies are examined from the perspective of evidence-based medicine, target population, research methods, and effectiveness of the implemented screening programs for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer are determined.

scholarly journals Diunsa: An Entrepreneurial Family’s Digital Response to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 251512742110331
Author(s):  
Lauri Union ◽  
Carmen Suen ◽  
Rubén Mancha
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Service Operations ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Supply Chain Disruptions ◽  
Online Retail ◽  
External Resources ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Family ◽  
Brick And Mortar

On March 15, 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Honduran government unexpectedly announced a state of emergency and mandated immediate closure of all businesses. Diunsa closed its six stores. The family-owned retailer had anticipated supply chain disruptions, stocked from alternative suppliers, and formed a crisis management team. Now, to keep the business afloat during the unexpected closure and retain all its employees on the payroll, the company had to move sales from the brick-and-mortar stores to an incomplete online retail site. The third generation in the family business—the Faraj siblings, all in their 20’s—led the critical transition online and response to setbacks. As digital-native millennials, they helped improve the website, customer service, operations, and delivery in a short amount of time and using external resources and various technologies. As the situation stabilized, Diunsa’s leadership asked: How will Diunsa build on the momentum for digital transformation and turn its tactical actions into a digital strategy? How can we continue to tap into the leadership of our up-and-coming generation to achieve these goals?

scholarly journals Palliative care in paediatric oncology: perceptions, expertise and practices from the perspective of the multidisciplinary team

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Ferreira da Silva ◽  
Helena Becker Issi ◽  
Maria da Graça Corso da Motta ◽  
Daisy Zanchi de Abreu Botene
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Multidisciplinary Team ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Paediatric Oncology ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
The Family ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Oncology Unit

OBJECTIVE: To reveal the perceptions, expertise and practices of multi-professional teams providing palliative care to children in a paediatric oncology unit. The research questions were based on everyday care, facilitations and difficulties, essential aspects of professional approaches, and the inter-disciplinary focus of care for children in palliative care and their families. METHOD: Qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research. Data were collected from June to October 2013 from nine professional multidisciplinary team members by means of a semi-structured interview submitted to thematic analysis. RESULTS: The following four themes emerged from analysis: palliative care: conceptions of the multi-professional team; the construction of singular care; the facilitations and difficulties experienced by the team and significant lessons learned. CONCLUSIONS: The subjects revealed that the team also suffers with the death of a child and, like the family, moves toward the construction of coping mechanisms for the elaboration of mourning. Paradoxically, the team shares knowledge to determine the foundations of a singular therapeutic project and inserts the family in this process so that it can be the protagonist of the child's care.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document