scholarly journals Impact of COVID-19 on a Tertiary Otolaryngology Practice in Singapore

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 897-901
Author(s):  
Jian Li Tan ◽  
Ming Yann Lim ◽  
Si Ying Chrisanda Lee ◽  
Seng Beng Yeo

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact in healthcare systems across the world, with many hospitals having to come up with protocols and measures to contain the spread of the virus. This affects various specialties’ clinical practices in many ways. Since early 2020 in Singapore, the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital had to rapidly adapt to this pandemic as we provided services to the main healthcare facility combating the virus in our country. We had to design new workflows and also remain flexible in view of the ever-changing situation. There are 6 important domains for an otolaryngology department or any clinical department in general to consider when making adjustments to their practices in an outbreak: (1) clinical work, (2) education, (3) research, (4) safety of patients and staff, (5) morale of medical staff and (6) pandemic frontline work. We hope that the sharing of our experiences and the lessons learnt will be useful for both our local and international colleagues. Keywords: ENT, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2

Author(s):  
D Kapoor ◽  
A S Ramavat ◽  
M Mehndiratta ◽  
A Agrawal ◽  
V Arora ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The arrival of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic disrupted life suddenly and forcefully, and healthcare systems around the world are still struggling to come to terms with it. This paper reviews the impact of the pandemic on ENT practice and training. Methods The present manuscript was developed as a narrative review to examine the role of otorhinolaryngologists in the management of the pandemic, and assess its impact on practice and training in the specialty. Results Otorhinolaryngologists handle secretions of organs implicated in disease transmission, leaving them particularly vulnerable even while performing simple procedures. Although the pandemic increased skill expectations, it simultaneously reduced learning opportunities for trainees. In addition, attention to emergencies has been delayed. Further, the suspension of elective procedures has affected patients with malignancies. Conclusion While planning service resumption, provisions need to be made for protective equipment and training; improving teleconsultation services will help provide sustainable care during further waves.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Amjad Mohamed-Saleem

With nearly three million Sri Lankans living overseas, across the world, there is a significant role that can be played by this constituency in post-conflict reconciliation.  This paper will highlight the lessons learnt from a process facilitated by International Alert (IA) and led by the author, working to engage proactively with the diaspora on post-conflict reconciliation in Sri Lanka.  The paper shows that for any sustainable impact, it is also critical that opportunities are provided to diaspora members representing the different communities of the country to interact and develop horizontal relations, whilst also ensuring positive vertical relations with the state. The foundation of such effective engagement strategies is trust-building. Instilling trust and gaining confidence involves the integration of the diaspora into the national framework for development and reconciliation. This will allow them to share their human, social and cultural capital, as well as to foster economic growth by bridging their countries of residence and origin.


Author(s):  
David Cook ◽  
Nu'aym b. Hammad al-Marwazi

“The Book of Tribulations by Nu`aym b. Hammad al-Marwazi (d. 844) is the earliest Muslim apocalyptic work to come down to us. Its contents focus upon the cataclysmic events to happen before the end of the world, the wars against the Byzantines, and the Turks, and the Muslim civil wars. There is extensive material about the Mahdi (messianic figure), the Muslim Antichrist and the return of Jesus, as well as descriptions of Gog and Magog. Much of the material in Nu`aym today is utilized by Salafi-jihadi groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.


Author(s):  
Anna Shapoval

Analysis of linguocultural aspect of temporal nominations is impossible without involving the problems of hrononymic lexics. Chrononyms is an important information resource of a certain linguaculture, some distinctive peculiarities of conceptual picture of the world. The aim of the experimental analysis is a complex examination of the linguacultural aspect of temporal nominations that function in Chinese and Turkish languages reflecting the concepts of the world. The research was based on the material of the novels “Imperial woman” by Pearl Buck and “Roxolana” by Pavlo Zagrebelniy. The analysis of recent scientific publications allowed us to come to the conclusion that the investigation of hrononymic lexics can involve different theoretical and practical principles. Being guided by the existing classifications of chrononyms (N. Podolskaya, M. Torchinsky, S. Remmer) the linguocultural features of the following types of temporal chrononymic lexical units were identified and studied in the research: georthonyms, dynastic chrononyms, tumultonyms, parsonyms and mensonyms. The results of the research demonstrate that not all lexical units of temporal denotation chosen from the above mentioned novels refer to the class of chrononyms. The group under investigation includes the following lexemes: nominations of the lunar calendar, nominations of the solar calendar, nominations of mixed calendar and temporal slots denoting day and night. The basic system of chronology in the linguiacultures under analysis is the dominance of the lunar calendar nominations (Chinese picture of the world — 51,0 %, Turkish — 40,4 %). In the analyzed works the nominations of the solar calendar are used less often in the Chinese picture of the world; the usage of this unit reaches 20 %, and this phenomenon is historically conditioned. Mixed calendar nominations (21 % of temporal units) are rather common, solar calendar nominations are refined by the monthly calendar; it can be explained by the fact that the Chinese mind is conservative towards the new temporal system. In the Turkish picture of the world 45 % of temporal vocabulary belongs to the solar calendar since in the sixteenth century only a lunar calendar operated in the Ottoman Empire. It should be mentioned that significant place in the temporal vocabulary of “Roxolana” is conditioned by the influence of the linguistic personality of the author, who was a Ukrainian.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (CSI) ◽  
pp. 38-41
Author(s):  
Rafid Jabbar

During ENT practice, we have to examine the nose and perform several nasal procedures in our clinics. Otolaryngologists are at a high risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Nasal endoscopy is a major procedure for the diagnosis of the nasal and paranasal sinus diseases and introducing proper health services for our patients. In addition, the world is living the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, for which we have to protect ourselves, educate our medical staff, and work together against the spread of this severely contagious disease within our communities. The main purpose of this study is to review the protocol of nasal endoscopy in the ENT clinic and enhance the safest way to deal with patients during this pandemic.(1)


Immuno ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-66
Author(s):  
Niraj Kumar Jha ◽  
Madhan Jeyaraman ◽  
Mahesh Rachamalla ◽  
Shreesh Ojha ◽  
Kamal Dua ◽  
...  

An outbreak of “Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology” occurred in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019. Later, the agent factor was identified and coined as SARS-CoV-2, and the disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In a shorter period, this newly emergent infection brought the world to a standstill. On 11 March 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. Researchers across the globe have joined their hands to investigate SARS-CoV-2 in terms of pathogenicity, transmissibility, and deduce therapeutics to subjugate this infection. The researchers and scholars practicing different arts of medicine are on an extensive quest to come up with safer ways to curb the pathological implications of this viral infection. A huge number of clinical trials are underway from the branch of allopathy and naturopathy. Besides, a paradigm shift on cellular therapy and nano-medicine protocols has to be optimized for better clinical and functional outcomes of COVID-19-affected individuals. This article unveils a comprehensive review of the pathogenesis mode of spread, and various treatment modalities to combat COVID-19 disease.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rikeen D. Jobanputra ◽  
Jack Hayes ◽  
Sravani Royyuru ◽  
Marc A. Masen

AbstractThe use of close-fitting PPE is essential to prevent exposure to dispersed airborne matter, including the COVID-19 virus. The current pandemic has increased pressure on healthcare systems around the world, leading to medical professionals using high-grade PPE for prolonged durations, resulting in device-induced skin injuries. This study focuses on computationally improving the interaction between skin and PPE to reduce the likelihood of discomfort and tissue damage. A finite element model is developed to simulate the movement of PPE against the face during day-to-day tasks. Due to limited available data on skin characteristics and how these vary interpersonally between sexes, races and ages, the main objective of this study was to establish the effects and trends that mask modifications have on the resulting subsurface strain energy density distribution in the skin. These modifications include the material, geometric and interfacial properties. Overall, the results show that skin injury can be reduced by using softer mask materials, whilst friction against the skin should be minimised, e.g. through use of micro-textures, humidity control and topical creams. Furthermore, the contact area between the mask and skin should be maximised, whilst the use of soft materials with incompressible behaviour (e.g. many elastomers) should be avoided.


Author(s):  
James V. Lucey

In December 2019, clinicians and academics from the disciplines of public health and psychiatry met in Dublin at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), to restate their shared commitment to population health. The purpose of this review is to bring our discussion to a wider audience. The meeting could not have been more timely. Six weeks later, the COVID-19 emergency emerged in China and within 12 months it had swept the world. This paper, the contents of which were presented at that meeting in December recommended that future healthcare would be guided more by public health perspectives and informed by an understanding of health economics, population health and the lessons learned by psychiatry in the 20th century. Ultimately two issues are at stake in 21st century healthcare: the sustainability of our healthcare systems and the maintenance of public support for population health. We must plan for the next generation of healthcare. We need to do this now since it is clear that COVID-19 marks the beginning of 21st century medicine.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Rachel Wagner

Here I build upon Robert Orsi’s work by arguing that we can see presence—and the longing for it—at work beyond the obvious spaces of religious practice. Presence, I propose, is alive and well in mediated apocalypticism, in the intense imagination of the future that preoccupies those who consume its narratives in film, games, and role plays. Presence is a way of bringing worlds beyond into tangible form, of touching them and letting them touch you. It is, in this sense, that Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion with a “new visibility” that is much more than “simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is now manifesting itself once more.” I propose that the “new awareness of religion” they posit includes the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms. Whereas religious institutions today may be suspicious of presence, it lives on in the thick of media fandoms and their material manifestations, especially those forms that make ultimate promises about the world to come.


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Ahmed Al-Wathinani ◽  
Attila J. Hertelendy ◽  
Sultana Alhurishi ◽  
Abdulmajeed Mobrad ◽  
Riyadh Alhazmi ◽  
...  

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a direct and indirect effect on the different healthcare systems around the world. In this study, we aim to describe the impact on the utilization of emergency medical services (EMS) in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied cumulative data from emergency calls collected from the SRCA. Data were separated into three periods: before COVID-19 (1 January–29 February 2020), during COVID-19 (1 March–23 April 2020), and during the Holy Month of Ramadan (24 April–23 May 2020). A marked increase of cases was handled during the COVID-19 period compared to the number before pandemic. Increases in all types of cases, except for those related to trauma, occurred during COVID-19, with all regions experiencing increased call volumes during COVID-19 compared with before pandemic. Demand for EMS significantly increased throughout Saudi Arabia during the pandemic period. Use of the mobile application ASAFNY to request an ambulance almost doubled during the pandemic but remained a small fraction of total calls. Altered weekly call patterns and increased call volume during the pandemic indicated not only a need for increased staff but an alteration in staffing patterns.


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