Understanding the Dynamics of Staff Reallocation to Clinical Practice During the First Wave of COVID-19 – a Qualitative Study

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, one responsive strategy to ensure hospital staff capacity was reallocation of staff between departments. Unpredicted factors may influence how the strategy is executed. Knowledge of potential moderating factors is essential to improve future staff contingency plans. To understand barriers and promoters of staff realloctation, this study explored the dynamics of reallocating staff from departments with low activity to clinical practice during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at a 530-bed university hospital in the Capital Region of Denmark. MethodsWe used a mixed-methods explanatory design with sequential data collection and analysis. This paper primarily describes the qualitative part of the study, which consisted of six interviews with staff reallocated to clinical practice as part of the staff contingency plan, and seven interviews with leaders of departments that contributed with staff for reallocation. Data was analyzed using inductive content analysis.ResultsThe results showed that the execution of a staff contingency plan during a pandemic is influenced by a complex set of structural, perceptional, social, individual, and psychological moderating factors. Although staff felt obligated and motivated to cover shifts, their actual behavior and experience was influenced by factors such as uncertainty about tasks, family obligations, other work-related tasks, the contingency plan set-up, how the contingency plan, roles, and sense of urgency were interpreted by staff and leaders, and how the leaders prioritized tasks and staff time. Introduction to the unit and tasks, the feeling of being needed, voluntary participation, transparency, collegial sparring, and familiarity with the workplace were factors that promoted a positive experience.ConclusionsThis study identified a variety of complex moderating factors, which should be considered when hospital contingency plans are developed. The study highlights the importance of understanding how reallocated staff and leaders experience and make interpretations and adjustments to a given plan, as this may have great significance for how the contingency plan is put into practice. Future staff contingency plans should take these factors into consideration to make better use of human resources in times of a crisis and to improve staff’s experience with reallocation.

Generation of infectious waste during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of a Brazilian hospital

Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) acquired pandemic status in March 2020. The new virus has caused serious implications in the healthcare services management, including several sectors, among them the generation of waste. Healthcare wastes (HCW) generation increased along pandemic representing a health problem due to potentially infected ones. From this perspective, the study sought to analyse the challenges and changes imposed by COVID-19 in the HCW management in a large public hospital from Brazil. For this purpose, data about the Contingency Plan prepared by the hospital and HCW generation from 2017 to 2020 were used, analysed by statistical methods. When dealing with the Contingency Plan, the Brazilian hospital adopted measures similar to other hospitals around the world as described by the literature, such as: adoption of new protocols, specific team assigned to manage actions and training of professionals and suspension of elective surgeries. Regarding the generation of HCW, there was a significant increase in the mass of biological waste with a high risk of infection. The waste of this group increased from March 2020, coinciding with the start of care for the patients infected by COVID-19. The contribution of this type of waste to total generation jumped from approximately 0.2% in previous years to almost 5% in 2020. In addition, a reduction in the average of total waste generated in kilogrammes per bed per day from 2017 to 2019 was indicated compared to the 2020. COVID-19 pandemic led to major challenges for hospitals that had to care for patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including new protocols, changing the work shifts and training the teams in the new procedures. The biological waste with a high risk of infectiousness also increased 30 times.

Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic for Higher Education Institutions' Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Mechanism (EPRRM) Contingency Plan: Relating Issues to Tanzania

The COVID-19 Pandemic began in China at the end of 2019 and spread rapidly to become a global pandemic by the first quarter of 2020. Many death incidences were reported in a short time before it was being familiar to many nations in terms of practices for containment. In response, many countries had to close down education institutions, lockdown cities, and countries, and emphasize practices of new lifestyles and behaviors thought to guarantee safety. Eventually, students were the most affected groups among the nations. Particularly, the impacts of the pandemic were realized in the teaching and learning processes as well as changes in the practices of administration and management of education services. The impacts were essentially felt by students themselves, professors, instructors, teachers, and educationists in managerial and administrative positions. The high intensities of the impacts escalated as there were no contingency plans to curb the sudden changes and lethality in the instant period of pandemic encounters. The pandemic situation signified the demand for an emergence preparedness, response, and recovery mechanism (EPRRM) contingency plan to be put in place for systems of education. The education EPRRM contingency plan would assist the education machinery in higher learning institutions (HLIs) and other levels of learning to keep in resilient and continuant teaching and learning processes in times of crises

An Assessment of and Proposed Updates to the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan of Trinidad and Tobago Based on the Readiness Evaluation Tool for Oil Spills

The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries assessed the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan of Trinidad and Tobago (NOSCP, 2013) for its effectiveness as a preparedness and response mechanism. Using the Readiness Evaluation Tool for Oil Spills (RETOS™), the NOSCP attained a score of 42% in the Level A Assessment. Gaps were identified in areas including National Legislation, Risk Management, Logistics, Training and Exercises, and Operational Response. Further, lessons learned from past spills were examined to highlight deficiencies in oil spill response (OSR) planning and readiness. Proposed updates to the NOSCP include: designation of appropriate Lead Agency depending on the nature of the spill scenario, mandating Oil Spill Risk Assessments, and the use of SIMA as a decision-making tool for oil spill response; development of comprehensive guidelines for Dispersant Use, Oiled Wildlife Response and Oil Spill Waste Management. The NOSCP is being re-designed to facilitate a national response management system that meets best management practice for oil spill contingency planning. This will enable the efficient and effective deployment of the appropriate resources (equipment, expertise and oversight) to mitigate impacts to human health and the environment, and minimize production down time and socio-economic costs.

Participatory Contingency Plan to Covid 19 Adaptation of Merapi Volcano Eruption - Indonesia

The contingency plan was carried out for the seven highest villages in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, as areas prone to eruption of Merapi Volcano. This contingency plan was prepared based on a scenario with a volcanic eruption index of 3, in the form of the collapse of a lava dome of 5 million cubic meters. The collapse of the lava dome formed a hot cloud that moved 6–9 km towards the Gendol River, Opak River, Kuning River, Boyong River and Krasak River. The number of exposed residents is 18,880. The emergency situation period is estimated to be 30 days, from the time the status is increased to Alert. This contingency plan was prepared in a participatory and collaborative manner, under the coordination of the Sleman Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (RDMA). This process includes: (1) Updating the village level contingency plan as materials for the district level. (2) Formation of a substance team from local government, universities and non-governmental organizations, and (3) Conducting a series of workshops for related organizations to compile documents and equate perceptions on the adaptation of contingency plans with the Covid 19 health protocol. The preparation of this document also involves the participation of children, in order to express their opinions and needs in implementing emergency management.

Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic for Higher Education Institutions' Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Mechanism (EPRRM) Contingency Plan: Relating Issues to Tanzania

The COVID-19 Pandemic began in China at the end of 2019 and spread rapidly to become a global pandemic by the first quarter of 2020. Many death incidences were reported in a short time before it was being familiar to many nations in terms of practices for containment. In response, many countries had to close down education institutions, lockdown cities, and countries, and emphasize practices of new lifestyles and behaviors thought to guarantee safety. Eventually, students were the most affected groups among the nations. Particularly, the impacts of the pandemic were realized in the teaching and learning processes as well as changes in the practices of administration and management of education services. The impacts were essentially felt by students themselves, professors, instructors, teachers, and educationists in managerial and administrative positions. The high intensities of the impacts escalated as there were no contingency plans to curb the sudden changes and lethality in the instant period of pandemic encounters. The pandemic situation signified the demand for an emergence preparedness, response, and recovery mechanism (EPRRM) contingency plan to be put in place for systems of education. The education EPRRM contingency plan would assist the education machinery in higher learning institutions (HLIs) and other levels of learning to keep in resilient and continuant teaching and learning processes in times of crises

Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic for Higher Education Institutions' Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Mechanism (EPRRM) Contingency Plan: Relating Issues to Tanzania

The COVID-19 Pandemic began in China at the end of 2019 and spread rapidly to become a global pandemic by the first quarter of 2020. Many death incidences were reported in a short time before it was being familiar to many nations in terms of practices for containment. In response, many countries had to close down education institutions, lockdown cities, and countries, and emphasize practices of new lifestyles and behaviors thought to guarantee safety. Eventually, students were the most affected groups among the nations. Particularly, the impacts of the pandemic were realized in the teaching and learning processes as well as changes in the practices of administration and management of education services. The impacts were essentially felt by students themselves, professors, instructors, teachers, and educationists in managerial and administrative positions. The high intensities of the impacts escalated as there were no contingency plans to curb the sudden changes and lethality in the instant period of pandemic encounters. The pandemic situation signified the demand for an emergence preparedness, response, and recovery mechanism (EPRRM) contingency plan to be put in place for systems of education. The education EPRRM contingency plan would assist the education machinery in higher learning institutions (HLIs) and other levels of learning to keep in resilient and continuant teaching and learning processes in times of crises

Scope of Cloud Computing in Business: A Compendious and Methodical Analysis of Trends in Publications and Patents

Cloud Computing was a disruptive technology that reshaped the entire global industry, decentralizing the operational exchange and use of data and information. More companies are transitioning to a cloud-based infrastructure and are shifting some basic as well as advanced functionalities to it due to its salient features such as security, availability, scalability and popularity. Nevertheless, there is uncertainty attached to its limitations considering the possible saturation of the ceiling of growth and subsequent maturity of the technology’s potential. Therefore, it is essential to grasp the scope of the technology to be ready for the prospective trends and changes, as well as to channel its full incremental potential. For this, an elucidated statistical analysis of the technology is conducted, including the assessment of the trends of publications and patents signifying the evolution of the technology, its projected time of maturity, and finally, a befitting evidential roadmap for its future. This original work aims to add value by analyzing the numerical information concerning the growth of the technology over the years since its inception, and subsequently construct a detailed plan to adapt business objectives to the possible tapering of the growth curve of Cloud and build a suggestive and tentative contingency plan for the stage of technological maturity. Our finding indicates that Cloud technology may reach its maturity sooner than expected and an investment today might give the companies a competitive edge early on in the era of technological advancements and uncertainty.

Integrating a prospect theory-based consensus-reaching process into large-scale quality function deployment and its application in the evaluation of contingency plan

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a quality management tool that aims to improve customer satisfaction by transforming customer requirements into technical characteristics. It is a crucial procedure to obtain the prioritization of technical characteristics for the products or services in QFD. Traditional QFDs are often implemented by a small number of QFD members. However, with the increasing complexity of product and service design, QFD requires the participation of more QFD members from dispersed departments or institutions. Additionally, the evaluation information given by QFD members may widely differ due to their different knowledge and background. Furthermore, the psychological behaviours of QFD members also greatly influence the final prioritization of technical characteristics. Hence, this paper proposes a novel QFD framework to prioritize technical characteristics using a consensus-reaching process and prospect theory when large numbers of QFD members are involved. In the large-scale QFD framework, prospect theory is generally utilized to depict the psychological behaviours of QFD members. Then, QFD members are divided into several clusters. Eventually, a consensus-reaching process is established to assist QFD members in reaching a consensus. To verify the practicability of the presented framework, this paper applies it to the evaluation of contingency plan to determine the critical measures.