Peter Aitken, Peter Leggat, Hazel Harley, Richard Speare, Muriel Leclercq
{"title":"Logistic support provided to Australian disaster medical assistance teams: results of a national survey of team members.","authors":"Peter Aitken, Peter Leggat, Hazel Harley, Richard Speare, Muriel Leclercq","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.9750","DOIUrl":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.9750","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>It is likely that calls for disaster medical assistance teams (DMATs) continue in response to international disasters. As part of a national survey, the present study was designed to evaluate the Australian DMAT experience and the need for logistic support.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data were collected via an anonymous mailed survey distributed via State and Territory representatives on the Australian Health Protection Committee, who identified team members associated with Australian DMAT deployments from the 2004 Asian Tsunami disaster.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The response rate for this survey was 50% (59/118). Most of the personnel had deployed to the South East Asian Tsunami affected areas. The DMAT members had significant clinical and international experience. There was unanimous support for dedicated logistic support with 80% (47/59) strongly agreeing. Only one respondent (2%) disagreed with teams being self sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours. Most felt that transport around the site was not a problem (59%; 35/59), however, 34% (20/59) felt that transport to the site itself was problematic. Only 37% (22/59) felt that pre-deployment information was accurate. Communication with local health providers and other agencies was felt to be adequate by 53% (31/59) and 47% (28/59) respectively, while only 28% (17/59) felt that documentation methods were easy to use and reliable. Less than half (47%; 28/59) felt that equipment could be moved easily between areas by team members and 37% (22/59) that packaging enabled materials to be found easily. The maximum safe container weight was felt to be between 20 and 40 kg by 58% (34/59).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study emphasises the importance of dedicated logistic support for DMAT and the need for teams to be self sufficient for a minimum period of 72 hours. There is a need for accurate pre deployment information to guide resource prioritisation with clearly labelled pre packaging to assist access on site. Container weights should be restricted to between 20 and 40 kg, which would assist transport around the site, while transport to the site was seen as problematic. There was also support for training of all team members in use of basic equipment such as communications equipment, tents and shelters and water purification systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/92/76/EHTJ-5-9750.PMC3280040.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30540408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abul Hasnat Milton, Samar Kumar Hore, Mohammad Zahid Hossain, Mahfuzar Rahman
{"title":"Bangladesh arsenic mitigation programs: lessons from the past.","authors":"Abul Hasnat Milton, Samar Kumar Hore, Mohammad Zahid Hossain, Mahfuzar Rahman","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7269","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ensuring access to safe drinking water by 2015 is a global commitment by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In Bangladesh, significant achievements in providing safe water were made earlier by nationwide tubewell-installation programme. This achievement was overshadowed in 1993 by the presence of arsenic in underground water. A total of 6 million tubewells have been tested for arsenic since then, the results of which warranted immediate mitigation. Mitigation measures included tubewell testing and replacing; usage of deeper wells; surface water preservation and treatment; use of sanitary dug wells, river sand and pond sand filters; rainwater collection and storage; household-scale and large-scale arsenic filtrations; and rural pipeline water supply installation. Shallow tubewell installation was discouraged. Efforts have been made to increase people's awareness. This paper describes the lessons learned about mitigation efforts by the authors from experience of arsenic-related work. In spite of national mitigation plans and efforts, a few challenges still persist: inadequate coordination between stakeholders, differences in inter-sectoral attitudes, inadequate research to identify region-specific, suitable safe water options, poor quality of works by various implementing agencies, and inadequate dissemination of the knowledge and experiences to the people by those organizations. Issues such as long-time adaptation using ground water, poor surface water quality including bad smell and turbidity, and refusal to using neighbor's water have delayed mitigation measures so far. Region-specific mitigation water supply policy led by the health sector could be adopted with multisectoral involvement and responsibility. Large-scale piped water supply could be arranged through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in new national approach.</p>","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7269","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30593019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimism of health care workers during a disaster: a review of the literature.","authors":"Noga Boldor, Yosefa Bar-Dayan, Tova Rosenbloom, Joshua Shemer, Yaron Bar-Dayan","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7270","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optimism has several orientations. One such outlook is a general tendency to regard the world as a positive place, accepting difficulties as mere challenges instead of impassable barriers. Among health care workers, optimism improves their level of functioning, their patients' satisfaction, and their therapeutic results. Optimistic staff members report feeling less pressure, use fewer avoidance strategies, focus on practical problem solutions, seek social support, and have more trust in people and organizations. The aim of this article is to provide a review of the literature concerning the role of optimism, both in daily life and in crisis situations. An attempt was made to find the linkage between optimism among health care workers during disasters and their active response, with special emphasis on the relationship between optimism and knowledge, feelings or behavior. Based on the literature, optimism was found to be helpful both in daily medical work and in cases of medical emergencies. Optimism was also revealed one of the key components of resilience and self-efficacy. Therefore, it is recommended to consider strengthening the optimism through initiative programs. Obtaining optimism can be included in toolkit preparedness for health care workers in order to confront the complications in the aftermath of disaster. These programs, together with appropriate information, social support, professional trust, and leaders modeling behavior, will raise the well-being and enhance coping skills of the health care workers during and aftermath of disaster scenarios.</p>","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7270","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30540406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hoe C Lee, Derserri Yanting Chee, Helena Selander, Torbjorn Falkmer
{"title":"Is it reliable to assess visual attention of drivers affected by Parkinson's disease from the backseat?-a simulator study.","authors":"Hoe C Lee, Derserri Yanting Chee, Helena Selander, Torbjorn Falkmer","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.15343","DOIUrl":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.15343","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Current methods of determining licence retainment or cancellation is through on-road driving tests. Previous research has shown that occupational therapists frequently assess drivers' visual attention while sitting in the back seat on the opposite side of the driver. Since the eyes of the driver are not always visible, assessment by eye contact becomes problematic. Such procedural drawbacks may challenge validity and reliability of the visual attention assessments. In terms of correctly classified attention, the aim of the study was to establish the accuracy and the inter-rater reliability of driving assessments of visual attention from the back seat. Furthermore, by establishing eye contact between the assessor and the driver through an additional mirror on the wind screen, the present study aimed to establish how much such an intervention would enhance the accuracy of the visual attention assessment.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Two drivers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and six control drivers drove a fixed route in a driving simulator while wearing a head mounted eye tracker. The eye tracker data showed where the foveal visual attention actually was directed. These data were time stamped and compared with the simultaneous manual scoring of the visual attention of the drivers. In four of the drivers, one with Parkinson's disease, a mirror on the windscreen was set up to arrange for eye contact between the driver and the assessor. Inter-rater reliability was performed with one of the Parkinson drivers driving, but without the mirror.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Without mirror, the overall accuracy was 56% when assessing the three control drivers and with mirror 83%. However, for the PD driver without mirror the accuracy was 94%, whereas for the PD driver with a mirror the accuracy was 90%. With respect to the inter-rater reliability, a 73% agreement was found.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>If the final outcome of a driving assessment is dependent on the subcategory of a protocol assessing visual attention, we suggest the use of an additional mirror to establish eye contact between the assessor and the driver. The clinicians' observations on-road should not be a standalone assessment in driving assessments. Instead, eye trackers should be employed for further analyses and correlation in cases where there is doubt about a driver's attention.</p>","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/bd/f6/EHTJ-5-15343.PMC3290114.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30540409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of health professionals in relation to A/H1N1 influenza and its vaccine.","authors":"Amanda López-Picado, Antxon Apiñaniz, Amaia Latorre Ramos, Erika Miranda-Serrano, Raquel Cobos, Naiara Parraza-Díez, Patricia Amezua, Mónica Martinez-Cengotitabengoa, Felipe Aizpuru","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7266","DOIUrl":"10.3402/ehtj.v5i0.7266","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To determine the intention of health professionals, doctors and nurses, concerning whether or not to be vaccinated against A/H1N1 influenza virus, and their perception of the severity of this pandemic compared with seasonal flu.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was carried out based on an questionnaire e-mailed to health professionals in public healthcare centres in Vitoria between 6 and 16 November 2009; the percentage of respondents who wanted to be vaccinated and who perceived the pandemic flu to carry a high risk of death were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 115 people completed the questionnaire of whom 61.7% (n=71) were doctors and 38.3% (n=44) were nurses. Of these, 33.3% (n=23) of doctors and 13.6% (n=6) of nurses intended to be vaccinated (p=0.019). Even among those who considered themselves to be at a high risk, 70.6% (n=48) of doctors and 31.7% (n=13) of nurses participating in the study (p=0.001) planned to have the vaccination.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Most health professionals, and in particular nurses, had no intention to be vaccinated against A/H1N1 influenza virus at the beginning of the vaccination campaign.</p>","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/d0/9d/EHTJ-5-7266.PMC3257874.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30541573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"International society for disease surveillance conference 2011: building the future of public health surveillance.","authors":"Daniel B Neill, Karl A Soetebier","doi":"10.3402/ehtj.v4i0.11702","DOIUrl":"10.3402/ehtj.v4i0.11702","url":null,"abstract":"The International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS) celebrates its 10th annual meeting with the arrival of the 2011 ISDS Annual Conference, ‘Building the Future of Public Health Surveillance’. This milestone in the Society's history is punctuated not only by the achievements of the disease surveillance community but also by the promise of what lies ahead. The Annual Conference brings together a community of researchers and practitioners focused on monitoring, understanding and improving population health. The abstracts appearing in this special supplement, accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference, include innovative analytical techniques, progressive public health practice and cutting edge informatics that support a timely, accurate and informed response to emerging outbreaks of disease and other health threats. The breadth of topics addressed ranges from detection of novel symptom patterns indicative of newly emerging outbreaks to development of a web platform for the text mining of clinical reports and from surveillance of the illegal wildlife trade for detecting emerging zoonoses to assessing the validity of emergency department-based influenza-like illness syndromes against confirmed laboratory results in children. In addition to the 160 contributed oral and poster presentations, the conference also features a keynote talk from Dr. Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and plenary sessions on international surveillance, novel technologies and postdisaster surveillance, as well as a variety of informal round table discussions, workshops and committee meetings. The diversity of thinking represented here is great and yet the fibers of these works come together in a yarn that, woven throughout the fabric of public health surveillance, informs the best of what is and what in the future can be.","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3402/ehtj.v4i0.11702","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40258399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Schwendinger, Eric Lahr, Jonathan Lynch, Molly McCollom, A. Evanson
{"title":"Use of CDC's epidemic information exchange system as a disease surveillance tool","authors":"J. Schwendinger, Eric Lahr, Jonathan Lynch, Molly McCollom, A. Evanson","doi":"10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11108","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74752249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
O. Adeoye, A. Aman-Oloniyo, Clement Nwaeke, Angela Mbata, A. Oduneye
{"title":"Impact of training on Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers in Nigeria","authors":"O. Adeoye, A. Aman-Oloniyo, Clement Nwaeke, Angela Mbata, A. Oduneye","doi":"10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11186","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74773005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. López-Pineda, C. Floudas, F. S. Obando, Gerald Douglas, Nara Um
{"title":"Monitoring Twitter content related to influenza-like Illness in Spanish-speaking populations","authors":"A. López-Pineda, C. Floudas, F. S. Obando, Gerald Douglas, Nara Um","doi":"10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11185","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78810514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luc de Montigny, Aman Verma, K. Charland, D. Buckeridge
{"title":"Predictors of vaccination uptake for the 2009 influenza pandemic (H1N1) in Montréal","authors":"Luc de Montigny, Aman Verma, K. Charland, D. Buckeridge","doi":"10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/EHTJ.V4I0.11070","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72898,"journal":{"name":"Emerging health threats journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78564531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}