Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Nov 2020
Symptoms Associated With Personal Protective Equipment Among Frontline Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) use is frequently construed as inconvenient and disturbing by health care professionals (HCPs). We hypothesized that new-onset symptoms among HCPs may be associated with extended use of PPE and aimed to investigate risk factors related with new-onset symptoms. In addition, the effects of new-onset symptoms on working performance were evaluated. ⋯ Hospitals should take the necessary precautions (eg, shorter shifts and more frequent breaks) to prevent symptoms associated with PPE and ensure that HCPs comply with these precautions.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Nov 2020
Beirut Ammonium Nitrate Explosion: A Man-Made Disaster in Times of COVID19 Pandemic.
The largest non-nuclear blast in modern history took place on August 4, 2020, at 6:07 PM in Beirut, Lebanon, after an estimated 2750 tons of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate exploded. The physical and social impacts of this catastrophic event coinciding with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic were massive. This article describes the national and international emergency responses to this event and highlights the impact of the explosion on the health care sector in Lebanon. Challenges noted during this response with recommendations for improving response to future disasters are also described.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Nov 2020
A Swift and Dynamic Strategy to Expand Emergency Department Capacity for COVID-19.
Emergency departments (EDs) worldwide struggled to prepare for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient surge and to simultaneously preserve sufficient capacity for "regular" emergency care. While many hospitals used costly shelter facilities, it was decided to merge the acute medical unit (AMU) and the ED. ⋯ This report details on the technical execution and discusses the pearls and potential pitfalls of this expansion strategy. Although ED preparedness for pandemics may be determined by local factors, such as hospital size, ED census, and primary health-care efficacy, the conjoined AMU-ED strategy may be a potential model for other EDs.