Plos One
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A profession in danger: Stakeholders' perspectives on supporting the pharmacy profession in Lebanon.
Lebanon boosts one of the highest pharmacists to population ratios globally (20.3/10,000). Yet, workforce analysis elicited serious concerns with the distribution, practice environments and regulation of Lebanese pharmacists. Recent workforce data shows that the profession has been majorly destabilized with hundreds of pharmacists closing their pharmacies or losing their employment. Proper planning for the future of the pharmacy profession in Lebanon necessitates a deeper understanding of the current challenges and the necessary policy and practice recommendations. The aim of this study is to examine stakeholders' perspectives on the current pharmacist workforce challenges and the necessary measures to support the profession. ⋯ The poor pharmacy workforce planning and regulation is significantly weakening the pharmacy profession in Lebanon. A concerted effort between the various stakeholders is necessary to enhance workforce planning, regulate supply, optimize the integration of pharmacists into work sectors of need, and improve the financial and professional wellbeing of pharmacists in Lebanon.
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Effective communication of accurate information through social media constitutes an important component of public health interventions in modern time, when traditional public health approaches such as contact tracing, quarantine and isolation are among the few options for the containing the disease spread in the population. The success of control of COVID-19 outbreak started from Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province of China relies heavily on the resilience of residents to follow public health interventions which induce substantial interruption of social-economic activities, and evidence shows that opinion leaders have been playing significant roles in the propagation of epidemic information and public health policy and implementations. ⋯ The parameterized model can be used to nearcast the information propagation trend, and the model-based sensitivity analysis can help to explore important factors for the roles of opinion leaders.
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The rapid spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) around the world has caused a global pandemic, infecting millions of individuals, with an unprecedented impact in health care systems worldwide. Healthcare workers are one of the risk groups that need to be well protected, due to their strategic role in patient management, presently and in prevention of healthcare needs for future outbreaks. Here, we present the results of the first SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study in the Northern Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, Spain. ⋯ Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG in the healthcare workers of the North Metropolitan Area of Barcelona was higher than in the general population in the same geographical area. Safety measures have to be stressed in order to protect these essential workers from future pandemic waves.
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Novel Corona virus/Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV), and the subsequent disease caused by the virus (coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19), is an emerging global health concern that requires a rapid diagnostic test. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is currently the standard for SARS-CoV-2 detection; however, Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) may allow for faster and cheaper field based testing at point-of-risk. The objective of this study was to develop a rapid screening diagnostic test that could be completed in 30-45 minutes. ⋯ RT-LAMP specifically detected SARS-CoV-2 in both simulated patient samples and clinical specimens. This test was performed in 30-45 minutes. This approach could be used for monitoring of exposed individuals or potentially aid with screening efforts in the field and potential ports of entry.
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Neighborhoods have a profound impact on individual health. There is growing interest in the role of dynamic changes to neighborhoods-including gentrification-on the health of residents. However, research on the association between gentrification and health is limited, partly due to the numerous definitions used to define gentrification. ⋯ The results of this review also suggest that the impact of gentrification on health is not uniform across populations. For example, marginalized populations, such as Black residents and the elderly, were impacted more than White and younger residents. In addition, we identified multiples gaps in the research, including the need for a conceptual model, future mechanistic studies, and interventions.