Plos One
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Attending physician productivity and efficiency can be affected when working simultaneously with Residents. To gain a better understanding of this effect, we aim to compare productivity, efficiency, and overall performance differences among Attendings working solo versus working with Residents in an Emergency Department (ED). ⋯ In comparison to the Attending working solo staffing model, increased productivity with decreased efficiency occurred among Attendings when working with Residents. The overall performance of Attendings when working with Residents varied inversely against their performance when working solo.
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Clinical Trial
Knowledge and practice of personal protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emergent infectious pathogen causing an acute respiratory disease called corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Virus transmission may occur by contact, droplet, airborne or via contaminated surfaces. In efforts to effectively control the COVID-19 outbreak, the world health organization (WHO) and the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) have advised the public to practice protective measures to reduce transmission of the virus and reduce incidence of infection. ⋯ Over two thirds of participants preferred hand washing to alcohol disinfection, and the frequency and performance of hand washing improved during the pandemic for more than half of respondents. Overall, the findings reflected high public knowledge of SARS-CoV2 transmission routes and adherence to personal protective measures. However, public awareness campaigns with an emphasis on the youth and individuals with low education and income are required to improve overall practice.
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Previously, we demonstrated a strong correlation between the amplitude of human speech and the emission rate of micron-scale expiratory aerosol particles, which are believed to play a role in respiratory disease transmission. To further those findings, here we systematically investigate the effect of different 'phones' (the basic sound units of speech) on the emission of particles from the human respiratory tract during speech. We measured the respiratory particle emission rates of 56 healthy human volunteers voicing specific phones, both in isolation and in the context of a standard spoken text. ⋯ Our measurements showed that particle emission rates were positively correlated with the vowel content of a phrase; conversely, particle emission decreased during phrases with a high fraction of voiceless fricatives. Our particle emission data is broadly consistent with prior measurements of the egressive airflow rate associated with the vocalization of various phones that differ in voicing and articulation. These results suggest that airborne transmission of respiratory pathogens via speech aerosol particles could be modulated by specific phonetic characteristics of the language spoken by a given human population, along with other, more frequently considered epidemiological variables.
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Comparative Study
Propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia is associated with better survival than desflurane anesthesia in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.
Previous researches have shown that anesthetic techniques may influence the patients' outcomes after cancer surgery. Here, we studied the relationship between the type of anesthetic techniques and patients' outcomes following elective robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. ⋯ Propofol anesthesia was associated with improved overall survival in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy compared with desflurane anesthesia. In addition, patients under propofol anesthesia had less postoperative biochemical recurrence.
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Mobility restrictions-trade and travel bans, border closures and, in extreme cases, area quarantines or cordons sanitaires-are among the most widely used measures to control infectious diseases. Restrictions of this kind were important in the response to epidemics of SARS (2003), H1N1 influenza (2009), Ebola (2014) and, currently in the containment of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, they do not always work as expected. ⋯ Mobility restrictions may not be an effective policy for controlling the spread of an infectious disease if it is assessed by the overall final epidemic size. Patterns of mobility established through the independent mobility and trade decisions of people in both communities may be sufficient to contain epidemics.