Israel journal of health policy research
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Isr J Health Policy Res · Jul 2021
Emergency department impaired adherence to personal protective equipment donning and doffing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious viral pandemic that has claimed the lives of millions. Personal protective equipment (PPE) may reduce the risk of transmission for health care workers (HCWs), especially in the emergency setting. This study aimed to compare the adherence to PPE donning and doffing protocols in the Emergency Department (ED) vs designated COVID-19 wards and score adherence according to the steps in our protocol. ⋯ As hypothesized, HCWs assigned to the designated ED wing made more protocol deviations compared with HCWs positive COVID-19 wards. Time management, acuity, lack of personnel, stress and known COVID-19 status may explain the lesser adherence to donning and doffing protocols. Further studies to assess the correlation between protocol deviations in use of PPE and morbidity as well as improvement implementations are required. Resources should be invested to ensure PPE is properly used.
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Isr J Health Policy Res · Jun 2021
Did the events following the COVID-19 outbreak influence the incidents of violence against hospital staff?
During the COVID-19 outbreak, (March 1 - June 15, 2020) citizens expressed sympathy and gratitude towards medical staff through the media, while the entire hospital staff faced the same danger of infection as other citizens. This might have made hospital staff develop sympathy, understanding for the patients` and family's needs, and a better communication. ⋯ Except for violence coming from patients with psychiatric or social disorders, most other violence cases might be reduced if the environment conditions and attitudes of both citizens and staff are improved.
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Isr J Health Policy Res · May 2021
Ethnic and minority group differences in engagement with COVID-19 vaccination programmes - at Pandemic Pace; when vaccine confidence in mass rollout meets local vaccine hesitancy.
Israel, the UK, the USA, and some other wealthier countries lead in the implementation of COVID-19 vaccine mass vaccination programmes. Evidence from these countries indicates that their ethnic minorities could be as disproportionately disadvantaged in COVID-19 vaccines roll-out as they were affected by COVID-19-related serious illnesses. Their disadvantage is linked to their lower social status and fewer social goods compared with dominant population groups. ⋯ The local Directors of Public Health in the UK are based in each local government area and have a remit and opportunity to stimulate speedy action to increase vaccine uptake. During the rapid Pandemic Pace of the vaccines roll-out, extra efforts to minimise uptake variations are likely to achieve improvements in the next year or two. We expect variations will not disappear however, given that underlying inequalities persist in less inclusive social systems.
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Isr J Health Policy Res · Feb 2021
CommentEarly Covid-19 vaccination rollout: a commentary from England.
Early, rapid, nationally orchestrated vaccine rollout has been a feature in the response to the global coronavirus pandemic in Israel and the UK, two countries with long established, universal socialised health care systems. Although there are many differences between England and Israel, the factors influencing the early days of the rollout merit exploration and learning that could be of benefit to other countries as they grapple to plan their own Covid-19 vaccine programmes. This commentary considers aspects of the rollout in both countries, in response to the article by Rosen and colleagues that identified contributing and facilitating factors in Israel. Whilst vaccine procurement and authorisation has been on a UK basis, and many features of rollout have been similar throughout the UK, the details provided pertain to England.
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Isr J Health Policy Res · Feb 2021
Who should be vaccinated first? Comparing vaccine prioritization strategies in Israel and European countries using the Covid-19 Health System Response Monitor.
The rapid rollout of Israel's vaccination program has led to considerable international interest. In this brief commentary we consider how the criteria for vaccination priority groups differ between Israel and selected European countries. We argue that following the Israeli approach of using broad criteria for prioritization- i.e. having fewer groups and a lower age threshold- could have several beneficial effects, including more manageable logistics and fewer roll out delays, as well as potentially reducing pressure on hospitals. With an increasing supply of vaccines becoming available rapidly in much of Europe, countries could consider following the approach of Israel and adopting broader priority criteria going forward.