Articles: pandemics.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Teledidactic Versus Hands-on Teaching of Abdominal, Thoracic, and Thyroid Ultrasound-The TELUS II Study.
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has initiated a change in medical education and the development of new teaching concepts has become inevitable to maintain adequate training. ⋯ A teledidactic course for abdominal and thoracic ultrasound examinations is equally effective to traditional face-to-face teaching in this pilot study. Digital implementation with a portable ultrasound machine could be a great opportunity to promote ultrasound education worldwide and over great distances.
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Self-rated health is a subjective yet valuable indicator of overall health status, influenced by various factors including physical, psychological, and socio-economic elements. Self-rated health could be telling and used by primary care physicians to evaluate overall present and predictive health. ⋯ The study underscores the significance of healthy lifestyle choices and social support in maintaining favorable self-rated health, particularly during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary care physicians should focus on promoting these factors, integrating these actions in their routine consultations, and advising patients to undertake in socially engaging activities to improve overall health perceptions and outcomes.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Aug 2024
Comparative StudyExternal quality assessments for SARS-CoV-2 genome detection in Austria : A comparison of the first postpandemic round with results from the pandemic era.
External quality assessment (EQA) schemes provide objective feedback to participating laboratories about the performance of their analytical systems and information about overall regional analytical performance. The EQAs are particularly important during pandemics as they also assess the reliability of individual test results and show opportunities to improve test strategies. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the testing frequency significantly decreased in Austria. Here, we analyzed whether this decrease had an effect on participation and/or performance in SARS-CoV‑2 virus detection EQAs, as compared to the pandemic era. ⋯ Overall ratios of true positive results were below the mean of all results during the pandemic but were similar to the first round of the pandemic. A lower post-pandemic true positive ratio was associated with specific laboratory types and assay formats, particularly for samples with low concentration. The EQAs will continue to monitor the laboratory performance to ensure the same quality of epidemiological data after the pandemic, even if vigilance has decreased.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Aug 2024
Analyzing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Initial Oncologic Presentation and Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in the United States.
A significantly lower rate of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) screening, greater health care avoidance, and changes to oncologic recommendations were some consequences of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affecting the medical environment. We sought to determine how the health care environment during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the oncologic treatment of patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased clinical stage at presentation for patients with NSCLC, which impacted subsequent treatment strategies. However, treatment differed minimally when controlling for cancer stage. Future studies will examine the impact of these differences on overall survival and cancer-free survival.
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Objective The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide, and hospitals in Japan have been forced to respond to the situation. This study evaluated the broad-spectrum antimicrobial use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in an acute tertiary-care hospital. Methods This single-center, retrospective study was conducted between January 2019 and June 2021. ⋯ No post-intervention changes in the incidence of MRPA or CPE were observed; however, the trend in the incidence of CDI per 1,000 patient-days significantly differed between the two periods (coefficient: -0.04; 95% CI: -0.07, 0.00; p=0.01), and a downward trend was observed in the monthly CDI incidence during the COVID-19 period. Conclusion The consumption of broad intravenous antimicrobial agents has not changed significantly during the pandemic. We need to maintain the quality of medical care, including antimicrobial stewardship, even in specialized resource-limited facilities during a pandemic.