Articles: coronavirus.
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The aim was to recommend an integrated Total Worker Health (TWH) approach which embraces core human factors and ergonomic principles, supporting worker safety, health, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ By using the systems approach provided by the six implementation characteristics, employers of essential workers can organize their own efforts to improve system performance and worker well-being during these unprecedented times.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Aug 2020
A Positive-Pressure Environment Disposable Shield (PEDS) for COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection.
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health care system resources and reduced the availability of life-sustaining and medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) though the combination of increased demand and disrupted manufacturing supply chains. As a result of these shortages, many health care providers have temporarily used largely untested, improvised PPE (iPPE). Lack of quality control for makeshift PPE and frequent repurposing of used items to conserve supplies increase both the risk of provider infection and nosocomial spread to uninfected patients. ⋯ The unit was successfully deployed in Taiwan during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, and again during the COVID-19 pandemic. The iPPE worn directly by the health care workers (HCWs) can be donned prior to patient contact in the presence of an air source. This strategy may be more protective than a covering placed over the patient in an aerosol-generating environment, which requires the HCW to be in close contact with the patient prior to securing the protective device.
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Can J Public Health · Aug 2020
Social distancing, social justice, and risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social distancing is an important and necessary measure to help arrest the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it does place persons who are socially or politically marginalized, including those who are of lower socio-economic status, at risk of further harms. ⋯ This three-fold risk of harm to which marginalized persons are subjected runs counter to the very notion of social justice that underpins public health. Social distancing in a socially just manner requires dialoguing with affected populations and providing social supports to marginalized persons, regardless of the associated costs.