ABSTRACT
Background: Information about COVID-19 patients must be studied meticulously to control the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and epidemiological features of COVID-19 patients in Rafsanjan County. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, data of 3,212 patients referred to the Ali-Ibn Abitaleb Hospital in Rafsanjan County, Iran were recorded. Collected data included demographic information (age, sex, etc.), information about the method of referral to the hospital, contact history, previous history of infections, clinical symptoms associated with the disease, and data on comorbidities. Data were analyzed using a chi-square test and logistic regression coefficients. Results: The three common clinical symptoms were fevers (46%), muscular pain (44.6%), and coughs (34%). The most common comorbidity was hypertension (7.9%), and the case fatality rate was 10.8%. Besides, the death ratio in confirmed patients was significantly higher than that in suspected cases (P < 0.001). The chance of death in men was 16% higher than Women's (OR = 1.166). The chance of death in people with cancer and in people with reduced levels of consciousness was 9.1 and 5.5 times, respectively, higher than that in patients without comorbidity (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Most of the features of our patients resembled those reported in previous research. The results of this study can contribute to healthcare policymaking for this disorder. © The Author(s) 2022;All rights reserved. Published by Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences Press.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Sufficient interaction between the trainers and the trainees in medical education is always one of the biggest challenges for an educational system. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of virtual interactions within the educational content of stroke on the effectiveness of teaching for general medicine students during COVID-19 crisis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight medical students applying for stroke education were divided into two groups by simple random sampling (Rafsanjan Medical School, 2020). The first group participated in an online classroom via the Adobe Connect platform without virtual interaction. The second group used a video presentation containing interaction scenarios. The effectiveness evaluation of each type of educational content was done by comparison of the final exam scores and the results of an electronic satisfaction questionnaire in each group. Finally, using SPSS software version 18, the data were analyzed with independent samples t-test. RESULTS: This study showed that the mean of the examination scores of the interactive virtual content group (6.14 ± 1.46) was significantly higher than the online class group (4.50 ± 1.50) (P < 0.001), and also the results of satisfaction assessment showed that this group was more satisfied with their educational content (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Evaluation of the virtual stroke training effectiveness for general medical students shows that the educational approach of video with virtual interactions is an effective learning method in medical topics and can be considered as an efficacious educational model in online teaching. © Shahad A. Hafez et al., 2022;Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2022.
ABSTRACT
Literature on minorities' health-related information seeking shows that minorities, like non-minorities, require access to accurate and timely information, but they also need information in a range of languages and from a variety of sources. Health-related information seeking behaviour of Persian-speaking minorities living in Finland, explicitly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic situation, was investigated. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the extended Longo Health Information Model was used as a theoretical lens for analysing the data. The results point to several factors that can improve the outcome of minorities' health-related information seeking behaviours and activities, such as providing information related to their personal health, a deeper understanding of factors influencing the quality of health conditions at the individual or household level and broadcasting the latest health-related information in different languages and emphasize the needs for mental health-related information and services. The findings suggest that not only healthcare providers, immigration officials, and policymakers should be aware of the specific health-related information that minorities require, seek, and use during times of adversity, but also the extent to which how the identified factors influence the process of minorities' seeking health-related information.
ABSTRACT
Background: The spread of the novel coronavirus seems mysterious enough to make us double-check the indices being used to predict its transmission. In this study, serological analysis was performed to assess some metric and epidemiological aspects of the infection and its transmissibility among people in contact with SARA-CoV-2 patients. Material and Methods: A total of 453 contacts of 40 COVID-19 patients entered this contact tracing prospective cohort study. Accordingly, SARS-CoV-2 patients were diagnosed by the real-time polymerase chain reaction testing of nasopharyngeal samples. The infectiousness history was detected by the serological testing of IgG and IgM. Trained expert team completed two questionnaires, and blood samples were taken by experts in a laboratory. Data were analyzed using SPSS V21.0 and R software. Results: The mean ages of the SARS-CoV-2 patients and the contacts were 53.0±18.2 and 30.8±19.3 years, respectively. The overall R0 of the infection was 2.58. Household and non-household secondary attack rates (SAR) were 20% (95%CI;12.7–27.3) and 11.3% (95%CI;6.1-16.5), respectively. The transmission probability of each contact was 0.0205, and the serial interval was 6.4±4.6 (95% CI;5.2–7.6) days. The SAR was higher among the contacts who were exposed to asymptomatic primary cases (28%, 95%CI;10-46%) than (13.8%, 95%CI;9.4-18.2) among those exposed to symptomatic patients. Conclusions: It is concluded that the herd immunity of 60 to 65% is needed in human communities, based on the amount of R0 estimated in our survey. The findings demonstrated the amount of the reduction in infection R0, which is predicted based on both clinical and public health interventions. © The Author(s) 2021;All rights reserved.