EVALUATING THE ETHICAL AND SOCIETAL IMPACTS OF MODELLING PANDEMIC CRISES: EXPERIENCES FROM A WORKSHOP

This paper describes a hybrid (virtual and online) workshop held as part of the EU STAMINA project that aimed to engage project partners to explore ethics and simulation modelling in the context of pandemic preparedness and response. The purpose of the workshop was to consider how the model's design and use in specific pandemic decision-making contexts could have broader implications for issues like transparency, explainability, representativeness, bias, trust, equality, and social injustices. Its outputs will be used as evidence to produce a series of measures that could help mitigate ethical harms and support the greater possible benefit from the use of the models. These include recommendations for policy, data-gathering, training, potential protocols to support end-user engagement, as well as guidelines for designing and using simulation models for pandemic decision-making. This paper presents the methodological approaches taken when designing the workshop, practical concerns raised, initial insights gained, and considers future steps. © SW 2023.All rights reserved

FACS-CHARM: A Hybrid Agent-Based and Discrete-Event Simulation Approach for Covid-19 Management at Regional Level

Pandemics have huge impact on all aspect of people's lives. As we have experienced during the Coronavirus pandemic, healthcare, education and the economy have been put under extreme strain. It is important therefore to be able to respond to such events fast in order to limit the damage to the society. Decision-makers typically are advised by experts in order to inform their response strategies. One of the tools that is widely used to support evidence-based decisions is modeling and simulation. In this paper, we present a hybrid agent-based and discrete-event simulation for the Coronavirus pandemic management at regional level. Our model considers disease dynamics, population interactions and dynamic ICU bed capacity management and predicts the impact of various public health preventive measures on the population and the healthcare service. © 2022 IEEE.

Panel on Simulation Modeling for Covid-19

This is a panel paper which discusses the use of simulation modeling in mitigating the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have gathered a group of expert modelers from around the world who have worked on healthcare simulation projects associated with the pandemic and the paper provides their answers to an initial set of questions. These serve to provide a description of the modeling work that has taken place already and to make suggestions for future directions both in modeling Covid-19 and preparing the world for future healthcare emergencies. © 2021 IEEE.

REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS DELIVERING THE FIRST APPROVED TREATMENT FOR PEANUT ALLERGY

Introduction: In January 2020, Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) Allergen Powder-dnfp (PTAH) became the first treatment for Peanut Allergy (PA) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The adoption of innovative new therapies requires consideration of the skills, logistics and practicalities required for implementation. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted to explore health care providers’ (HCPs) experiences of delivering PTAH, challenges encountered, and successful implementation strategies. HCPs who had initiated PTAH treatment with ≥3 patients since FDA approval were eligible. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via videoconference. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. The study was exempted by the Western Institutional Review Board. Results: Eight allergists and three nurse practitioners participated. Their experiences are characterized by four key themes: 1. factors influencing adoption, 2. factors related to delivering the treatment in everyday practice, 3. learnings and reflections, and 4. delivering PTAH during the COVID-19 pandemic. HCPs described how successful implementation of PTAH requires them to be thoughtful about their clinic’s abilities to integrate complex, time-consuming treatments into their practice. Prior experience of oral immunotherapy was deemed beneficial, but not essential for implementation and learning from others’ experience was suggested as a way of helping new prescribers overcome perceived and actual implementation challenges. Conclusion: The experiences described by the treatment pioneers included in this research serve to benefit the wider allergy community by providing practical solutions, successful implementation strategies and opportunities to share information as new innovative treatments become available to patients.