ABSTRACT
In 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic changed the landscape of healthcare delivery and with it the need to better address team member well-being. Aside from patients and their families, healthcare professionals were among the most affected and at high risk for suffering psychological distress, including increased stress, depression, anxiety, substance use, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Prior to COVID-19, healthcare workers were already experiencing a high rate of job burnout, depression, and suicide. The pandemic brought in sharp focus the essential and urgent need for healthcare facilities to acknowledge the importance of team member well-being and the provision of spaces such as tranquility rooms for use while at work. This case study shares one health system’s evidence-based implementation plan for tranquility rooms, what was learned, and how team members responded. More research is needed to better understand team member well-being and the impact of tranquility rooms. © The Author(s), 2022.
ABSTRACT
Effective science communication is important for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, but little is known about how college science students, who are the future of science, have communicated about COVID-19. In this study, we surveyed 538 biology students in the Southeastern United States about how they communicated about COVID-19 with others and how prepared they felt to communicate. We found that many students were communicating frequently but did not feel prepared to communicate accurately, particularly about vaccine safety and effectiveness. Students also wrote about their communication strategies, and many students reported using potentially ineffective communication. Finally, we explored student misconceptions about COVID-19 and found differences among religious, political, and racial/ethnic groups that could impact their communication to their communities about COVID-19. These results indicate a need for science communication education about COVID-19 among undergraduate scientists in training.
ABSTRACT
At what point does the sacrifice to our personal information outweigh the public good? If public policymakers had access to our personal and confidential data, they could make more evidence-based, data-informed decisions that could accelerate economic recovery and improve COVID-19 vaccine distribution. However, access to personal data comes at a steep privacy cost for contributors, especially underrepresented groups. Protecting Your Privacy in a Data-Driven World is a practical, nontechnical guide that explains the importance of balancing these competing needs and calls for careful consideration of how data are collected and disseminated by our government and the private sector. Not addressing these concerns can harm the same communities policymakers are trying to protect through data privacy and confidentiality legislation. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.