A Review About Equipment for Mechanical Ventilation in Intensive Care to Combat COVID-19 and the Role of Clinical Engineers

The current health crisis caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has created a great demand to widely explore the mechanisms of mechanical ventilation for life support in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This work describes the basic concepts of the mechanical ventilation process and a brief technical description of both invasive and non-invasive ventilator. Additionally, describes the importance of this therapy as it is the main mechanism for assisting patients in a critical state of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It also presents approaches that have been considered to meet the current demands and prevent the collapse of the health system. Finally, it presents the responsibilities of clinical engineers in this scenario. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Review About the Main Technologies to Fight COVID-19

This work presents a review about research published from the last five months (January–May 2020) about technologies used during the pandemic to fight the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, termed COVID-19. Through an analysis of these studies, Telemedicine was considered as a viable option to decrease the dissemination of the virus and identify infected people. However, to implant Telemedicine worldwide, it is necessary a fast and reliable way to transfer of large amounts of data, such as the new fifth generation of mobile communications (5G). Thus, new concepts as Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and the Electronic Health (e-Health) can be used, which have the necessary structures and tools for fast communication, with high-resolution, between patients and health professionals. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Maturity model for evaluating disaster and humanitarian operations

Purpose: This paper proposes a maturity model (MM) for assessing disaster operations and identifying strategies for organisations to evolve their maturity stages. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies a systematic literature review to identify state-of-the-art work related to maturity models for disaster operations. In addition, the study develops a case study to validate the proposed maturity model in a generic scenario and two real-life scenarios. Findings: The analysis of 158 papers in the literature resulted in identifying 8 maturity models for disaster operations. Based on their structure, the authors proposed a new model with five maturity stages suitable for any of the four phases of the disaster life cycle (i.e. mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery). In addition, the research identified and presents 24 strategies for improving disaster operations according to each maturity stage transition. Finally, the research presents a case study that evaluates the disaster response operations from a Civil Defense organisation considering a response scenario disaster in general, a flood scenario, and the COVID-19 pandemic scenario. Originality/value: This study provides the following three main contributions useful for academics and practitioners in the disaster operations area: a new maturity model for assessing disaster operations, a strategy guide for improving disaster operations based on a maturity evolution and an empirical study exploring the approximation between academia and professionals involved in real-life disaster operations management. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.