Health service COVID-19 wellbeing and support initiatives: a mixed-methods evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Health services implemented a range of initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic to support employee wellbeing and assist employees to manage the professional and personal challenges they experienced. However, it is not known if such initiatives were acceptable to employees or met their needs. AIMS: To evaluate the wellbeing and support initiatives implemented at an Australian health service during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of employees (both users and non-users) and key stakeholders. METHODS: A mixed-methods design (survey, interviews and data audit) to investigate employees' and key stakeholders' perceptions, experiences and use of the wellbeing and support initiatives implemented at a large tertiary metropolitan health service in Melbourne, Australia. RESULTS: Ten employees participated in an interview and 907 completed a survey. The initiatives were well used and appreciated by staff. There was no significant difference in the proportion of clinical staff who had used the initiatives compared to non-clinical staff (44% versus 39%; P=0.223). Survey respondents reported the initiatives improved their mental health (n = 223, 8%), ability to cope with COVID-19 related stress and anxiety (n = 206, 79%), do their work (n = 200, 77%) and relationships with colleagues (n = 174, 67%). Staff would like many of the initiatives (with some modifications) to continue after the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest a high level of staff satisfaction with the implemented wellbeing and support initiatives, and confirm the need for, and importance of, developing and implementing initiatives to support health service staff during outbreaks of infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deep Learning based Customer Count/Flow Monitoring System for Social Distancing

Despite the COVID-19 vaccination drives, use of preventative measures such as masks and social distancing are still deemed essential. This paper presents an application that will allow businesses/enterprises to monitor the flow of customers by detecting people as objects, counting the number of people, tracking the safe distance between them to maintain the two-meter distance norm. The proposed solution is set up to generate an alarm when the customers reach the allowed limit as per shop dimensions or overcrowding is detected. For the implementation, YOLOv4 and YOLOv3-Tiny were used for the task of object detection and transfer learning is used to set up weights. The models were evaluated using MSCOCO API with 100 image instances per class. The results of the YOLOv4 model are also compared with YOLOv3-Tiny in terms of calculating mean, average precision (AP), frames per second (FPS), and identification of groups (crowd). Experimental results (on several video clips from a shopping center CCTV) show that the YOLOv3-Tiny maintains real-time performance even on modest hardware. It is further demonstrated that if a high-end GPU is available, the overall detection of objects and cluster identification is much more accurate and clearer using YOLOv4. © 2021 IEEE.

Pedi-R-MAPP: The development of a nutritional awareness tool for use in remote paediatric consultations using a modified Delphi consensus.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The Remote Malnutrition Application (R-MAPP) was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support for health care professionals (HCPs) working in the community to complete remote nutritional assessments, and provide practical guidance for nutritional care. The aim of this study was to modify the R-MAPP into a version suitable for children, Pediatric Remote Malnutrition Application (Pedi-R-MAPP), and provide a structured approach to completing a nutrition focused assessment as part of a technology enabled care service (TECS) consultation. METHODS: A ten-step process was completed: 1) permission to modify adult R-MAPP, 2) literature search to inform the Pedi-R-MAPP content, 3) Pedi-R-MAPP draft, 4) international survey of HCP practice using TECS, 5) nutrition experts invited to participate in a modified Delphi process, 6) first stakeholder meeting to agree purpose/draft of the tool, 7) round-one online survey, 8) statements with consensus removed from survey, 9) round-two online survey for statements with no consensus and 10) second stakeholder meeting with finalisation of the Pedi-R-MAPP nutrition awareness tool. RESULTS: The international survey completed by 463 HCPs, 55% paediatricians, 38% dietitians, 7% nurses/others. When HCPs were asked to look back over the last 12 months, dietitians (n = 110) reported that 5.7 ± 10.6 out of every 10 appointments were completed in person; compared to paediatricians (n = 182) who reported 7.5 ± 7.0 out of every 10 appointments to be in person (p < 0.0001), with the remainder completed as TECS consultations. Overall, 74 articles were identified and used to develop the Pedi-R-MAPP which included colour-coded advice using a traffic light system; green, amber, red and purple. Eighteen participants agreed to participate in the Delphi consensus and completed both rounds of the modified Delphi survey. Agreement was reached at the first meeting on the purpose and draft sections of the proposed tool. In round-one of the online survey, 86% (n = 89/104) of statements reached consensus, whereas in round-two 12.5% (n = 13/104) of statements reached no consensus. At the second expert meeting, contested statements were discussed until agreement was reached and the Pedi-R-MAPP could be finalised. CONCLUSION: The Pedi-R-MAPP nutrition awareness tool was developed using a modified Delphi consensus. This tool aims to support the technological transformation fast-tracked by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing a structured approach to completing a remote nutrition focused assessment, as well as identifying the frequency of follow up along with those children who may require in-person assessment.

A novel approach for dietetic students to deliver aneducation session ('Chew to Poo') to primary schoolchildren-a student placement case study

Background: Student placements require innovative developments to deliver learning opportunities for dietetic undergraduates. Bristol Royal Hospital for Children (BRHC) hadsecured a project for second-year dietetic students to teachprimary school pupils aged between 7 and 11 years, on the digestive system. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the prebooked placement in a face-to-face capacity was not possible,therefore the session was delivered using a virtual platform('Zoom'). Children of primary school age have been shownto learn equally well from interactive technology as in faceto-face lessons(1). Preparation and feasibility were discussed;with placement lead and students (UoP), clinical placementsupervisor (BRHC) and school teacher (FPS). The aim wasto explore whether a virtual placement teaching activity wasfeasible as part of a dietetic student placement at BRHC.Method: A brief on the digestive system using the year 5 curriculum was shared with the dietetic students, who were thenasked to prepare: a teaching plan, PowerPoint presentation,and an equipment list in preparation for a pre-lesson briefwith the clinical placement supervisor and school teacher.The dietetic students ran through the session at the brief andshared the equipment list with the teacher;who providedeverything required for the session in the classroom. Ablended style of active learning was provided using: formative lecture, bitesize age-appropriate videos and practical exercises showing different functions of the digestive system.The lesson took place via 'Zoom' in 2 sessions, morning andafternoon, leaving the class pupils with a practical task toprepare and then feedback during the second session. Thepractical session in between the dietetic student-led sessionwas facilitated by the class teacher. The dietetic students ledboth the timed sessions and were supervised by the dieteticplacement supervisor. Ethical approval was not required forthis study.Results: The pupils were positively engaged with the lesson which was very practical. All equipment and resourcesneeded for the sessions were sourced and ready for use by theclassroom teacher. The pupils had lots of questions which thedietetic students engaged with. Feedback indicated that thepupils were extremely positive and totally engaged with thelearning, some saying it was 'the best day they had all year.'The class teacher had also learnt a lot about the digestive system, but also about running virtual sessions and taking anactive learning approach.Discussion: This was a new way of delivering student training;and anecdotal feedback indicated that the session wentwell. The learning opportunity gave multiple positive outcomes;for the pupils the delivery of the curriculum in a newway, that aligns with guidance from the Department forEducation (2020). The dietetic students prepared and delivered the virtual lessons, developing leadership skills througha distance-learning activity(2). The school teacher was able tofacilitate rather than teach the class, and the clinical placement supervisor was able to ascertain that new ways of working can offer an extended scope of placement opportunities.Conclusions: COVID-19 has presented dietitians with achallenge in how to access adequate opportunities to continue to train undergraduate students. This case study demonstrates that virtual teaching activities may be a solution.There was more initial preparation, but by using an innovative approach to student placement training, positive outcomes were realised, which warrants further research in thisarea.