ABSTRACT
In COVID pandemic, attending the continuing medical education, workshops, and conferences with physical attendance is not possible. We designed, developed, and hosted the first of its kind academic virtual/online conference at par with an in-person academic conference to disseminate the expertise of the renowned subject experts along with researchers to present their research work due to the ongoing pandemic. We, in this article, had summarized the most critical steps in order to make the process easier for first-timers while providing our more comprehensive walkthroughs on each step. We choose a live session of the speakers on the Zoom meeting mode to retain the atmosphere of a live conference. WhatsApp, Google (Google Meet and E-mail), and Kahoot were other platforms to communicate with speakers, researchers, and participants to seamlessly participate. A number of advantages in terms of protection for delegates/speakers and their families came from the Virtual Conference on Nutrition and Health, restricting the spread of COVID-19, low budget for organizers, economically much cheaper alternatives both for speakers and participants, dissemination of knowledge, time productive, and meeting research paper presentation eligibility for a professional course. When one is new to technology, try adding an innovative aspect as a starting point to future virtual and in-person events, and seeing how it works is imperative. Ensuring Internet bandwidth, updated hardware, or webcam and/or microphone functionality at the participant end is critical.
ABSTRACT
Healthcare workers (HCWs) in India received the AZD1222 and BBV152 vaccines from January 2021 onwards. The objective of this study was to compare the immune response (seropositivity rate and geometric mean titer (GMT), and 95% confidence interval (CI)] against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in HCWs who received these vaccines, after the first and second doses. Therefore, the total immunoglobulin (Ig) levels specific to SARS-CoV-2 were measured using quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The study population of 133 HCWs consisted of two groups in which the immune response was measured for the AZD1222 and BBV152 vaccines. Data collection was performed from 6 February to 20 August 2021. Four weeks after the first and second dose, the odds ratio of seroconversion for AZD1222 and BBV152 vaccine was 10.3 times (95% CI: 4.5-23.7) and 15.9 times (95% CI: 6.3-39.9), respectively. The GMT was 6392.93 and 6398.82 U/mL for AZD1222 and 1480.47 and 990.38 U/mL for BBV152 after the first and second doses, respectively. Both vaccines elicited an immune response, but the seroconversion rate and GMT after each dose were significantly higher for AZD1222 than those for the BBV152 vaccine in this study.
ABSTRACT
In COVID pandemic, attending the continuing medical education, workshops, and conferences with physical attendance is not possible. We designed, developed, and hosted the first of its kind academic virtual/online conference at par with an in-person academic conference to disseminate the expertise of the renowned subject experts along with researchers to present their research work due to the ongoing pandemic. We, in this article, had summarized the most critical steps in order to make the process easier for first-timers while providing our more comprehensive walkthroughs on each step. We choose a live session of the speakers on the Zoom meeting mode to retain the atmosphere of a live conference. WhatsApp, Google (Google Meet and E-mail), and Kahoot were other platforms to communicate with speakers, researchers, and participants to seamlessly participate. A number of advantages in terms of protection for delegates/speakers and their families came from the Virtual Conference on Nutrition and Health, restricting the spread of COVID-19, low budget for organizers, economically much cheaper alternatives both for speakers and participants, dissemination of knowledge, time productive, and meeting research paper presentation eligibility for a professional course. When one is new to technology, try adding an innovative aspect as a starting point to future virtual and in-person events, and seeing how it works is imperative. Ensuring Internet bandwidth, updated hardware, or webcam and/or microphone functionality at the participant end is critical.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: An in-situ simulation model with a simulated patient environment is a training tool that was implemented for the front-line workers managing COVID-19 respiratory infection outbreak in a hospital of National Importance, situated in southern part of India. The objective of this training tool was to improve the preparedness of health care workers and the control measures to manage any respiratory infection outbreaks. Also, to provide good patient care and patient safety during the sudden outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing pandemic respiratory infection outbreak worldwide. METHODS: Simulated patient environment is a kind of functional mock drill that was applied to assess and improve the readiness of the healthcare workers of the hospital to identify the patient at the screening area, guide the patient for investigation and inform the public health system during an outbreak of an infection. The faculty of the Department of Microbiology, Community and Family Medicine, and General Medicine were the educators and demonstrators. Fifty healthcare workers from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Mangalagiri, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, such as doctors, epidemiologists, nurses, laboratory technicians, laboratory attendants, members of infection control team and biomedical waste management team participated in this program. RESULTS: Statistical analysis of the results with pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments and feedback from the participants was done at the end of the program. The difference between the mean of pre-intervention and post-intervention scores in doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals was statistically very highly significant (P-value <0.001). CONCLUSION: The training method was the simulation of management of pandemic respiratory infection outbreaks in the most realistic manner possible to test or evaluate the capability of more than one function in the context of an emergency event. An in-situ simulation is an effective method that is close to real-life scenario, to measure the readiness and effectiveness of an emergency response plan. Hence, it is a useful tool to assess disaster preparedness against any type of outbreak.