ABSTRACT
Background: The tasks of occupational health managers (OHMs) are diverse. Currently there is no up-to-date job profile for OHMs that can be used for demand-oriented selection of personnel and the development of training curricula in workplace health management (WHM). Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a job profile for OHMs involving subject-matter experts. Materials and methods: We conducted a job analysis with Task Analysis Tools (TAToo) [6]. The three-step approach comprised 21 semi-structured interviews with job holders and supervisors, two workshops, and an online survey (n = 46) to ecologically validate the results. On that basis, a job profile for OHMs was developed. Results: The tasks, targets, and interfaces of OHMs are diverse. Expertise in health sciences, psychology, ergonomics, and business administration is particularly important for their work. Regarding methodological skills, networking, systematic work, presentation and project management skills are relevant. Important soft skills are trustworthiness, passion for health, enthusiasm, reliability, and the readiness for teamwork. COVID-19 has slightly changed the job profile, so that digital skills, healthy leadership, mental health, healthy home-offices, and pandemic preparedness have become more important. Conclusions: Limitations with regard to the generalizability of the job profile may result from the fact that the analysis is not based on a representative sample. Expertise around occupational safety, occupational health, return-to-work, evaluation, and digitalization should play a greater role in the training and selection of OHMs. © 2023, The Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Background: The tasks of occupational health managers (OHMs) are diverse. Currently there is no up-to-date job profile for OHMs that can be used for demand-oriented selection of personnel and the development of training curricula in workplace health management (WHM). Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a job profile for OHMs involving subject-matter experts. Materials and methods: We conducted a job analysis with Task Analysis Tools (TAToo) [6]. The three-step approach comprised 21 semi-structured interviews with job holders and supervisors, two workshops, and an online survey (n = 46) to ecologically validate the results. On that basis, a job profile for OHMs was developed. Results: The tasks, targets, and interfaces of OHMs are diverse. Expertise in health sciences, psychology, ergonomics, and business administration is particularly important for their work. Regarding methodological skills, networking, systematic work, presentation and project management skills are relevant. Important soft skills are trustworthiness, passion for health, enthusiasm, reliability, and the readiness for teamwork. COVID-19 has slightly changed the job profile, so that digital skills, healthy leadership, mental health, healthy home-offices, and pandemic preparedness have become more important. Conclusions: Limitations with regard to the generalizability of the job profile may result from the fact that the analysis is not based on a representative sample. Expertise around occupational safety, occupational health, return-to-work, evaluation, and digitalization should play a greater role in the training and selection of OHMs. © 2023, The Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Background: The tasks of occupational health managers (OHMs) are diverse. Currently there is no up-to-date job profile for OHMs that can be used for demand-oriented selection of personnel and the development of training curricula in workplace health management (WHM). Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a job profile for OHMs involving subject-matter experts. Materials and methods: We conducted a job analysis with Task Analysis Tools (TAToo) [6]. The three-step approach comprised 21 semi-structured interviews with job holders and supervisors, two workshops, and an online survey (n = 46) to ecologically validate the results. On that basis, a job profile for OHMs was developed. Results: The tasks, targets, and interfaces of OHMs are diverse. Expertise in health sciences, psychology, ergonomics, and business administration is particularly important for their work. Regarding methodological skills, networking, systematic work, presentation and project management skills are relevant. Important soft skills are trustworthiness, passion for health, enthusiasm, reliability, and the readiness for teamwork. COVID-19 has slightly changed the job profile, so that digital skills, healthy leadership, mental health, healthy home-offices, and pandemic preparedness have become more important. Conclusions: Limitations with regard to the generalizability of the job profile may result from the fact that the analysis is not based on a representative sample. Expertise around occupational safety, occupational health, return-to-work, evaluation, and digitalization should play a greater role in the training and selection of OHMs.
ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: Glycaemic control during a COVID- 19 pneumonia is affected by illness severity and required therapeutic measures (e.g. corticosteroids) in patients with diabetes. The aim is to compare glycaemic control and therapeutic changes during the inpatient stay in patients with HbA1c <7.0% compared to those with ≥7.0 on admission. Methods: Clinical data of 59 patients with diabetes, who were hospitalized between October 15th-December 31th 2020 at our pulmonary department due to a COVID-19 illness, were retrospectively collected and stratified according to their metabolic control at admission (HbA1c<7.0% or ≥7.0%) Results: Compared to patients with sufficient metabolic control (HbA1c<7.0%,n = 24), patients with HbA1c≥7.0% (n = 35) had longer duration of diabetes (p = 0.013), were more often male (74%vs.46%,p = 0.032) and were more frequently treated with metformin (74%vs.46%,p = 0.032) and DDP4- inhibitors (34%vs.8%, p = 0.029). The average glucose on admission (175vs.225mg/dl) worsened during inpatient stay in both groups. Patients with higher baseline HbA1c consistently showed higher glucose values during their stay (299vs.205mg/dl, p <0.001). Insulin requirement increased in both groups, whereby the maximum insulin dose per day over observation period was 13 IU in patients with baseline HbA1c<7.0% and 52 IU in patients with HbA1c≥7.0% (p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no difference in hospital mortality (17%vs.26%,p = 0.529). Using logistic regression, the patient's age was identified as a significant risk factor for hospital mortality (OR:1.07, 95%CI:1.01-1.14, p = 0.034). Conclusions: Patients with diabetes, particularly those with HbA1c ≥7.0 on admission, and severe COVID-19 disease show a significant deterioration in their glycaemic control during their inpatient stay. Increasing age in patients with diabetes is associated with a higher risk of mortality.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: This study aims to look at the trends in our head and neck cancer patient population over the past 5 years with an emphasis on the past 2 years to evaluate how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted our disparities and availability of care for patients, especially those living in rural areas. An additional aim is to identify existing disparities at our institution in the treatment of head and neck patients and determine solutions to improve patient care. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients who were consulted and subsequently treated with at least one fraction of radiation therapy at our institution with palliative or curative intent. Patient demographic information was collected including hometown, distance from the cancer centre based on zip-codes and insurance information and type of appointment (in-person or telehealth). Rural-urban continuum codes were used to determine rurality. Results: A total of 490 head and neck cancer patients (n = 490) were treated from 2017 to 2021. When broken down by year, there were no significant trends in patient population regarding travel distance or rurality. Roughly 20-30% of our patients live in rural areas and about 30% have a commute > 50 miles for radiation treatment. A majority of our patients rely on public insurance (68%) with a small percentage of those uninsured (4%). Telehealth visits were rare prior to 2019 and rose to 5 and 2 visits in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Conclusions: Head and neck cancer patients, despite rurality or distance from a cancer centre, may present with alarmingly enough symptoms despite limitations and difficulties with seeking medical attention even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, providers must be aware of these potential disparities that exist in the rural population and seek to address these.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, social consequences in day-to-day decisions might not have been salient to the decider and thus egoistic. How can prosocial intentions be increased? In an experimental vignette study with N = 206, we compared the likelihood that parents send sick children to kindergarten after four interventions (general information about COVID-19, empathy, reflection of consequences via mental simulation, and control group). Independent of the intervention, empathic concern with individuals who were affected by COVID-19 and the salience of social consequences were high. The reported likelihood of sending a sick child to kindergarten was somewhat reduced in the control group and even more reduced in the reflection and empathy group, but not in the information group.
ABSTRACT
Rationale: Though the United States has the highest number of ICU beds per capita in the world, the regional distribution of these beds is variable. Rural areas have 1% of American ICU beds despite having 16% of the country's population. Telehealth is frequently promoted as a tool that can augment care for the critically ill in rural communities. Yet, ICU telehealth still requires clinicians at the bedside who are able to provide critical care. We sought to examine telemedicine within rural ICUs in the context of potential workforce shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We identified all hospitals with ICUs in Michigan using the 2018 American Hospital Association annual survey database and internet searches. Within each hospital, an ICU physician or nurse leader was surveyed between April 6, 2020 and May 8, 2020. At that time, the state of Michigan had the fifth highest total of COVID-19 hospitalizations within the country. Participants were asked about current telehealth utilization in the ICU. Participants were also asked to rate their concern on a 4-point Likert scale regarding exceeding existing ICU capacity and ICU staffing capabilities due to the pandemic. Results: Of the 28 rural hospitals in Michigan, 14 were surveyed (response rate 50%). Among responding hospitals, 12 (86%) had fewer than 11 ICU beds and an average pre-COVID-19 census of fewer than 4 patients. At the time of the survey, ten hospitals (71%) reported using ICU telehealth support, of which two used telehealth providers exclusively overnight. Of the four hospitals without telehealth, two planned to add telehealth in response to the pandemic. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, 11 hospitals (79%) reported concern about exceeding their ICU capacity, and 12 hospitals (86%) planned to create more ICU beds. The majority of rural hospitals worried about impending ICU workforce shortages, with 78% of hospitals concerned about having enough nurses, 64% about having enough respiratory therapists, and 50% about having enough physicians as a result of the pandemic. Conclusions: At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most rural hospitals in Michigan utilized ICU telehealth support in some capacity. Despite broad use of telemedicine, rural hospitals remained concerned about exceeding ICU capacity and a lack of ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, and physicians. Expansion of existing telehealth infrastructures within rural hospitals may improve access to critical care clinicians virtually but would not ease concerns related to capacity and workforce shortages, particularly among ICU-trained nurses.
ABSTRACT
The impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 may deepen the situations of malnutrition, where it will be necessary to adapt food programs to this new context. The objective of this work was to present the methodology and the main results of the process of formulating a federal guide based on scientific evidence and adapted to the reality of the child and adolescent population that attend school canteens in the 24 jurisdictions of Argentina. It was observed that the modalities for the implementation of SC during the pandemic were: food modules (the most frequent);food modules delivered at school with regular SC support and, food and/or snacks delivered daily. There was little evidence at the global and regional level on specific recommendations applied to the implementation of SC, although recommendations on hygiene and food handling were found. Based on a participatory process among key actors, specific recommendations were obtained according to the dimensions of food and nutrition security (FNS). It is concluded that it is necessary to increase participatory experiences in the design of recommendations based on evidence, adapted to the territory and that assume a comprehensive approach from the dimensions of FNS. Arch Latinoam Nutr 2020;70(3): 215-234. © 2020 Archivos Latinoamericanos Nutricion. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
A first representative online survey of the population of Germany with regard to their shopping, eating and cooking behaviour as well as the food system's resistance to the crisis during the COVID-19 lockdown was conducted in April 2020. The same group of people were interviewed for a second time in June 2020. This report presents the results of the second survey, also in comparison to the first survey. The survey of 603 consumers took place on 12-21 June 2020, i.e. at a time when the number of infections in Germany was low and the restrictions on public life were largely relaxed. Overall, the survey shows a highly polarized picture of the food industry from the consumer's point of view. For sectors such as gastronomy or the meat industry, the study shows clear signs of crisis. In contrast, shopping in grocery stores and cooking behaviour have changed only slightly. Here the previous behavioural patterns come into play again relatively quickly.
ABSTRACT
In an online survey of the population of Germany that was representative of age, gender, education and regional distribution and conducted between 9 and 20 April 2020, i.e. at the high point of the 'lock-down' in the course of the Coronavirus pandemic in Germany, 947 consumers were asked about their risk perceptions, shopping, eating and cooking behaviour as well as the resistance of the food system to the crisis. The survey was designed as a panel study with a total of three survey waves, with the same people being interviewed several times. The results of the first survey wave are presented in this report.
ABSTRACT
We investigate the role of prediction in biological movement perception by comparing different representations of human movement in a virtual reality (VR) and online experiment. Predicting movement enables quick and appropriate action by both humans and artificial agents in many situations, e.g. when the interception of objects is important. We use different predictive movement primitive (MP) models to probe the visual system for the employed prediction mechanism. We hypothesize that MP-models, originally devised to address the degrees-of-freedom (DOF) problem in motor production, might be used for perception as well. In our study we consider object passing movements. Our paradigm is a predictive task, where participants need to discriminate movement continuations generated by MP models from the ground truth of the natural continuation. This experiment was conducted first in VR, and later on continued as online experiment. We found that results transfer from the controlled and immersive VR setting with movements rendered as realistic avatars to a simple and COVID-19 safe online setting with movements rendered as stick figures. In the online setting we further investigate the effect of different occlusion timings. We found that contact events during the movement might provide segmentation points that render the lead-in movement independent of the continuation and thereby make perceptual predictions much harder for subjects. We compare different MP-models by their capability to produce perceptually believable movement continuations and their usefulness to predict this perceptual naturalness. Our research might provide useful insight for application in computer animation, by showing how movements can be continued without violating the expectation of the user. Our results also contribute towards an efficient method of animating avatars by combining simple movements into complex movement sequences. © 2020 Owner/Author.