Evaluation of roost culling as a management strategy for reducing invasive rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) populations.

Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) are one of the most widespread invasive avian species worldwide. This species was introduced to the island of Kaua'i, Hawai'i, USA, in the 1960s. The rapidly increasing population has caused substantial economic losses in the agricultural and tourism industries. We evaluated the efficacy of a roost culling program conducted by an independent contractor from March 2020 to March 2021. We estimated island-wide minimum abundance was 10,512 parakeets in January 2020 and 7,372 in April 2021. Over 30 nights of culling at four roost sites, approximately 6,030 parakeets were removed via air rifles with 4,415 (73%) confirmed via carcasses retrieval. An estimated average of 45 parakeets were removed per hour of shooter effort. The proportion of adult females removed in 2020 was 1.9 × greater when culled outside of the estimated nesting season. Of the four roosts where culling occurred, the parakeets fully abandoned three and partially abandoned one site. Of the three fully abandoned roosts, an estimated average of 29.6% of birds were culled prior to roost abandonment. The roost culling effort was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when tourist numbers and foot traffic were greatly reduced. It is unknown how public perception of roost culling in public areas may impact future efforts. Findings suggest roost culling can be utilized for management of nonnative rose-ringed parakeet populations when roost size is small enough and staff size large enough to cull entire roosts in no greater than two consecutive nights (e.g., if two shooters are available for three hours per night, roost culling should only be attempted on a roost with ≤ 540 rose-ringed parakeets). Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10530-022-02984-3.

Evaluation of roost culling as a management strategy for reducing invasive rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) populations

Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) are one of the most widespread invasive avian species worldwide. This species was introduced to the island of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, USA, in the 1960s. The rapidly increasing population has caused substantial economic losses in the agricultural and tourism industries. We evaluated the efficacy of a roost culling program conducted by an independent contractor from March 2020 to March 2021. We estimated island-wide minimum abundance was 10,512 parakeets in January 2020 and 7,372 in April 2021. Over 30 nights of culling at four roost sites, approximately 6,030 parakeets were removed via air rifles with 4,415 (73%) confirmed via carcasses retrieval. An estimated average of 45 parakeets were removed per hour of shooter effort. The proportion of adult females removed in 2020 was 1.9 × greater when culled outside of the estimated nesting season. Of the four roosts where culling occurred, the parakeets fully abandoned three and partially abandoned one site. Of the three fully abandoned roosts, an estimated average of 29.6% of birds were culled prior to roost abandonment. The roost culling effort was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when tourist numbers and foot traffic were greatly reduced. It is unknown how public perception of roost culling in public areas may impact future efforts. Findings suggest roost culling can be utilized for management of nonnative rose-ringed parakeet populations when roost size is small enough and staff size large enough to cull entire roosts in no greater than two consecutive nights (e.g., if two shooters are available for three hours per night, roost culling should only be attempted on a roost with ≤ 540 rose-ringed parakeets). Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10530-022-02984-3.

Reconceptualizing School Psychology for the 21st Century: The Future of School Psychology in the United States

It is imperative that the field of school psychology in the United States continue to evolve in order to support the development, well-being, and educational success of all students. The confluence of numerous factors, including the sociopolitical zeitgeist, significant societal events, and the need to provide appropriate supports for students from minoritized backgrounds, converge to reveal and inform the importance of the field of school psychology continuing to develop. This special topic section of School Psychology Review focuses on reconceptualizing school psychology for the 21st century. The compilation of articles featured herein is both introspective and forward looking. These articles present important theories, frameworks, and approaches to improve school psychology's responsiveness to the social injustice embedded in many of the core foundations of American society and inform our professional efforts to more effectively support every student. Several foundational orientations are emphasized, including critical consciousness, critical reflexivity, and other mindsets key to engaging in sustained efforts to advance social justice and antiracism. Implications for practice, scholarship, graduate education, and professional standards in school psychology are discussed.

Increased self-immolation frequency and severity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the increased restrictions, isolation and stressors associated with COVID-19 led to an increase in rates or severity of self-immolation burn injuries. DESIGN: Retrospective review of a prospectively-collected database of New South Wales burn patients, comparing 2020 data with the preceding 5 years. SETTING: Both adult units in the New South Wales Statewide Burn Injury Service (Concord Repatriation General Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital). PARTICIPANTS: All adult patients in New South Wales with self-inflicted burn injuries between 1st January 2015 and 31st December 2020. OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic information, precipitating factors, burn severity, morbidity and mortality outcomes. RESULTS: We found18 episodes of self-immolation in 2020, compared to an average of 10 per year previously. Burn size significantly increased (43% total body surface area vs 28%) as did revised Baux score (92 vs 77). Most patients had a pre-existing psychiatric illness. Family conflict and acute psychiatric illness were the most common precipitating factors. CONCLUSION: 2020 saw an increase in both the frequency and severity of self-inflicted burn injuries in New South Wales, with psychiatric illness a major factor.

Implementation of a Physician Incentivized QI Strategy to Address Time to Parenteral Analgesia in Patients with Voe in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Introduction Vaso-occlusive episodes (VOE) are the most common cause of pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospitalizations in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute published an Expert Panel Report regarding the management of SCD and VOE. Their consensus statement recommends initiating analgesic therapy within 30 minutes of triage or within 60 minutes of registration in the Emergency Department. Previous studies have demonstrated that earlier maximum opioid has been associated with shorter length of hospitalization and improved time to ED disposition decision. Despite the overwhelming evidence for timely administration of parenteral analgesic, significant delays still exist in delivery of pain medication in the pediatric SCD population. Barriers to timely administration include rapid triage of SCD patients, provider ordering of pain medication, and peripheral intravenous access. Therefore, a standardized approach to pain management may improve ED management of SCD crises. In order to address timely administration of opiates to SCD patients with VOE episodes in our pediatric ED a SCD pain order set was developed. This order set implemented the use of intranasal (IN) fentanyl as a first line analgesic for SCD patients who presents to the ED with VOE. The purpose of this study was addressing barriers to decrease time to parenteral opioid administration in the pediatric ED. Methods This Quality Improvement (QI) measure was performed at a free-standing, urban pediatric ED. Patients were included if they had a diagnosis of SCD and presented with a pain score >5 and without fever. A PDSA cycle was utilized for designing and evaluating the proposed changes. This cycle consisted of three intervention phases: (1) electronic medical record (EMR) order set development in October 2019, (2) provider incentive for order set use in January 2020, and (3) nursing/patient & family education in April 2020. Baseline data was collected pre-intervention from April-September 2019. The outcomes measures were mean time to 1 st analgesic, mean time from triage to disposition, Hospital Length of Stay, and overall admission rates. Our balancing measure included 48 hour ED re-visits after discharge. Results There were 67 ED visits from April-September 2019 (pre-intervention) and 104 ED visits in the post-intervention data from October-June 2020. There was no significant difference in age or initial pain score in the pre- and post- intervention groups. Improvements were seen in: mean time to first analgesic (58 to 26 minutes), time to disposition (271 to 213 minutes). Hospital length of stay was found to increase with the introduction of IN fentanyl: pre-intervention (120 hours), phase 1 (148 hours), phase 2 (152 hours), phase 3 (218 hours). However, the overall admission rate decreased (55% to 44%). The number of 48-hour ED re-visits remained stable. Conclusion By using QI methods to address key barriers in the pediatric ED, we demonstrated that timely administration of parenteral analgesic can be achieved for SCD patients with VOE. Utilizing the EMR order set allowed for more stream-lined care, both by physicians and nursing staff, resulting in more rapid ordering of medication therefore decreasing time to ED disposition. Additional interventions such as provider incentivization to meet the goal of parenteral opioids within 30 minutes of patient arrival led to further improvement. One of the greatest barriers to our QI intervention was hesitancy both by patients and their caregivers regarding the efficacy of IN fentanyl in decreasing pain compared to IV opioid. Further education was needed both for families and medical staff regarding the efficacy of IN fentanyl as a first line analgesic. It is unclear why overall hospital length of stay was not shown to be decreased with these interventions but this can be offset by an overall decrease in hospital admissions seen with our interventions. This data may be limited by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and how psychosocial stressors can impact patients with chron c medical conditions. Length of stay is also confounded by other factors during the hospitalization and acquisition of other diagnoses such as acute chest. Future research is needed to determine if the demonstrated trend of admission rates and hospital length of stay can be replicated in other pediatric EDs and whether earlier opioid administration affects the outcome of VOEs beyond the ED. [Formula presented] Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.