Interpersonal-function topoi in Chinese central government's work report (2020) as epidemic (counter-)crisis discourse

Using Systemic Functional Grammar and conceptual framework in the argumentation-oriented approach to discourse, this study analyzes Chinese central government's " Report on the Work of the Government" in 2020 (henceforth the Report) to explore the "interpersonal-function topoi" in the political discourse. The Report was delivered and issued against the backdrop of the surging covid-19 epidemic. This study first calculated the frequency of mood, modality and persons in the Report. The statistics were qualitatively analyzed in relation to various topoi-imagery of the crisis vis-a-vis representing the agency-reflected in the interpersonal metafunction of the language in the Report. These topoi play a vital role in winning popular support for the Chinese central government's anti-epidemic measures and mobilizing the widest public into actions against the covid-19 pandemic. The analysis demonstrates how the analysis of interpersonal metafunction from an argumentation-oriented perspective can shed light on dealing with crisis discourse, especially in the pandemic settings.

The adherence to modified callers queries (MCQ) of emergency medical dispatch (EMD) during COVID-19 outbreaks for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Purpose: Setting modified-callers-queries (MCQ) was recommended for emergency medical dispatch (EMD) for COVID-19 risks screening during the outbreaks. For out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls, the adherence to MCQ and its influence to dispatcher-assisted CPR were not known. Materials and methods: A COVID-19-risk MCQ protocol was designed for EMD for safer corresponding response. The three major additional queries included A. The quarantine status of patient/family, B. Patient symptoms (i.e., fever/or respiratory complaints), C. TOCC situations in the recent 14-day period of patient/family including: recent travel (T) to the epidemic regions, occupations (O) with high risk for client contact such as healthcare provider, flight attendant, etc., any close contact (C1) with confirmed COVID-19 patient or person been quarantined, and close contact with a cluster (C2) of people with similar symptoms. The dispatchers’ adherence to the COVID-19-risk MCQ during the outbreaks for EMS calls of non-traumatic OHCA was retrospectively evaluated using audio records. Data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-squared test and Kruskal-Wallis test with SPSS-Version-22. Results: For totally 153 eligible OHCA calls, the adherence to querying were noted for A. quarantine on 44 (28.8%) cases, for B. symptoms on 82 (53.6%), for C. any TOCC on 105 (68.6%) cases – T: 102 (66.7%), O: 31 (20.2%), C1: 71 (46.4%), C2: 26 (17.0%);and completed TOCC on only 14 (9.2%) cases. Completed MCQ (all three A, B, C) were adhered on only 10 (6.5%;[95%CI: 3.6–11.6%]) cases, and 45 (29.4%;[95%CI: 22.8–37.1%]) cases failed to receive any COVID-19-risk MCQ. Eight cases (8/105, 7.6%) inadequately received TOCC queries prior to recognizing patient consciousness. The time intervals (median, IOR) for call-to-chest-compression and total MCQ of those completely queried cases were 290 (206, 334) s. and 52 (22, 94) s. Conclusions: The EMD adherence to COVID-19-risk MCQ would be unsatisfied to achieve under the circumstances of OHCA. MCQ would influence call-to-compression for dispatcher-assisted CPR.

The impacts on bystander and dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The impact of emerging infections disease pandemic such as COVID-19 on bystander CPR performance is not well known. Materials-and-methods: This was an observational database prospectively collected from National Registry for DACPR (dispatcher-assisted CPR), a continuous quality control for OHCA by audio records analyses of EMS calls. The performance of DACPR before and after the COVID-19 epidemic was compared among four individual EMS systems (three metropolitan and one suburban). The bystander chest compressions (BCC) rate prior to the call, successful delivery of BCC after dispatcher-assisted, and the continuity of CC until hand-over by the paramedics after arrival (HCC) as the categorical indicators, and the operational time interval corresponding to call-to-compression were evaluated and analyzed using Pearson's chi-squared test, Independent t-test, and Kruskal–Wallis test with SPSS Version 22. Results: In a total of 3263 eligible patients from four EMS systems, for patients already receiving BCC prior to the call, though showing a tendency of decrease, there were no significant differences after the epidemics (A: 3.6% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.13;B: 4.5% vs. 6.1%, p = 0.46;C: 6.0% vs. 6.6%, p = 0.71;D: 6.8% vs. 10.7%, p = 0.59;Total: 4.9% vs. 6.4%, p = 0.11). For dispatcher-assisted BCC delivery, a metropolitan (B) significantly decreased and the suburban (D) significantly increased (A: 55.0% vs. 56.1%, p = 0.72;B: 41.8% vs. 52.3%, p = 0.03;C: 60.6% vs. 56.5%, p = 0.19;D: 83.0% vs. 60.2%, p < 0.01;Total: 56.8% vs. 55.6%, p = 0.53). For continuity of HCC, a metropolitan(C) and the suburban (D) both significantly increased as well as the total cases (A: 43.9% vs. 46.4%, p = 0.43;B: 28.5% vs. 31.0%, p = 0.56;C: 54.0% vs. 40.0%, p < 0.01;D: 77.4% vs. 59.3%, p = 0.02;Total: 47.4%vs.41.3%, p < 0.01). For call-to-compression interval, all regions showed a tendency to be faster without significance (A: 185 vs. 189 s, p = 0.8;B: 141 vs. 156 s, p = 0.19;C: 173 vs. 182 s, p = 0.12;D: 156 vs. 171 s, p = 0.27;Total: 164 vs. 172 s, p = 0.19). Conclusions: The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic showed a tendency to decrease BCC prior to dispatcher-assisted, and were significantly varied for dispatcher-assisted BCC among different EMS systems, however the timely BCC would not be delayed. Continuity of BCC even significantly increased under the national continuous auditing.